Bill Ev's Matchbox Bantam Karrier Restoration

I decided to restore my Matchbox 2 Ton Coca Cola Bantam Karrier No 37.

Again, Plastikote did an almost exact match for the yellow paint colour. But it was a bugger to get an absolutely even coverage, as the toy is so small.

Again my trusty laser printer created the transfers which were glazed with some more Johnsons Klear. Although they were very fiddly to get straight and in the exact place the old ones were.

Here is the end result from toybox chipped to back on the display shelf.

Hope you like it.

Bill Everett

Wales

Bill Ev's Corgi Cadillac Ambulance Restoration

Sometime around 1966, I bought a Corgi Cadillac Ambulance.  As a little kid, I was attracted to the flashing light on the roof, and didn't consider the colour scheme.  By 1967, I had decided that I really did not like the Red and White livery and did something about it with a newly acquired can of white spray paint.

Sometime later, I discovered how to mask painted areas and added some nifty orange stripes and shapes.  By 1969/1970, I had tired of most of my toy cars, so into the toy box it was consigned.

Now, nearly 60 years have passed since I parted with my pocket money to buy the ambulance.  When I discovered it alongside the SHADO Interceptor, James Bond DB5 and the Thrushbuster, it was clearly another candidate for restoration.  To begin with, I resisted the temptation to jazz it up like the Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Ectomobile.  But I did research up if it was sold in a different livery.  I quite liked the White and Light Blue scheme, so I pressed ahead with that.  To begin with, it had a good soaking in a cellulose paint thinners, and after 24 hours all the paint had gone.

Next, it was sprayed white with a cadmium white colour spray paint.

The last process was somewhat fiddly masking off the areas to be pained blue and silver.  But the job was completed without much fuss, and it was on to putting the water slide transfer's on. These were incredibly fiddly, and it took a bit of positioning to get them close to right.

And then I attempted to lacquer it. God knows what was in the Plastikote clear lacquer, as it turned everything to crazy paving and dissolved the printing on both the transfer's and the number plates which Terranova had kindly sent from America to me, to complete the project!

I was gutted...

But, I'd spent some money to complete this damn thing. So back into the cellulose thinners it went, to repeat the whole process from scratch. However, I was not prepared to spend even more money on correcting this mistake. So I designed my own Red Cross bonnet transfer, and replicated the lettering to print both on my own water slide paper.

There was no way, that I was risking spraying clear lacquer again, [even a different brand] so I turned to my vintage supply of trusty Johnson's Klear.  Many people think this is floor polish, but its actually a water based acrylic varnish, which once dry can only be removed with ammonia! It also dries to a completely brushless shiny finish.

After an overnight stay in the warm conditions of my studio, and I finally had the completed upper chassis.  This was then bolted to the cleaned lower wheelbase, and the final work started on the battery case.  The original had long gone, so I sourced one off eBay.

And now, the end result, joining its siblings in the display case, with a replicated Terranova number plate.

And yes, I do have a Dinky FAB1 - I'll need to get some replacement parts for this, including Parker, who has gone AWOL since 1966. A restoration of this will be following.

And a question for the readers.  What brand/exact colour will be needed to accurately repaint FAB1? - I heard that the colour is called "Shocking Pink", but locating it is proving to be difficult.  Can the readers help and advise?

Paul V's SpaceX Junkyard Ten Years On

Ten years ago my friend Paul Vreede found some rather sorry looking SpaceX custom wrecks.

You can re-read the full story here, of how Paul found them and what glories emerged from the salvage!

https://projectswordtoys.blogspot.com/2015/05/back-on-track-by-paul-vreede.html

In summary, pictures tell the story really well too.

Before ....

And after! 

The restored Apollo Tracker!

And a custom 'Surveyor' Project SWORD Moon Crawler ( blogged recently, which Paul kindly gave to me).

I'm sure you'll agree Paul did a sterling job fixing up those original junkers. 

Paul still has a few Crawler parts spare if anyone would like to have a go at making one. Just email me.

Ed's New Moonscape Diorama Project

Woodsy,

I started this new diorama base project back in May and this is as far as I've gotten.

Except for the cheap framing, I already had the other materials on hand and decided they needed to be put to use. It's 48" x 38.5" and consists of two sheets of Masonite, glued and tacked onto a frame of fake wood (don't know what they call it but it's a plastic-like material), over which 1" sheets of Styrofoam are glued.

The crater rim is sheets of 1" Styrofoam cut and glued to the board. To finish this, I'll need to carve the foam to its final shape, cover everything with plaster (or similar), and then paint.

Here's the kicker: I can't do all that carving, plastering, and painting in the house, so it'll need to be done outside but it's gotten warm out there (we're looking at 112°F/44°C out on the patio). Plus, I have other things going on in my life.

Hopefully I can re-engage this project this coming Autumn.

The first two photos show the work in progress. The third photo was taken a few days ago after pulling out some of my SpaceX Moonbase HQ's to visualize what a set-up would look like.

See what you think.

From Vegas MoonBase

Ed

The Few Go Camping!

They say the longest journey starts with a single step, and my puppet film project has it's first completed filming miniature!

While researching RAF airfields, I came across a photo in the Imperial War Museum archives.

It was a civilian caravan that had been painted in camouflage and was being used as a Dispersal shack by Hurricane Fighter pilots.

It seemed odd and yet perfect, so I researched more deeply. I shared that information with my co-worker and fact checker, intending to get an approval before I built it Old School style using cardboard and a steel ruler. Taking a break from building a 1/3 scale Spitfire cockpit, he drew up and laser-cut a 1/12 scale prototype kit from MDF before I knew it!

Perfectly following my specifications, it eased my workload, but still allowed me a bit of Old School cutting joy on the window frames!

Then I airbrushed the camouflage and got into detailing and weathering. Because my film will be shot in 4K resolution, I've had to be very subtle with these effects. My old chemical film resolution techniques are too coarse for today's technology. What the eye sees, the camera now sees...

The old motto "You'll never see it" no longer holds true.

The 1940s style cartoon is a story point, where the established pilots make fun of our heroine because of her short stature.

The Squadron crest is a Hedgehog and the Latin motto roughly translates as "Beware the pricks" something she is acutely aware of!

Oh, Derek Meddings! The life you made me follow!

Looey

Oz Base

Ed's Hangar Background

Woodsy,

Here's a few shots showing how I did the hangar background for my air field diorama board.

I took photos of several different types of hangars while attending air shows at Nellis AFB (I'm only showing one here though).

Any distractions - like modern era halogen lights - were Photoshopped out, the photos printed on heavy cardstock, then mounted to foamcore.

I attached a flap at the back with about 2" sticking below the bottom of the foamcore which allowed me to insert the photo between the back of the diorama base and the larger backdrop.

This prevents the photo from just flopping over as well as allowing me to place it anywhere I like. So far, it's worked pretty good.

The in-progress photos were taken on my older 20" x 8ft shelf runway where I used Woodland Scenics 'Top Coat - Concrete' as the color for my ramp (the area in front of the hangars).

It is more of a tan color but did the job for me at the time. You'll notice however that the photo of the actual hangar shows a more realistic light gray forward of the doors, and this is how the new board is painted.

From Vegas Air Field

Ed

MJ's Star Trek Lego Short

https://youtube.com/shorts/GYNjkTUYdoY?si=k7ISm6EIv79dWZG9

in space no one can hear you scream when you stand on a lego brick!

Enjoy!

Marky Bats

Southcoast Base

Readers' Andersons: 2. Rob's MSV 2.0: Mars Scout Vehicle

Woodsy,

Here is my reimagining of the Captain Scarlet MSV kit by Imai. I call it “MSV 2.0: Mars Scout Vehicle.”

I tried to make the vehicle look like the cousin of the great Zero-X, assigned to scouting missions on Mars.

Fandersons may find it sacrilegious, but I hope some of you “get it.”

Rob C

USA

Readers' Andersons: 1. Kevin's Model Space 1999 Hawk

Just finished building the 10 inch kit of the MPC kit of the Space 1999 Hawk (bought recently in my local model shop can you believe?).

Took longer to apply the 100 decals than to build and paint the thing!

Cheers,

Kevin

UK

Ed's New Runway Diorama/Display/Photo Board

Woodsy,

Back in 2018 I built a runway project out in The Cave, a 20"D x 96" (8ft) L runway to display various space and aircraft toys on for photography.

 It was a good concept but ended up falling flat.

Why? Well, first and foremost it was a shelf - a long shelf - and I really needed that space to store toys on. Secondly, in order for me to take in all 8ft in one photo, I'd have to knock a hole in the opposite wall and make the shot from outside!

I've had a couple of 2'x4' framed pieces of particle board sitting out in The Cave waiting for me to come up with some kind of idea for their eventual use. I thought, heck, I have soooo many spaceships, aircraft, helicopters, hangars, launch pads, etc., it's nutz - and no decent way to photograph them. The project isn't finished yet, but just good enough to start taking photos on, which I will send in a follow-up e-mail. The project was worked on top of our washer and dryer out in The Cave as shown in these photos.

From Vegas Air Field

Ed