Mostly model photos
November 2023. I’d built one big crane, so the dining room table was starting to look like a dockyard already. What it needed was another crane, this time in blue, yellow and zinc. You can’t have too many cranes. Another 1970s outfit 9 model, and this one went together with no real problems. It looks good, if a bit weedy next to the hammerhead crane. I’ve no idea why there’s a 1″ rod at the top of the revolving column. I didn’t bother fitting one as it works fine without.
September 2023. I’d built the double decker bus with the No. 10 bits and wanted to build something else. It was too soon to break up the bus, so I built this breakdown lorry with my blue and yellow bits. It’s a good-enough model, but the suspension arrangement of the back wheels is just weird.
Build notes
The wordless instructions in the 1970s model manual leave something to be desired, particularly with this one. What on earth was supposed to be in the back of the truck in front of the crane? There’s no photo and the diagrams just don’t cut it. Luckily for me I wasn’t the first to hit this problem, and this video helped a lot. It also explains how you really mount the steering column – the diagram in the manual is just wrong.
With the help of Chris Harris’s video the model came together OK. I couldn’t be bothered to sort the barmy rear suspension out. The correct application of the right elastic bands would do it, but really the design is just too silly.
I built this one with my 1970s No. 9 Outfit, to go with the Transporter Bridge. Wrong scale of course, but what the heck. So this was February 2023. I’d not built this one before – I guess I’m a bit prejudiced against boat models as they only model the bit that’s out of the water, so they’re more of a toy than a model in my eyes.
I built it anyway, and it was relatively straightforward, with no major tweaks needed. I had to bend a few strips, which I’ve always been wary of, but I got away with it OK. (Note to self: finish that plate rolling machine. I’ve got the rollers now.) Not the most exciting build, but it went OK. And it’s a good-looking model.
