Old Builds

[Nick Allen]

Every so often, I look at some of the models I've built over the years. Sometimes I shudder to think did I really build that? Then there are times when I seem to be looking at an old friend, a model that has taught me so much. Here's a couple of my old builds, both over 10 years old. First is the 1926 Mack AC ...

... it was given to be as a built model by a friend who emigrated to Australia, rather than give it away or destroy it, he wanted it to go somewhere it would be appreciated. I'd had it a couple of years on display, but then I thought why not strip it down and rebuild it? ... so I did. It had been put together with the old tube styrene glue, and painted in water based paints. I stripped it down to manageable chunks, those sections which would not separate, I cleaned them up as best I could, and then reassembled the model. I painted it in enamels and then started to weather it. It received a couple of black washes, using thinned black enamel, this dulled the paintwork and gave a good base for the pastels. The rust was achieved using a soldering iron with a pointed tip, just touching the plastic enough to mark it, then the damaged area was rubbed with a fine wet n' dry paper (wet), and then the area was washed before finally attacking the rusted area with various shades of pastels. The plastic seats and cab floor were replaced with wood, the roof was given a covering of leathercloth, and then gently picked with the tip of a scalpel in order to simulate small tears. The engine was wired using photographs from a book by John B Montville. I learnt so much from this model, it really has become an old friend.

The second build is the Italeri Opel Blitz. again, this model taught me so much.

Nick.

[Sixties Sam]

Those trucks look great, Nick! They look like they had hard lives earning someone's living. Great realism!

Sam

[Nick Allen]

Those trucks look great, Nick! They look like they had hard lives earning someone's living. Great realism!

Sam

Sam, thankyou. As I mentioned in the post, they were built over 10 years ago, I've moved on a bit since then but now I've become self critical of everything I build, alway's striving for realism. Every now and again I stop and build something silly just to bring me down to earth and to prove that this is a hobby. I've been looking through this forum, mainly at the truck builds, there's some amazing builders on here, just when you think you've reached a certain standard, you find something that is mind blowing. This is a good site to spend a few hours browsing, thankyou for allowing me to rest here for a while. I have a couple of builds in progress, I'll post them here and look forward to your comments.

Nick.

Edited August 14, 2009 by Nick Allen