Vehicles

[Keith Hayes]

When Darel came over a while back,  he brought some nice ERTL cars brightly painted for a Dick Tracy promotion. I guess these are too 'newfangled' for Dickey.

They have been parked at the depot while I attend to other projects.

At the Sn3 Symposium in Seattle,  Warren Judge gave his clinic on painting figures and details. This is a great clinic,  and you really need to attend yourself to see Warren's step by step process.  Anyhow, Warren also shared how he modifies these inexpensive vehicles sold on the toy market.

While at the show,  I picked up a AHL Mack Model BM truck to work over too.

Step 1 is to drill out the rivets, and pull the body off the chassis. Take the tires off and gently remove the hubs from the axles.

Step 2, get some paint stripper from your local home store. You will also need some gloves, a toothbrush and a clean metal pan (a used store foil pie pane is perfect! ). Read the directions.  Pour the stripper into the tin and get it all over the parts. Wait per the direction--longer is better with my stuff --and watch the thick coat of paint crinkle up. After the appropriate amount of time,  use the toothbrush to scrub the paint off and rinse thoroughly under cold water.



Here are the bodies ready for some primer. You can see a car with the factory paint in the background. The detail is very nice for the price and these will make great vehicles for the layout without a ton of work. Google paint colors for the manufacturer and year, and you will get the correct colors each car was sold as. Some passenger car figures will lose their legs to serve as drivers.

[Keith Hayes]

After priming.

[Keith Hayes]

I confess I am not a 'car guy.' Growing up, we would see an old car pass by and my Dad would wistfully say there goes and old 'insert year and make here!' If it was my Grandfathers, they would give the car a less longing glance, as I sense they had spent too much time coaxing them over the road in Denver, Durango or points between.

The thing is, car guys have it figured out, and they have all kinds of great resources on the web. We train guys think we are wierd! The set I got was made for a Dick Tracy movie, but the original labels and the models themselves have no markings indicating the make and year. So I Googled the movie, and darn if there is not a whole subset of car-movie folks who pull stills and ID the cars!

The four cars appear to be a 1937 Studebaker Dictator; a 1937 Dodge D2 Wagon; a 1936 Ford Wagon; and a 1938 Ford Coupe. For reasons I don't know, there is a proliferation of Ford models in 1/64, so it is nice to get some variety for Leadville's streets.

With model and year in hand, you can turn to the internet and get paint chip cards to dial in the color!



Plus, you can check the model with the image search, and get an idea for the trim treatment: neat. Now the cars have a chance at being the proper color, and I can select some colors other than black.

[Chris Walker]

In Leadville, no less



http://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/8c31000/8c31600/8c31659v.jpg



http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa2000039839/PP/resource/

[Chris Walker]

and a couple more, taken in 1941.

http://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/8c16000/8c16000/8c16057v.jpg


http://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/fsa/8c16000/8c16000/8c16045v.jpg

[Keith Hayes]

Nice! Thanks Chris.

Nice to see a variety of light and dark colors too.

Now that I am back from vacation, it is time to turn my attention back to the cars. In the mean time, I found a source for truck models. I will share a post on these soon.

[Keith Hayes]

Over at Yahoo, someone shared that Hoquat Hobbies in NJ as a source for 3/16" scale trucks. Sure enough,  they have a great selection. I ordered five vehicles and they arrived in the mail this week.

They do not appear to be AHL models, as there are more screws and nuts holding them together. But the details are similar, can there is a nice variety of models and eras available.

Hoquat also has cars and figures.

[Ken Martin]

Lets see you put this car that is alongside the bus depot on your layout.

From a postcard of Central City



Ken Martin

[Robert McFarland]

Check out material on Floyd Clymer-both in automobiles and motorcycles.

[Robert McFarland]

McLaughlin's Pornographic Coffee?

[Chris Walker]

photo courtesy of the School of Mines.

The Roadster came over from Central  

[Tim Schreiner]

Chris, you always come up with the coolest pics!

[Chris Walker]

Thanks Tim, but I think Doug has by far, found some of the best, the Smith(or Bertha) Mill, the Wiley(Chamberlain) Sampler and now the I.S. Concentrator siding photos.


Main Street Idaho Springs

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/16771/rv/singleitem/rec/19

Gregory Street.  Blackhawk.

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/78796/rec/3 

Workers at the Climax expansion

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/36902/rv/singleitem/rec/23

Don't forget to give the Mine Owner a flash car.

http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/80825/rv/singleitem/rec/26

[Keith Hayes]

And don't forget to dress the mine owner in jodhpurs and a leather jacket!

[Jim Courtney]

Vehicle photos from the Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Color Photographs:

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?sp=1&co=fsac&st=grid

  WARNING!  Click on this link at your own risk!  If you do so, you will literally spend hours looking at over 1,600 photographs from the late 1930s to mid 1940s.  Think Dorthea Lange in color . . .

[Chris Walker]

Keith Hayes wrote

And don't forget to dress the mine owner in jodhpurs and a leather jacket!

At first glance I thought Chauffeur, but after viewing other underground views of the same mine I figured Mine owner.


Another beaut from the Gilpin County....


http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/39493/rv/singleitem/rec/574

[Chris Walker]

On Miner Street in Idaho Springs before the Truck.



from Idaho Springs Historical Soc.

[Keith Hayes]

I ordered some more Vallejo colors a while back and got out the airbrush today and pot some color on the cars.

The car on the left is a Dodge and the one in the middle is a Studebaker. That is a Ford in back as it came from ERTL / Disney.

The vehicle colors of the Era have a lot of black in them.

I still have to add some chrome around the front windshield, trim door handles and figure out what to do with the bumpers.

Oh, and add some drivers.

[Robert McFarland]

Is there any way to make the grills look like they're not solid?

[Chris Walker]

http://cdm16079.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/fullbrowser/collection/p15330coll22/id/78607/rv/singleitem/rec/649