Flashback Friday gives me a chance to post up some older projects that I completed somewhere back in the mists of time. Most will be in finished condition, but a few should include some in progress pictures.
To start the series with something simple, here's a pair of Oxford Diecast trucks from their 1/148 (UK N Scale) range that have seen a fresh coat of paint and a few minor tweaks. If I were selling them, I guess the diecast world would call them Code 3s.
Retailing at around a tenner, these models provide a great place to start if you're new to repainting and detailing models, their low cost removing a large percentage of the trepidation! The main thing to beware of is the fact that the mouldings are clear plastic, which means you need to look after the window areas whilst painting. It does give a nice flush glazed look, but don't forget to mask the inside of the glazing too!
Both models started out with curtainside trailers, the Mercedes had a straight swap with another model, whilst the Scania had a new body built for the existing chassis. Before and after:
The Mercedes is a straight repaint, though the trailer sides have been clad in plastic sheet and had the top sheet remade in tissue paper. On the other hand, the Scania has gained new side skirts between the front and rear wheels as well as exhaust pipes made up from brass tube, these additions both requiring a lot of grinding and filing of the metal chassis. Both models benefit from spotlights from FKS Modellbau, too.
The trailer behind the Scania uses the chassis from an Oxford curtainside, with the raised mouldings ground off. A scratchbuilt plastic deck is added, before the bogies from a Dapol Mk3 carriage are added as a load. The straps are Tamiya masking tape, cut into strips with the ends superglued down. The trailer still needs a bit more work, so I'll cover this here when I do.
Home made waterslide decals were used on both vehicles, the design being aided by the white base to the liveries. The Scania was easy enough to produce, the cab side logos and front branding in black but the Mercedes needed test prints of various blues to get a match to the paint I used. As well as this, a couple of hours in Photoshop were spent redrawing the livery elements, tracing photos to provide the correct typefaces and the fantastic Wiltshire flag on the trailer. Time put in here really pays dividends, simply resizing a photo won't result in such a crisp finish. The simpler typeface on the cab could be reproduced more easily using a font that's a near match to simply type the text.
I could have gone for a simple fictitious livery like the Scania, but I chose M&N Transport livery as I have seen plenty of their trucks on the roads around here and I rather like the county flag proudly worn on the trailer.
A little trick with the front number plates on both models was to print them on decal paper, but cut out and glue them on with the backing still attached to give the look of a separate plate.
That brings us to the end of this first Flashback Friday, hopefully seeing what can be done to personalise these pocket money wonders has encouraged you to pick up a paintbrush and have a go yourself. Simply painting the black plastic tyres with a dark grey or adding custom decals to a plain white van will get you started at making each model your own. Go on, give it a go and have some fun!
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