There’s a street in the industrial area of the city near me called Anomaly Street. Strange, because as far as I can see it’s a perfectly normal street for an industrial area. Warehouses, factories, sheds, yards, and even the odd vacant block that’s still scrubby trees and dry grass. But that’s a handy title for today’s past, a catch-all of things that are outliers, oddities, and anomalies among my models. It’s also a cool way to start the new year.
Now many guys may have built ships, planes or tanks. Not me. Absolutely nothing against military subjects, they just have no appeal for me. Almost everything is road transport. So let’s take a brief look at the industrial side of my collection.
Neoplan Cityliner Coach
A beautiful kit, which Revell’s German arm offered briefly from 2008. Although a huge model (510mm long!) and beautifully detailed, it was not a problem to build. The hardest part was applying all those upholstery pattern decals to the seats. And the little ‘Neoplan’ decal on each individual seat frame. It came with decals for the side panels to replicate the original ‘concept’ coach, but I elected to leave those off. After the seats. I’d had enough!
London Bus
Also from Revell of Germany, but a much more popular (and expensive) subject. This came with a choice of engines; the original AEC diesel or a modern Euro-compliant Scania, as well as a choice of several period advertisement schemes or plain panels. I bought the Haynes restoration manual for help in detailing this kit.
Bedford Tip Truck
The O series Bedford is an early postwar British truck that used to be everywhere during my childhood. An Emhar kit (a company no longer around), they offered long and short wheelbase Bedfords with flatbed (LWB), tanker (LWB), tipper (SWB) and tow truck (SWB) bodies. Great kits, with a really well detailed chassis. Very popular with British truck modelers, but I guess there weren’t enough of them to save the company. I’m currently building up the tow truck.
Autocar Dump Truck
This one’s an AMT truck from the 1960s that gets reissued from time to time. I did this one about twenty years back.
Volvo lowloader with Cat Dozer.
The Volvo N10 is an ERTL kit from about 1980. ERTL had made models of Internationals for about ten years or so; it was quite surprising for them to do a new Volvo. The Cat D9 is another one of those AMT kits that keeps reappearing, as is the rather simple Lowboy trailer it’s sitting on. The photo was taken on the bank of our duckpond about 20 years ago.
Kenworth T600
Another older build. I read at the time that this was basically a new cab on an old chassis, but I don’t know enough about real trucks to confirm that. Opening sleeper door was a nice touch, so I made up the bed using a leftover scrap from my wife’s fabric box.
Cable car
A model from long-defunct Hawk plastics, in 1/48 scale, last available in 1967. Cars like this (we called them trams) ran in Melbourne prior to 1940, so I painted this in thirties MMTB chocolate and cream livery, but didn’t attempt the markings. Recently I discovered the cable trams used different route-specific colour schemes – oh well…!
1804 (Trevithick) Locomotive
I love old machinery. Usually, you can see what everything does, but this one stretches the brain cells a bit. It’s an old 1/32 scale model of the 1804 Trevithick Penydarren steam locomotive from Airfix, last available in 2012. A steam engine with just enough machinery attached to make it mobile.
Beam engine
Another 1960s Airfix kit, this represents the type of steam engine used in heavy industries or for pumping out mines. This one is not specifically ascribed to a particular maker; it might be a Watt, a Newcomen, or something else entirely.
TARDIS
Airfix again. This 1/12 scale TARDIS from the British TV series Doctor Who comes with figures of the Doctor and Martha. Although the door opens, the interior is disappointingly normal-sized, not larger than the outside as viewers know it should be! It does however have an operating flashing light on the roof and make the appropriate TARDIS sound.
That’s it for this time.
Normal service will resume next fortnight with – something or other. We might take the TARDIS back to, say, 1969 maybe? See you then.
My cuzzies lived for years about 3 minutes drive from Anomaly St (and their much-missed mum my aunt is in Eastern Cemetery the same distance away), so bizarrely enough, I’ve heard of the street before. To stretch your analogy, where they lived in East Geelong was rather lovely, whereas Anomaly St surely isn’t, but that contrast is very Geelong to me, possibly rather like steam beam engines and some JDM special belonging side by side in your collection – can’t have one without the other. That said, I’d love to know how the street name came about: it has either to be ineptitude, or someone in a planning department with a dry sense of the absurd for an in-joke long since forgotten. (Being local council, I fear it must be the former, but I’m digressing).
That beam engine, then the Bedford, but perhaps mostly, the AEC bus, are as good as anything you’ve shown so far, Mr W. You really do excel yourself on each publication, perhaps making it possible to make the anomalous statement that even your anomalies aren’t any anomaly at all.
East Geelong is lovely, Justy. Back in the thirties Dad used to live down the end of Ryrie Street, all very genteel back in those days I gather. Despite neglect and then sometimes inappropriate development over the years you can still see much of what used to be and use your imagination to fill in the gaps. But central Geelong has gone to the dogs over the past ten years. We sound like those guys talking about various US cities we’ve never been to, don’t we? 😉
That AEC Routemaster took ages to build, as not only was it an unfamiliar subject, with unfamiliar construction techniques, but the sheer number of parts and amount of detail was mindblowing. Not to mention the size of the thing (oops, I just did!), and the bench space it took up – it’s just over half a metre long.
Really nice works here Sir .
I had that cable car in the early 1960’s, I didn’t make nearly as nice a job of it you did .
-Nate
Thanks Nate. From what I recall it wasn’t particularly easy to build, small as it is. The model dates back to 1959, so the early days of plastic kit manufacturing, and Hawk always seemed to be a minor player in plastic kits. It would have been about 1970 when I put that one together.
The Autocar Dump Truck looks REAL… Like it’s ready to go off to work! – Just don’t get behind one on the highway and risk your windshield… Ok, WindSCREEN since we’re off to London with the next comments…
That double decker bus looks perfect! If you painted the pattern on the seats, I am truly impressed… heck, I’m impressed either way, Peter.
The other(worldly) London transportation device looks great too. I see they went with the 10th Doctor and his companion. Can’t argue with that as those two are Whovian fan favorites. Of course, I’m old school and would’ve gone with Tom Baker’s 4th Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith! – The other fan favorite.
And although she may be an “Anomaly” as far as the Doctor goes, I like Jody Whittaker’s take on the Doctor as No. 13 as well.
Sorry for all the segues, but I just couldn’t resist. 😉
Hey, thanks Rick. I built up the Autocar about thirty years back, and was really pleased how it turned out. One of AMT’s best trucks.
The seats on the London bus are decals – my painting isn’t that good, Rick! 🙂 Mind you, that meant applying two decals to each seat (from memory there were 52 of those) – while ensuring they conformed to the shape of the seat and didn’t tear or wrinkle. That took days. Not a job I would like to try again!
My daughter’s the real Doctor fan around here. I’d watched enough episodes with her to appreciate the series and as a great fan of SF I loved the concept, so of course I had to build it.
I’d want my money back with that TARDIS as it’s not fit for purpose. How can you fit the Doctor into that!
Well he does fit, but putting both figures inside (as posed) is a bit tight.
Only one photo of the Neoplan coach is showing. There should also have been this:
And we’ll throw in this one as well.
Nice ! .
It appears The Stig approves .
-Nate
A bit hard to tell, Nate, but I reckon he might be imagining that mighty MAN diesel in a lighter, nimbler package.
Ooops, I missed that image. I’ll add that one to the post.
Aha, I’ve been waiting for this segment, as you’ll understand! I remembered the Volvo N10 from a comment, several years ago. My favorite has to be that Autocar dump truck, very realistic.
Some 40 years ago, I had a whole fleet of Ertl, AMT, Heller and especially Italeri 1/24 and 1/25 kits. Scania, Volvo, DAF, Mercedes-Benz, Mack, Kenworth and International.
In the mid-eighties I built my last one, a one-off, as it was a 1/50 metal kit. An FTF 8×4 truck with a tipping NCH container system. The manufacturer was MIHO, see below (I didn’t have the trailer though).
Seeing as how you’re into trucks, I’m not surprised you were waiting for it. What I am surprised at is you remembering that I’d mentioned the N10! I wish I had some more pics of it that I could show you, but it’s packed away at the moment. In the photo its posed on the bank of our duck pond, which seemed a suitably industrial-looking setting.
I have a few other trucks, and some unbuilt, but they’ve never really been a major interest for me. I kind of lost heart after I accidentally dropped a fully detailed and weathered MAN Formel 6 chassis, which smashed into about a dozen pieces. It seems the glue bonds were the strongest part, stronger than the actual chassis rails and axles. 🙁
Trust a Dutchman to build an FTF! 🙂
Oh I remembered it alright. And I found it in no-time, as your Ertl N10 was very much related to the subject at hand (and in the meantime, we’re almost 6 years further down the road…)
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/truck-stop-classic-1982-volvo-n720-tractor-1975-groenewegen-semi-trailer-1972-weserhutte-excavator/
Behind that “1804 Locomotive”, that’s “Falcon , tudor sdn” isn’t it?
Typo! Apologies, “that’s a “Falcon, tudor sdn” isn’t it?
Sure is, JT. A ‘tribute’ to my Dad’s last car, though his was a ’67 Australian four door. With a six. And a manual. Well, I got the colours right.
You’ll find heaps of interesting stuff in the backgrounds of my older pics. More recently I tend to do just the vehicle with a plain background. On my long list of things to do this year is to build a diorama for my model photos.
Love the old Bedford it appears to be a M version, swb heavy, the engines are fascinating.
I’ve no doubt you know more about Bedfords, Bryce. The box called it an O. To my eyes the M and the O look very similar, same grille, same cab, and I often get the two confused. Perhaps the O is sort of semi-forward control? There’s this massive doghouse in the cab under the dash like a modern car’s console, and the back two cylinders are kind of tucked up under the cowl.
From what you’ve said here before, I gather the engine’s pretty much like a Chev Blue Flame but with full-pressure lubrication.
I’ve ridden on the top the full scale model of the Neoplan Cityliner Coach in the Swiss Alps. Switch back roads just like the Goldfinger movie. One screw up and the bus would had fallen down a 400′ include. Lets just say I was saying my prayers for the day.
Times like that you really appreciate the skill of the driver! I have a sister-in-law who’s a coach driver, but southern Queensland is nothing like the Swiss Alps!