Kits from Brazil (1/35)

Tomorrow the World Cup in football (or soccer to Americans) kicks off in Brazil. I probably won't see many of the matches as I'm more into cycling. I will probably be having a little Brazilian flavour to my summer anyway.

Last week I received a package from Brazil containing parts for two road vehicle projects I'm about to start. The resin parts are home cast by Fabio Melo whom I got in contact through Marcos Serra, a talented Brazilian military modeller with a fancy for odd and unusual military prototypes. No usual Panther tanks or half tracks from Marcos. Two of Marcos' projects caught my attention and fortunately Fabio was able to provide resin castings to get me started. The mouldings are rough and will need a lot of work with files and sanding sticks. But they will eventually make unique models to fit into the Nystrup universe.

Two resin castings from Brazil. The amount of flash is clearly visible. The Ford 3000 van is a complete kit with chassis and wheels, while the double cab is a replacement part for the ICM-kit of a Ford G917T.

Enjoy Marcos Serra's models of the two lorries here:
http://panzerserra.blogspot.dk/2014/03/ford-g917t-double-cabin-part-01.html

http://panzerserra.blogspot.dk/2012/08/ford-15-ton-panel-van-part-01.html

I understand that Brazilians play football very well and may even end up winning the tournament. I sure know they grow some good coffee. At work I drink my coffee from a classic enamel cup - decorated with the Simca brand.  A fitting companion to my recently finished Simca car.



My Simca cup. In the background you can see a cast iron gearbox lid from a Danish built Titan lathe that I use as a letter press. Not that there is much paper to be kept from flying around in Danish public administration anymore.

Loco Shed Doors (1/35)

While I had my stash of plasticard on the workbench to build the model of Nystrup's first IC loco, I also started the doors for the loco shed. Should have done that years ago. Now I have laminated two sheets of Evergreen's grooved plasticard and made the pieces fit in the door opening. I'm now in the process of trimming the doors to enable them to open (the have to clear the ground in front of the shed).

While making two small doors out of plasticard surely isn't a huge accomplishment, I'm pretty happy with it, as I have finally pulled myself together to get the job started. Other projects that I have been more drawn towards have overtaken the doors' place on my to do-list for several years.

Test fitting doors in the loco shed. After trimming I will fit framing on the doors' rear side. That should give the doors some stability and a more prototypically look when they are displayed open.

When the doors are in place I will also replace some of the lighting in the shed and add further lights out doors. The welding light module I have had laying about for years will be fitted too.

The First Internal Combustion Engine Loco at Nystrup Gravel (1/35)

The horses in use at the gravel company was an obvious choise for motive power when the railway was short and the daily output of gravel limited. In a few years the gravel pits closest to Nystrup were emptied and the railway expanded. The horses had to pull the skips far longer now. Horses also had to be fed and tended when not working. To make the transport more efficient Nystrup Gravel bought their first locomotive - a then modern one cylinder oil engine loco from the small Danish engine manufacturer Frederikshavn Jernstøberi (Frederikshavn Iron Foundry). The exact year of purchase isn't know but it is believed to have been between 1908 and 1910.

Not the best of pictures, but there is not too many to choose from. A side view of a Frederikshavn loco of the same type as Nystrup Gravel's. Engine and radiator in the front of the loco. The rest was basically just empty space and transmission. The superstructure was galvanized metal and probably the reason why one is preserved today.

The locomotive enabled Nystrup Gravel to dispense with horses on the line and only a few were kept for shunting duties and for pulling equipment in the pits. The loco behaved rather well and could pull six loaded skips. The speed wasn't exactly impressive but the loco was more than twice as fast as the horses. It meant that more gravel could be transported even if the distance to the pits grew. And the loco didn't needed fuel when not working.

I'm currently preparing sketches and a design for a 1:35 model of this historic Nystrup Gravel loco. Apart from a preserved upper body there isn't much material available. Less than 10 photographs are known of two types of locos from Frederikshavn. But then no one can say my model isn't right, can they?

Some parts for my model of Nystrup Gravel's first loco. BullAnt from Australia (via Canada), Scale Link skip frame from the UK and soon to be-loco driver from MK35 of France. Mixed well with plasticard these ingredients should make one Frederikshavn-loco.



A Frederikshavn loco superstructure in service as shed for oil and gasoline. When the shed fell out of use, the peat company donated the historic relic to the Danish Industrial Railway Society for preservation. Today it is stored indoor at Hedelands Veteranbane. Photo from 1990.

The Frederikshavn-loco had a simple skip frame strengthened with steel profiles and parts from another skip frame. The superstructure seems to resemble a steel sheet shed or the steering house on a small fishing vessel. The engine in Frederikshavn-locos were in the 7- 10 hp. range depending of the type of loco.

Two views of the Frederikshavn loco preserved on Hedelands Veteranbane. While a wonder that the loco relic has survived at all, its condition isn't too good. The frame under the loco isn't the original and only fitted to enable the loco to be shunted around in the shed.

Blue Simca (1/35)

My considerations as to colour ended with the Simca being painted a medium blue (a 50/50 mix of Vallejo 'Light Sea Blue' 71089 and 'Steel Blue' 71087). The wheels were painted 'Golden Yellow' 948 and the hub caps sprayed chrome. The green paint has been reserved for another car currently on its way from Brazil (my first resin kit from Brazil!).

I fitted a suitcase from Plus Models in the car's open trunk. Plus Models have a large selection of good quality detail parts in 1:35. They may be a little pricey, but you don't need many parts to fit out a scene in 1:35.

My finished Simca 5 parked next to the track at Nystrup Gravel's loco shed. The sun is shining and the canvas roof has been rolled back to give its owner some fresh air. Despite being a pre-war car the paint has held up well. Probably helped by the fact that the car was in storage for the war's duration.

Besides the suitcase and a small bag on the passenger seat, I only added license plate decals. Otherwise the little car is straight out of the box. While I assembled the kit in no time, painting took quite some time. The process of priming and air brushing cover paint and varnish is time consuming. Especially on an open topped vehicle where you have to mask the interior carefully to avoid over spray. Everything worked out OK. Only when fitting the last windscreen wiper I had an accident. The wiper flew out of the pliers and landed on the bonnet. Unfortunately the wiper had a drop of CA glue on, and it fastened to the bonnet instantly. I had to wrestle the wiper off and repair the paint.

The Simca belonging to the accountant of  Nystrup Gravel has now been joined by the director's Opel Kapitän. Important matters must be going on in the shed! The Opel needed the open rear door glued on again - this time I strengthened the assembly with a piece of brass wire. 

The model I'm currently having on my workbench is anything but out of the box. A one cylinder oil engine locomotive - Nystrup Gravel's first loco with an internal combustion engine. And I must be getting those doors for the loco shed done as well!

A Tiny Simca (1/35)

A steady stream of 1:35 kits of civilian cars have been arriving on the market lately. Made by the same companies that usually do kits of Tiger-tanks and other military hardware. The civilian cars are very useful on a model railway like mine. The car now on my worktable is the little Simca 5 from Tamiya.

The Simca 5 was designed in Italy by Fiat and produced at the Simca plant in Nanterre, France from 1936. It was a tiny car designed for the ordinary family (like the German Volkswagen) and able to travel 110 km on just 5 litres of fuel. The last Simca 5's left the assembly lines in 1949. In Nystrup the Simca is owned by the accountant of the gravel company.

The Tamiya kit is a great little kit and with only 57 parts the car is quite a fast project - see here for a review. Contrary to a company like ICM (I have built their kit of the Opel Kapitän) that designs kits with countless tiny parts and akward assemblies, Tamiya uses a different approach with few, well designed parts that assembles with ease. For a 1:35 railway modeller that needs a nice little civilian car and doesn't fancy fiddling with a kit with myriads of small parts, the Tamiya Simca is an obvious choice. Notice that Bronco has also made a kit of a the Fiat-version of the same design. With a lot more parts.



50 parts reduced to 8 waiting to be primed. The seven clear parts are still in their plastic bag. I did the assembly in about one hour.

Painting is progressing. A briefcase and a suitcase has joined the other parts. I have searched the internet to find a good colour for my model. I'm currently trying to decide between blue and green.

Because I'm modelling in 1:35 I can model Nystrup's local fire brigade's Mercedes fire engine (made by two companies: ICM or MiniArt), an Opel bus is announced from Roden and an American Packham should be on its way from ICM. What I would really wish for was a little post war British car like the Morris Minor.

Cushman Scooter Visits Nystrup (1/35)

I got the sidecar fitted to the scooter without too much trouble. As I stated in the last post on the scooter there are some quite flimsy parts to be joined. Otherwise the kit is like other 1:35 kits from Plus Models I have built: well moulded, detailed and with a good fit.

I airbrushed the scooter Vallejo Model Air 'Fire Red' (71084). I fitted the Gulf decals from the kit's decal sheet. The Gulf-logo is that used by the oil company between 1936 and 1960, although I don't know if there ever was a Cushman scooter in service with Gulf markings in Denmark. In Nystrup the scooter is used to supply small quantities of motor oil and grease to local companies and farmers.

I am not so familiar with 1950's traffic regulations that I know if the scooter needs a license plate. If someone knows, please let me know by leaving a comment. The brake cable looked nice and thin before painting. Now I think it looks more like a compressed air hose...

Parked in the far end of the small parking area at the loco shed at Nystrup Gravel. The scooter driver is probably handing over the usual amount of lubricants to the workers there. Perhaps he'll be offered a beer behind the shed?

On my workbench now is the Tamiya Simca 5, a Danish one cylinder oil engine loco and doors for the loco shed. I have put off the task of fitting doors for far too long. Now the time has come!

Along the line in Nystrup

This blog has brought me in contact with the granddaughter of Torleif Petersen, the Nystrup Gravel shop manager for many years. She has most friendly scanned and sent me a few pictures her grandad took in the early 1980's when he apparently walked the old Nystrup line some years after the last piece of track was lifted. Below is one of them.

The photo shows where, after having passed Nystrup's small industrial district, the line is making its way between houses and cottages before reaching more open land again and arriving at the sorting facilities and lorry ramp.

There is not much room between the walls here for a railway. Nevertheless Nystrup Gravel's 600 mm. line ran here for more than70 years. Even today the passageway is used by pedestrians. The photo is probably shot with a Kodak 'Instamatic'. The colour balance is somewhat off, but unless kept well many colour photos will eventually degrade. The 'Instamatic' was well known in Denmark and the camera I shot my first railway photos with. I even remember my first motif: a Danish state railways MH shunting Coop's siding complex in Glostrup outside Copenhagen. Read more (if not everything) about the 'Instamatic' here.