1/43rd Model of "Wanda" 15ft Franklin

[jodel1050]

G'day,

Been busy for one hour a day over the past seven days building a 1/43rd scale replica of Wanda, mostly gluing fingers together with super glue & getting frustrated over not being able to see the smaller parts once they had dropped on the floor - did not turn out immaculate but will let me see which tow car it looks best behind, so will be posting a few pictures. Also experimenting with backdrops, as Wanda can wander anywhere now:-



Wanda during construction on the dinning table - still have no shed!



Wanda & 1971 Cadillac Eldorado near Tom Price



Wanda & 1959 Buick Electra in Tom Price



Wanda with 1955 Dodge Royal Lancer at Whiteman Park Perth.

All the best
Jodel

[Deleted]

Jodel, what a fantastic model!What did you use for construction?
Cheers
Hughdeani

[jodel1050]

Hi Humpyboy & hughdeani,

Spare time means not cooking, vacuuming or other hum drum things that get you nagged at for at least one hour per day. It also means retiring, but for me all that has meant is the last 3 years have gone quicker than the previous 38 years I worked - I have no idea where the time goes & poor old Wanda just does not get the attention she deserves.

As for construction the floor is balsa wood whilst everything else is styrene sheet from evergreen models in varying thicknesses from .010", .020", whilst the 'J' flange was actually .020" X .020" square section strips - very tiny. The A frame is .100" square section & the windows were acetate sheet (from shirt collar stiffener strips) with the .020"X.020" square section strips as frames. I measured the whole real Franklin VV using a steel tape, then drew it to 1/43rd scale on graph paper using french curves, compass etc, & then traced this directly onto the the thin styrene which is quite transparent. Cut out using a Swiss army knife pair of little scissors & sand down with very fine wet & dry used dry. Paint was simple old Humbrol hand applied with much cursing as my hand is just not as steady as it used to was!!!

Perhaps I will put a post together with a step by step which I did consider but was concerned about superglueing fingers to the shutter release on the camera.

Cheers
Jodel

[jodel1050]

Well 1/43rd Wanda's gone wandering again, this time with a 1/43rd Jaguar 3.5 Ltr DHC approx 1947 vintage and made it all the way to Onslow this time at sunset.





Regards
Jodel

[jodel1050]

Hi Dave,

For you here is Wanda at Giralia Station on the Gulf of Exmouth with a 1954 Cadillac La Espada, once known as one of the great American dream machines.



Wanda looks a little crooked as the emery paper would not sit flat on the computer keyboard, must be the inclement conditions outside. Also for info the Winnebago club were visiting that day.

Cheers Jodel

[jodel1050]

1/43rd Wanda does the UK in style:



Starting off at Lands End, where else would you start such a journey with a Mustang?



Then off to Dartmoor - this piccy at Hay Tor with the woody.



Rye a great spot with some nice pubs and a 57 Chevy.



Dover harbor from atop the white cliffs - good job the handbrake works.



Then on to Dover castle with the Chevy again - think the Studebaker was stolen or fell off the cliff.



Canterbury with the Porsche 928.



Crooked house in Lavenham - Postman pat helped us up the hill.



Windmill in Norfolk.



Hawes in Yorkshire.



Auchentoshen distillery in Scotland. Och Aye, just love their driver reviver stops in that part of the world.



Edinburgh Castle with Lincoln.



Finally John O'Groats in the far North of Scotland. Aye it was a good journey.

Cheers Jodel

[jodel1050]

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the comments & went one step further - er back in time this time. It's amazing what you can do with a computer.



Purported to be a photo of a dog fight during the battle of Britain, it was certainly in the forties.



RAF Manston in approx 1962. RAF Transport Command Bristol Britannia.



Southampton in approx 1964. The old Kentish Knock lightship being prepared for scrap I believe.



Nuremburg race track in approx 1964 - old school trip.



Singapore airshow a couple of decades ago - French Alpha jets.



Caravan holiday in Yorkshire (Thirsk I think) I remember it was very cold & very wet.



Dad's old MK 2 Zodiac on the same holiday. Sadly little 1/43rd Wanda is too small to feature in the last two photo's.

Cheers Jodel

[rossjools]

, What a wonderful job you've done there Jodel. Is there any interior detail? I'm also a modeller, mainly aircraft though. I have plans to scratchbuild a couple of Australian aircraft from the late 20s through to the late 30s, the single engined Lasco Lascoter and its bigger trimotor brother the Lasconder in 1/72 scale from the same Evergreen plastic sheet you've built Wanda from and using similar material for the flat windscreen and windows on both aircraft. There were only one of each of these aircraft built in 1929 by the Larkins Aircraft Supply Company (LASCO) at Coode Island in Melbourne. The Lasconder crashed sometime in the mid 30s and the Lascoter was removed from the old LASCO hangar at Coode by the RAAF during WW2 and scrapped. What a waste, if only they'd realized how much it would be worth today especially with its original inline engine, but that's military management for you.

In 1973 I joined the RAAF Richmond Gliding Club and we were cleaning out the hangar one day (a work day) and there was a locked door into a back room. I was told to go get a pair of bolt cutters and cut the padlock off it and turf whatever was inside. when I returned with the cutters and cut the lock off there was a complete Mk 8 Spitfire prop inside. I begged the sergeant to let us keep it as there were a number of Mk 8 and Mk 9 Spits under restoration around the world at that time and it could make the club some money. "Nah, cut the b..... thing up and just dump it", was his reply. When again I pleaded with him I was ordered "LAC, just do as you're told, got it?" I got it. The prop was cut up and thrown in the skip. The pitch change mechanism still worked and all. 15 years later at the Bicentennial Airshow at Richmond when the late Col Pay stood his Mk 8 Spit on its nose about 100 yards from the Gliding Club hangar that Sergeant, by then a Warrant Officer was standing 2 metres from me and looked over his shoulder at me and said,"Don't say a b..... word Corporal Blackford, just don't say a word." My cheeky reply was "I don't have to Sir, the look on your face says it all."

During my first posting to Richmond in the early to mid 70s we had a Britannia visit us one Saturday and I happened to be on Duty Crew at the time. Down the side it had printed A&AEE BOSCOMBE DOWN. During that posting we also had a visit (ironically another Saturday when I was on Duty Crew) from a Transport Command Belfast with a cargo of a Mk 8 Spitfire for Australia. I don't know it that was the one Col Pay restored or not.

Cheers,
Ross.