Some time ago, I saw in Les Freathy's book a photo of a Bedford OXC Petrol being filled at a bulk petrol depot in France. I was really inspired to do it as I haven't done a Bedford since I did a conversion of the Airfix Bedford years ago to a GS and which we now know is vastly under scale for 1/76....more like 1/87 I believe. I set about gathering info from my friends over there and my thanks to Les, Dick Harley, Dave Rhodes, Mike Starmer and Mike Simpson for their input and Pete Marshall over this side in Michigan for his assistance as well with decals and casting. My first step was to select a suitable cab and while there are a few out there, the Oxford one seemed to be the closest to drawings from Dave Rhodes and as drawn by John Wilkes. A John Church drawing of the 1750 Gal tank was also used. I purchased an Oxford model, removed the cab and sent it to Pete Marshall who cast me a couple of copies that I could modify (resin being much easier than white metal). This I did and corrected the window openings, changed the shape of the grill opening and added a new grill. (If modelling the later versions like this one, a piece of fine screen has to be added over the flush grill as I did here). I also removed the back of the cab and about 1mm of material gluing it back into place and correcting the length. They were the main changes I needed to make to make it as close to John's drawing as possible. The rest was simple scratch-work making the chassis and the Scammell coupling and utilizing two of the Bedford refueller bodies from the Airfix kits to make the 1750 gallon tank. A number of photos were used especially for the Scammell coupling detail many provided by Dave. The tilt frame was made with .020" brass wire. Two of the figures are from the Airfix kits with Milicast heads and the chap with folded arms is a Milicast squaddie. The fueling stand was scratch-built based upon the photo as were the drums with funnels I assume were used to empty the content of the hoses so as not to waste any. Of course, some spillage would occur and is seen in the dirt track which also has a wire mesh underlay to support the weight of the trucks. Sorry for being so long winded but more info is better than not enough. Cheers, Neil
Neil do you show your models or just put them in the attic they really all do tell a story regards Clive
Clive....in Canada we have basements which is where most of mine are but all my Canadian models are on permanent display at the regimental museum of the Grey and Simcoe Foresters in Barrie, Ontario. I am a volunteer guide there also. Cheers, Neil