SAS Jeep Conversion

This is a companion for the VW Kubelwagen I converted in April.  Again the starting point was a 1/35 scale Tamiya plastic kit.

Lots and lots of pieces...

I shortened significantly a PCS slot car chassis...

... and cut out the floor plan of the jeep to accommodate the motor and cut a slot for the gear.

The jeep comes with all the requirements of long-range desert reconnaissance and actions behind enemy lines: spare tyres, plenty of jerrycans for gasolines, water bottles, single and double Vickers machine guns, spare ammo, sand-channels and a spade.

I had to modify the driver and passenger to ensure their legs fitted over the motor - a little light surgery below the knees.

Finally, all painted up, the finished model.  It runs perfectly on the track but one roll and it'll lose half the equipment, so I don't plan to race this one in anger.

One modification by the SAS can be seen at the front of the jeep.  They would cut off all but two of the radiator grill members to increase air intake and improve cooling.  To the front of the grill, they fixed a small cylindrical can linked to the radiator by a hose, to act as a condenser.  This ensures the precious water was cooled in the can and re-used whenever the radiator boiled.

Here's an original photo, which clearly inspired the Tamiya designer.

And lastly, here's the two North Africa vehicles together.

UK Slot Car Festival 2012

Andy and I went to the UK Slot Car Festival 2012 last weekend at the Heritage Motor Centre in Warwickshire.

As well as lots of traders and manufacturers, there were a couple of dozen tracks set up, including several rally stages: one through a construction site...

...another through a farm...

...and even one through a safari park...

Other highlights from the scenic tracks included this tractor pulling a rally car out of a river...

...and this crashed car that had glowing lights to represent an engine fire and real smoke:

I bought a couple of cars - one for conversion and one is a kit to build up, so I'll blog about those when they're completed.  In the meantime, here's some inspiration for John H: a couple of Land Rover conversions I spotted at the show:

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: