Had some time to put a few new pieces together. I seem to be stuck in the 30's for some reason but it has nothing to do with depression. I just recently had a short but very nice visit by Fred Oxner and his wife and received quite a few more Roco Zis 5's so it doesn't look like I'll be getting them out of my system for a while. I have to add that I'm really itching to do something modern soon however.
But that is not the case with these latest builds. The one pictured above is the Ford Model AA by Busch that has been transformed from a van to a canopy express wagon. These were often used by fruit and vegetable hucksters. My grandfather's brother used one (an old Chevy in his case) back in the 40's and 50's that he filled in south Jersey and would serve suburban Phila. neighborhoods. It was a simple matter of cutting the van side openings and adding the roll down canvas sides. I also opened the engine compartment and use the 4 cylinder from Jordan. I should remember to dust things off before photographing them.
And now it's back to Zis 5's for the next two. As promised, I finally got to build a barrel truck for Fred and was pleased to present it to him when he visited. A pleasant surprise gift from Fred in addition to the Roco pieces was the Rio Grande cast metal mixer unit kit . A subtle message there I'm sure. The piece most recently finished utilizes the mixer barrel from SSLtd. which is also cast metal.
The last of this post is something I saw in a photo of an express truck on a historical site. The body is actually one of the body configurations that come with the Roco model. I cut the front half out and added a wood floor, interior partition and the bars int the openings. The crooked looking horizontal piece was supposed to represent a leather strap but I'm not sure it's very convincing. The rolled up canvas side curtains are tissue paper. This turned out to be a personal favorite. Been playing around with camera settings here, be forewarned, these are large files if opened (but worth it).
