Back in what we call "the good old days", if you wanted a model car, you had to build the thing yourself. None of this nipping down the local model shop for something diecast. When Melbridge Dock was built, the only scale diecast cars were a set of open-top sports numbers from EFE. And you had to buy them in sets of four.
Wanting something more traditional for the corner of the layout, I picked up a Springside four door Morris Minor whitemetal kit.
It wasn't pretty.
My experience of the firms vehicle kits has never been good - part fit is often poor and they don't look quite right. Odd really, as the same people produce loco kits that in my (and others) opinion are superb.
The Moggie kit included 2 roof mouldings, which was handy as I used both of them since neither was long enough. At the time, I'd have been much happier with a diecast. As I recall, the model is soldered together. That sounds harder than glue but when making two roof parts become one (to paraphrase the famous Spice Girls song on the subject of kitbuilding) it's easier as the "glue" is also a filler.
None of this explains why, when searching through my stash of old kits, I found another example. Must be a glutton for punishment...
1 comment:
I remember building a two door Minor. It was awfull, but as you say there wasn't much else available at the time. I gave up on the Triumph Herald, even though I owned a full-sized one at the time.
Despite preferring to build kits wherever possible I can't help feel that the new die-cast cars are a good thing. Especially when toned down and lightly weathered.
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