Kubelwagen conversion

Here's my first completed conversion project - a plastic static kit modified to fit a slot car chassis.  Starting point is Tamiya's Kubelwagen Type 82 kit:

It has a fair few pieces although of course a number of them (e.g. axles and wheels) are not required.

The model is 1:35, a little bit smaller than the 1:32 Scalextric scale as you can see from the chassis and underpan in the photo below:

So the chassis needed shortening and trimming, the axles were cut down, and the underpan had a hole cut into it for the motor (leading to the unfortunate thumb injury...).  After building the model and completing the chassis, this is the state before final assembly and painting:

And the finished article, painted up for use in North Africa:

In the original model, the driver's door is open and the driver is facing out of the car with one foot out.  After some delicate surgery, I repositioned his legs so he could properly sit in the car to drive it around the track.

The next project is a British equivalent to race against!

Achtung Spitfire!

I'm still waiting to find a Triumph Spitfire Mark IV kit to match the one I owned a decade ago...

...but in the meantime, I thought I'd build a Supermarine Spitfire Mark 22/24, purchased with some Christmas money from my Dad:

This is a 1:32 scale model i.e. the same scale as Scalextric, so once completed it can be suspended above the track as if in the midst of an air display.  Even though this model is post-war, the clincher for this kit was the inclusion of several sets of transfers allowing the re-creation of a particular plane based at Ta' Qali in Malta in 1949.

I was never into Airfix much as a kid.  I remember making a Space Shuttle and probably made a handful of planes, but those were in the standard (smaller) 1:72 scale.  This is quite a kit and has well over a hundred parts:

There is lots of detail on the kit and I found myself following the instructions and painting things that you'll never see once the kit is completed!  Here's the pilot (complete with squadron leader moustache and full instrumentation) before the other half of the fuselage was glued on.

After a lot more glueing, painting, varnishing and applying decals, here's the finished plane (with hand for scale!):

Close-up of Biggles and some of the detailed decals:

With engine cover removed:

With machine gun covers removed:

The underside:

Note bandaged thumb.  Squeamish readers skip to the next photo.  I was cutting some plastic for another project and the blade of the craft knife snapped, and I put the broken end of the blade right through my thumbnail.  It now has an 8mm x 1mm wide slot.  Ouch.

The Spitfire flying above the Highwood Circuit:

Before the Aston Martin...

I re-read Casino Royale recently and particularly enjoyed the following passage:

Bond's car was his only personal hobby.  One of the last 4 1/2-litre Bentleys with the supercharger by Amherst Villiers, he had brought it almost new in 1933 and had kept it in careful storage during the war.  It was still serviced every year and, in London, a former Bentley mechanic, who worked in a garage near Bond's Chelsea flat, tended it with jealous care.  Bond drove it hard and well and with an almost sensual pleasure.

I knew there was another reason I was attracted to this car!

And for a bit of Bond silliness, here's an almost hypnotic clip of all the "double-oh"s from the movies:

Andy's 50th Birthday Track (Part 2 of 2)

I changed the flag on an old Scalextric flagpole to represent the 18th hole and found a little white round-headed pin to represent a golf ball.

The mini-roundabout:

Another shot of the pin and one of the bunkers:

And finally, a video of the track being tested.

Andy's 50th Birthday Track (Part 1 of 2)

After the success of my Top Gear test track, I thought I'd make something similar for Andy's birthday so that he could test and tune his cars before bringing them round for racing on the Highwood Circuit.

I wanted to build something a bit bigger than the Top Gear track with a longer route.  I started with the same 2 feet by 4 feet board but didn't shape this one other than rounding off the corners and adding a carry handle.

The concept was a main road with a mini-roundabout and a junction, but then the route would see the car doing doughnuts around the bunkers and green of a golf course - hence the name "The 18th Hole" and the choice of a VW Golf as the accompanying car.

The initial rough sketch (just about discernible):

After routing:

After initial painting:

After laying the copper tape:

And finally, after adding the dirt road and the tracks where the car has churned up the fairway:

Andy's 50th Birthday car

I bought a brand new Spirit model of a VW Golf in Jagermeister livery, and then proceeded to take it apart and strip everything off it, including wing mirrors, windscreen wipers, petrol cap and lights.

I resprayed the car in French Blue over a grey undercoat, and repainted the figures in their orange overalls so that the driver was in blue and the co-driver in pink.  I also painted the roll cage.

I numbered the car with 50 on the bonnet and doors, and added the driver and co-driver names to the top of the windshield.

A personalised number plate...

...and the car was completed.  A special edition of 1!

The Flying Squad's Mini?

The companion to the rally Cooper is this Morris Mini in police livery.

A few years back, during the GB Wales Rally, the police rather unsportingly put up speed traps between the stages to catch unwary competitors and spectators.  In (dis)honour of that event, this police Mini can chase the rally version around my track.

I found this photo of an original version.  I can't imagine suspects were routinely held in the back!

The Flying Finn's Mini

The first of a pair of original Minis from Scalextric is this 1966 Morris Mini Cooper S which won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1967 driven by Rauno Aaltonen, the "Flying Finn".  A tiny yet highly detailed model:

The real car is now at the Heritage Motor Centre at Gaydon and here's a photo I took of it a few years ago:

And here's the real thing in action:

Aaltonen's son now runs an ice driving school and has a replica of the Mini Cooper - see it in action here or embedded below.