Foden and Atkinson cabs

[voyager]

Ok, it is about time I posted something and Gordon has been pushing me due to ulterior motives!

As my original introduction (for those with good memories) I am generally a truck modeller, however I don't have much interest in newer stuff, preferring the old British "lorries". With not many kits available, I thought about scratch building but having some small experience in home casting, thought I would try and make them castable, both for myself and also to market them. Obviously over here in good old Blighty, there are plenty of these on the preservation scene and many turn up at the largest rally/show at Gaydon where we truck modellers also have the largest display of our models so out with the camera and tape measure!

These are the first two cabs of a planned series which will need either a donor truck kit for chassis and engine or further scratch building.

First up is a Foden S18 cab. Built up from plasticard, apologies for photo quality, I tend to snap away during work. I have been kindly offered a mini studio for future pictures....













The other is an Atkinson Mark 1. The later Borderer has been reproduced in resin by Kit Form Services so I have done the earlier version. I thought it was similar to the later cab but the only bit they share is the headlights so again, this is pretty much all plasticard!







These are now ready for casting and to have the photo etch parts produced so will be sent to a friend of mine for both these areas to be done - so now Gordon can pester him!

[voyager]

This is what he Foden should look like when completed

[Gordon Ferguson]

Well done Andrew, look forward to seeing the Foden , ASAP  

Appreciate you are only sorting the cab out , any recommendations for the wheels and tyres?

You just have to be careful not to upset your potential customer base  

[voyager]

 Wheels and tyres likely to be sorted at the same time as the cab etc



I know you are after early wheels and tyres so you never know.....

[Barney]

Nice bit of scratch building. What's the scale
Barney
A note for Gordon "just look at lovely clean cutting mat"

[Andi Little]

Great job Andrew ......... a sound base - it offers up well to your references too. Plus one more for pestering on the wheels and tyres - You can put me on the customer list too.

Good job!

[voyager]

Cheers guys,

Barney, they are 1/24th scale. I will have a word with my friend Steve who will be doing the casting concerning the wheels and tyres

[Ray Dunakin]

Very nice!

I'm curious about the silvery quilted thing in the cab. The silver image looks much smoother than the dark colored version. Is it foil pressed over a putty base?

[voyager]

Ray, the grey one in the Foden was made from Milliput and has been primed. I thought it was quite thick and also not as easy to make as I would like so for the Atkinson, I used thick foil (actually the foil seal from the top of a coffee whitener powder) cut to size then I used a pencil to make the 'quilting'. For those non-Brits, these early lorries (sorry, trucks!) had a lot of heat and noise coming into the cab from the engine which was directly under that hump so people put quilted covers over them for insulation.

[marc_reusser]

I have to say, I find these simply wonderful. Lovely scratch work.

I am very curious, how you went about forming and creating the nice even and consistant, compond curves on the cab front/edges.

Mrc

[Malachi Constant]

I have to say, I find these simply wonderful. Lovely scratch work.

I am very curious, how you went about forming and creating the nice even and consistant, compond curves on the cab front/edges.

Mrc

Ditto and me too (on the how you did it bit!)    -- Dallas

[voyager]

The Foden (first one) has all sides laminated from three layers of 0.20 plasticard and shaped ribs on the insides where the original would have shaped wooden ribs panelled with steel so a similar construction which gives the shape. I also shaped the front corners of the floor pan so that when pushed in from below it actually helps hold the front corners in a curved shape.

I cheated a little for the Atkinson. My friend Pete mastered a Borderer (later) cab originally and cast some up. Unfortunately he was given measurements for the Mark 1 and Borderer cabs which are quite different so ended up with a bit of a mismatch. He was kind enough to give me a cab so I cut it up to use. In hindsight I would have been better going from scratch as I had to cut so much off and then join plastic to resin but it did help with those front corners and he had been good enough to give me the cab I wanted to use some of it.



This shows part way along the process

You can see how much had to change including narrowing the resin cab and making  the lower part under the grille area



Thanks for the comments

[finescalerr]

It almost looks as though you would have been better off to scratch build the resin parts. Your styrene work appears to be a little more precise than the casting. -- Russ