Delivery Van from Hein & Hein (1/35)

To run a railway with most of the locos and rolling stock being well used and of a considerably age a well-equipped work shop is needed. At least if you wish to avoid paying the local garage or blacksmith for the tasks.

The Ford van from Hein & Hein at the Nystrup Gravel loco shed. The driver has probably just handed over some spare parts and is now enjoying a beer with employees from the gravel company on the other side of the building.

Many of the tools and spare parts needed were supplied by the local hardware dealer Hein & Hein. Deliveries from Hein & Hein were normally carried out with the large Ford van. It was a regular guest at Nystrup Gravel. It sometimes even ventured down one of the small farming paths that crossed the 600 mm. line to pass urgently needed tools or spares for further transport by Nystrup's little speeder.





Chassis done and ready for primer. The one-piece upper body still needs some sanding and a few parts glued on, but the end is in sight. Seats are from the kit while the steering wheel is from the spares box.

In the last post on this little car I mentioned that I had been busy sanding. Well, I continued the process of applying putty and sanding - not until I was completely satisfied, but until I had exhausted my patience. I guess I will have to say the car is a model of a vehicle that has seen some hard use by its drivers.

Upper body ready for primer. The chassis has already been primed. I have fitted the head lights from the kit and a bumper I filed and soldered up from brass. License plate in plastic card. This must count among the poorest pictures I have shown on the blog.

With all major parts glued in place and sanding done, I primed the upper body and the interior was airbrushed Vallejo 6114 'Sky', a light blueish grey, with seats and steering wheel picked out in the appropriate colours. The exterior received a coat of Vallejo 70883 'Silver Grey'. Of course I spotted a bad moulding defect after having sprayed the silver grey and had to resand the area and paint again. Mudguards were painted black and I brush painted the red lining. The upper body was then covered with gloss varnish. The underside was kept in black primer while the wheels are gloss black with dark grey tires.

The driver is back and is now turning the car round on the small parking area in front of the shed. Not the easiest of task with a heavy van long before power steering.  

After decal application (from my usual supplier of costum decals; 'Skilteskoven') I toned down the glossy finish with some satin varnish and a little weathering. I fitted windows from clear plastic card - the side windows weren't as hard as expected. With windows in place I glued upper body and chassis together. I used slow setting two component epoxy glue as I wanted to have time to adjust the fit of upper body on the chassis.

This kit produced in very limited numbers by a fellow modeller in Brazil is more demanding than the usual kit you can get your hands on in the local hobby shop or online. Not only is it not advertised, the building is also a bit trickier than with a more standard resin or plastic kit. But I like a challenge and I think I made a rather decent model from the parts. Another unique car is ready for service on Nystrup Gravel. Visitors to the Gauge 1 exhibition in November will be able to see the car together with other road vehicles.

My only model from Brazil so far fitted with a left over chassis from a Ukrainian made kit, painted with Spanish paints (with a German airbrush) and custom made Danish decals. These days it's a wonder nothing Chinese went into the model! 

The name of the hardware dealer Hein & Hein is a tribute to a family that has produced two good narrow gauge friends with whom I have had lots of fun - not forgetting all the good times I've had with the rest of the Hein family.