Bedford QL relic @ 24th scale

[turtle]

Hi all,
First off, been lurking in the background as an unregistered viewer for some time now but have been bullied into joining (thanks Gordon F  ), so here I am.
Second, in the words of Bill & Ted kneeling before Alice Cooper "I'm not worthy", I'm somewhat embarrassed to show my feeble attempts at modelling  .

My main interest used to be de-mobbed military vehicles @ 24th/25th scale, so when I saw a Bedford QL just out of Hamilton NZ it just had to become a 'project', so here goes (please note this was back in 1998/1999  ):

A couple of shots of the 1:1






found some plans in a book "Bedford, To Berlin and Beyond" so off I went with the hack'n'slash:






Feel free to point out any faults, comments good/bad or indifferent gratefully accepted.
More to follow if thought worthwhile  .
Cheers for having me here.

[1-32]

looks good just keep moving forward i will love to see the finished product
regards kim

[turtle]

Cheers Kim.
Had forgotten most of you guys won't know what a Bedford QL is  , so:






Also I should mention that this was built then given away for someone else to paint  , I'm a builder not a painter  , however things are slowly improving on the painting aspect.

[turtle]

A few more chassis and tyre shots, all the tyres (tires) are scratchbuilt (3 different tread patterns  ):










At some stage in the near future I plan to build another one so your critique would be appreciated on where I could improve/alter.
Many thanks.

[finescalerr]

It's really pretty hideous so far -- but let's see how things develop. -- Russ

[Ray Dunakin]

First off, welcome aboard! Secondly, wow! Great modeling!

How did you scratch-build the tires?

[Juke Joint]

A scratch built low tire no less?...... awesome work!

Philip

[Chuck Doan]

Excellent work! Looking forward to more.

[turtle]

Hello all,
Many thanks for the welcome and comments.
Ray - the tyres (tires) are built by the simple method of various thickness disks glued together, then turned down to size and shape, a pattern is marked out on 0.13mm (.005") sheet and the treads laid onto that, once done this piece is then rolled around and glues to the 'buck' and sidewall detail added. Pretty basic stuff - if I can do it then anyone can do it  . I have photos of the process if you wish to see them !.
Anywho, heres the next basic bit of fabrication, the cab, built using all the available technology of the time - vac-forming and good old fashioned modelling methods  :






Cheers for looking in.

[turtle]

Continuation....
and a few shots of the cab and chassis mockup:







As always, comments good/bad or indifferent appreciated, for me it's the best way of casting a critical eye on my modelling attempts.
Thanks

[Carlo]

Please show your technique for making the tyres (tires).
Carlo

[Ray Dunakin]

Amazing work!

Yes, please show some pics of the "tyre" construction.

[turtle]

For Carlos and Ray and anyone else that's interested,



First off cut as many disks as needed, cut slightly oversize to allow for turning down, I use various thicknesses to suit each tyre.



Throw some glue at them to laminate to the required thickness, the different coloured marker on them is my 'cheat' method of depth gauging when turning down - i.e. when I reach a red disk it's time to stop and turn down the next inner diameter etc.



The poor man's lathe  , only use this method if you have a suitable speed controller, I normally have a card template of the side profile I want, that way both sides end up the same.



The tread pattern. A bit of math involved here i.e. circumference divided by number of treads etc. Mark these out on 0.13mm (.005") sheet (very lightly scribed), then start glueing the tread blocks.
For slightly more intricate treads I'll printout the tread and tack glue or double sided tape it to the tread thickness backing sheet and cut these out




A lightbox is handy when glueing to the thin backing sheet



Once everything is glued down, it's then just a matter of carefully wrapping the tread around the tyre blank and glueing, later the sidewall tread (if it has some) and details can be added.

Sorry can't seem to locate the photo's of the later stages but I'm sure modellers of your calibre can easily work it out.

And at the end we should have something like:




I've used this method since the mid 80's and in scales ranging from 1/76th to 1/16th. Like all modelling methods/techniques it's just a case of adapting to suit your style and tools.

HTH.

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks, that's very helpful! Great stuff!

[finescalerr]

I've only seen paper modelers build up tires in that way. Sometimes they use laser cut treads and I'm sure that saves a lot of time. I just love watching something of that quality come together piece by piece. -- Russ