Talking about the lack of detail….believe it or not this is the less than lavish internal detail! In fact this is a bit better than what is supplied as I’ve scribed the floor. I’ve also hollowed out the chimneys. Notice the round pit in the floor. I have no idea why that’s there as it doesn’t related to another part of the kit and it has nothing to do with the real vehicle.
I can’t leave it looking like the bailiffs have called, the cab of the real machine was chock-a-block (‘very full’ for the non Brits).
This may take me some time…..
I had to guess about the seating, but later I found something which shows that I got it just about right. Wow, that doesn’t happen often.
And yes, some of the early steam lorries were left-hand drive due to evolving from traction engines. Traction engines were left-hand drive because previously on horse drawn wagons the driver would usually walk on the left side of the horses to have better control (if that’s rubbish blame Google).
Oh dear I knew it couldn’t last. Well there are elements of reality, mixed with a liberal does of utter tosh. When I saw a photo of the real engine I thought “Bloody hell I’m not doing that in 1/72”. 😮
Steam lorries were divided into two groups – under-type and over-type. This is over-type because the engine gubbins is over the boiler.
Notice the extension to the smaller chimney. The kit part is much too short. The step will be hidden by the roof.
Because I was originally intending to do a quick, out of the box build, I tried to clean up the kit hose (on the left). I managed to get it looking a bit better, but I couldn’t bring myself to use it as it doesn't look good and is completely flat on the back. I’d saved a cable from a pair of old in-ear headphones because the wire is very, very fine (ideal for simulating rope in 1/72 & 1/48) it didn’t occur to me that the rubber bit would be useful as well. I just used the nozzle from the kit part on my new hose.
In the last photo you’ll see I’ve replace the mudguards as well. The kit parts are much too thick. I wrapped a strip of 0.25mm plastic around a back wheel then clipping it with reverse tweezers I dunked it in boiling water and left to cool overnight.
Headlights.
I’ve seen loooooads of photos of C-Type Fodens, some don’t have headlights at all (the easiest option). Some have modernish looking headlights (the next easiest option) and some have old fashion, brass, gas headlights. Guess which option I went for?
The easiest way to hollow a cavity is to insert a scalpel and twist. I don't recommend that for dental work.
This is the front towing point. I’ve also replaced the wheel thing on the front of the boiler as the original is moulded on. Shame really as it was the best moulding on the kit. 😄
Typically, I don’t like the suggested colour scheme so I’m going for one I’ve seen online. Ooooobviously me being me, my chosen scheme will be more complicated. If you recognise this blue it’s same as I used on my Fowler traction engine – Tamiya X-4.
Drat, that wasn’t entirely successful. I knew the masking wouldn’t be perfect as this is an awkward bugger to mask properly. I think the red might have been too thin and it crept under the tape. Looks like I’ve got quite a bit of tidying up to do.
Decals are demonic. Goes without saying, even if I just said it. 😳
I read up on using Microscale Liquid Decal Film as I haven’t used it for donkey’s years (why the hell do we say that?). I applied the decal liquid 20 mins before I intended to use as recommended and it worked really well…..but the decals were duff anyway. This decal hasn’t broken up it just that register is so far out the blue (which is supposed to be a drop shadow) covers areas of the gold lettering. Obviously my choice of blue for the body wasn’t ideal with regard to the decals, I wasn’t fussed about that but the gold lettering would have been nice.
I considered redrawing and printing them myself but I didn’t want to waste my time.
I decided it looked nice without it which solved the problem very nicely. 🙂
After final assembly and even more paintwork touching-up I wanted to make a very simple base.
This is just a small bit of insulation foam which I pressed 3mm square tube quite a few times. Doesn’t take long though.
Then coated with dilute PVA to seal, black primer, and then chucked nine different colours onto it. Bughunter recommended going bold with the colours from his own experience...I chickened out and the boldest could I used was mid brown.
Then more PVA, gloss varnish then swamped it with dark, dirty wash. Finally wiped the surface with turps so the top of the sets were lighter and slightly glossy.
I haven’t got room for one of these fancy photo tents so I use my spray booth, which has built-in lighting. For directional, spot lighting I use my DIY torch. The light is very bright so the kitchen towel diffuses it nicely. Makes the light less harsh. It makes changing the direction of the lighting very easy.
Notice the front of the booth and the background card is raised, which makes it easier to get low angle shots.
I like steam lorries. There you go, I've said it! 😳
Some other counties used steam wagons but Britain was addicted to them long after the rest of the world discovered diesel. They were antiquated, slower, heavier, less efficient and a generally a bit on the ridiculous side…. so obviously I'm going to like them. 🙂
The Keil Kraft kit is about as basic as my grasp of Mandarin. This is going to take a bit of work….
Some people might think that detailing a tiny model is a bit of a pain. They would probably called 'normal'.
Some people might think that using many hours to detail a tiny plastic kit is 'wasting your life'. That would probably be 99.5% of the population.
Some people might think my efforts on my tiny little inconsequential model aren't precise enough and are therefore, sacrilege. Lets call them 'a bit of a dick'.
This is the bit I enjoy, and what is a 'hobby' if it isn't passing the time in a pleasurable way until they finally nail the lid closed. Is it any more a waste of time than writing a book or composing a symphony?
Well obviously it is. 😄
Now, I'm not saying that I'm producing something which is entirely accurate. I'm saying it's "well, sort of" and "It's better than it was". It's mainly to busy up a previously basic kit and to waste my life in a way that I think is entertaining and relatively harmless… other than the paint vapour, glue fumes, resin dust, scalpel wounds, gluing myself to various objects with super glue, wrestling with carpet monsters, being buried in an avalanche as a result of an unstable stash mountain, being attacked by a rivet counter driven mad by Trumpeters aircraft design team.…. all reasonable dangers I'll think you'll agree.
