I've been a bit jaded recently. Lots of (proper) work with silly hours and "relaxing" with modelling projects that simply haven't worked out. To be honest I've wondered if stamp collecting wouldn't be more fun.
I knew what I needed - something nice and simple to make. A bag of bits that just need to be stuck together. No soldering. No spray painting. No pressure.
Digging around in the unbuilt kit pile I found this little beauty. A whitemetal kit for a Ford Y van from Malvern Manufacturing Ltd. Bought from a stand at an exhibition somewhere that I can no longer remember, it's doubtless been superseded by something ready to use and die cast. That doesn't matter, I can reduce the kit pile and make something suitable for a future project.
The kit is nicely cast with just a bit of flash in the rear windows. The lattice work wheels are very nice and the big surprise is that rubber tyres are provided . Not sure why really as you can't tell what they are made from when painted and casting the wheels as a whole would almost certainly result in something rounder. The instructions are a work of art featuring hand drawn exploded diagrams in that slightly amateurish style I would so love to be able to emulate.
And guess what ? One of the headlights is missing. So I have to do some work after all, but I do have a plan...
2 comments:
Thank you for the compliment, Phil! I did those instructions, back in 1979. I did the whole range, and made some of the masters for their range of lineside features. The dog on the lineside header is my old mutt, Amber, now chasing sheep among the clouds.
Malvern never paid me for the work I did for them, despite my constant nagging, so it's nice to get a bit of feedback, even if it is 21 years late!!
Well I think those drawings are little works of art and really add something to the kit.
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