I know I own several examples, the two pictured are just the ones that came to hand quickly for a picture. There are some tall body versions, and I'm sure at least one tanker.
There's no need to me to buy more. While once this was pretty much the only way to add a lorry to your layout for sensible money, now we are spoiled for choice thanks to the efforts of Oxford Diecast. Even if I really needed lorries, none of the ones I own are gloued down, I can just move them to the latest model
It's not even that accurate a kit, being a bit of a hybrid between two prototypes. The finished model certainly looks the part though. Just the right amount of vintage, from the days when lorries pottered around at 20-30mph.
Although I always rate a Cooper Craft kit, this is a bit fiddly to assemble. Lining up the two sides of the chassis would be a lot easier with some positive location pins to show you exactly where to put the chassis spacers. Mind you, the moudings are nice and crisp for the cam detail. Where that wing mirror fits is a bit of a mystery though.
So it's not that acurate, nor really easy to assemble, but I still can't resist a reasonably priced example.
Why?
Hi Phil, yes I agree. Mind you, after this post, you have driven up the eBay prices!!
ReplyDeleteI do keep meaning to build one as close to a prototype as possible - but I doubt there would be much left. This is the closest fit I've found recently https://www.imcdb.org/v910756.html
ReplyDeleteI have had a few of these over the decades, the latest being a tanker bought at the Folkestone show last autumn along with several of their wagon kits.
ReplyDeletePerhaps their enduring appeal is due to them being nicely moulded kits and still pretty widely available, albeit mostly second hand.
A later Cooper Craft kit I'm part way through (a Bedford) is much harder work with a lot of filling, sanding and industrial language involved, perhaps that's why you don't see so many of them.
Would I buy more? Probably, as they don't tend to be silly money.
Simon - That Bedford is the work of the devil. A terrible kit. I built one in 2014: https://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/search?q=bedford As I recall, talking to the man who started the firm, it was the only kit bought in, presumably why it's not as good as the rest.
ReplyDeleteJames - I think this is the point. It would be an interesting exercise, but not much of the model would be left. That's one of the reasons I can't quite fathom my love of this kit.
Ian - If eBay prices rise, perhaps I better sell some of mine and retire to a superyacht!
Phil, aren't there certain models we have an inordinate affection for because at the time they seemed state of the art, even though things have moved on? Especially those we didn't actually own at the time they came out but just coveted in adverts and reviews? Or simply the models we cut our teeth on.
ReplyDeleteGood point. This kit appeared in what I consider the golden age of modelling of the late 80s to early 90s. It really was state of the art then.
ReplyDeleteBecause it has character? Even if the wheels look for too small for the seemingly overscale cab. Or because there's few 1930s lorries on the market. Seeing one on a layout is a bit of a cliche tho', in an eye-spy-at-the-trainshow kind of way.
ReplyDeleteI have three, two in my display cabinet and one unbuilt.
Thanks for the link to your Bedford build(s) Phil, most useful and pretty similar to my memory of building my example. Seeing my tanker in its plastic bag with header card does bring back teenage memories of various model shops, most (but not all) now gone...
ReplyDeleteSimon.
Paul, It also has potential. The work needed to make a more prototypical, or a more typical, lorry from it is relatively minor and mostly involves jobs anyone could do.
ReplyDeleteRemove the raised beading on the cab.Or add it across the front to resemble this https://heritagemachines.com/wp-content/uploads/1-Malc-March-1.jpg
Replace the bars across the windshield with ones closer to the bottom.
Possibly add a triangle of plasticard at the base of the windshield, or file the body to give the same effect.
Sand down the cab roof to make it more internal with the body, or replace it.
Swap the radiator for an Albion one
And yes, if possible do something about the wheels.
Do those things and I bet some people wouldn't recognise it, at least not at first glance