The Wallace-bot 9000

Inspired by the NASA techno-trousers in The Wrong Trousers. Now with extra windup walking power!

Lies, Gosh Darn Lies, and Statistics

I was looking through the blog's stats this week. It turns out that since 1 January 2017, the #1 post is: Index to the E. L. Moore models posts. Well, all the ELM posts generally are all in the top 100 and beyond and mostly beat out everything else that's been posted here. The first non-ELM post in the popular category is the one in 21st position hits-wise: The omni-circulatory streetcar layout. I found that rather surprising. The next non-ELM post is at the 24th position hits-wise: The Anti-Pesto van is ready for action!. Ok, I'm happy about that one. What is there not to like about Wallace and Gromit. And finally, the 3rd most hit non-ELM post since New Years Day 2017, the relatively boring: A review of some Boswer, Con-Cor, and Bachmann HO-scale streetcars. What does this all mean beyond ELM's popularity? Not sure really.

The AntiPesto van gets a new temporary home

To all concerned I report that during renovations Wallace took a spill and sustained minor, non-life threatening injuries. After repair he and the AntiPesto were moved to an undisclosed location until their permanent location is readied. More news as it happens. Stay tuned. Film at eleven.

The Anti-Pesto van is ready for action!

Over the holidays I went back to work on the Airfix Wallace and Gromit Anti-Pesto van from the movie The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I've been promising to get this finished for Debra for quite sometime, and with a little time-off, it was a pleasant diversion.

It was a fairly straightforward build. The parts are well moulded and flash-free. One thing I should mention is that I cut out and discarded the square window area in the side doors and kept only the triangular, no-draft portion. This makes it easier to see the interior, and allows for Gromit to stick his arm out the window.

I haven't mastered applying decals and there's a cloudy area under the main logo. Looks bad in sunlight, but it's not too bad in low light. 

About half the components in this project were brush painted except for the body, chrome pieces, and wheels. Those were painted with a variety of spray can colours - mostly Krylon brand. For brush painting, I only use acrylics. They don't have an odour - which is important for working in the house - and clean-up with water. For this project, I discarded the Humbrol brand paints that come with the kit, and substituted with matching paints from my collection.

The figures had to be washed with some mild dish soap before painting.

[Cracking good coveralls Wallace]

Not all acrylics are created equal. I first painted Wallace's coveralls with a Tamiya blue, but didn't like the tone and overpainted with a Poly Scale blue. Bad idea. The paints reacted and caused a cracking pattern all over the body. I didn't want to start over, so I merely painted on several layers of Poly Scale blue until the cracks were more-or-less invisible. The end result looked ok.

The thing I find about painting figures is that once the eyes are painted in the whole piece 'pops' and seems to come to life. Until then, it's just some dead statue.

That's not some weird cargo in the truck, just my reflection in the back window. Those hinges work and the backdoor opens.

It's roomy back there! That's Corgi's diecast of the Anti-Pesto van they sold a few years ago.

The Corgi set comes complete with a BunVac 6000. I'd love to scratchbuild one of those babies for the Airfix van.

Wheels on

I didn't get as much done over the last two weeks on the Anti Pesto van as I'd hoped to, but now that I'm back maybe this will move along a little faster. At least it's up on its wheels. That's always a milestone with a car model.

I'm not a big fan of chrome, although the quality of chroming on the parts is quite good.

I soaked the two trees of chromed parts in Super Clean. After an overnight dip, they were chrome free. My Super Clean bath is looking pretty dark in this photo since I've been using the same stuff for about a year to do the odd bit of chrome removal.

After stripping the chrome, the trees were washed with warm water and a mild dish soap to prep them for spray painting. One of the bumpers had a little bit of chrome still attached where it wasn't submerged in the bath. No problem, if it survives the spray paint I'll just chalk it up to being the only place where Wallace polished the bumpers :-)

The trees were sprayed with Krylon Nickel-Silver.

The wheels were sprayed with Krylon White, and when dry, the Nickel-Silver hub caps were glued in place.

The chassis was painted with flat black and once the various parts were glued in place, loose washes of muddy and rusty coloured painted were slopped on. It's a very simple build and the steel axles allow the wheels to turn so kids can push it along. It's more of a fancy toy than a 'model', but it's fun to build and I'm impressed with the quality of the parts: they're crisp and well moulded. And no, the wheels aren't on crooked as the photo suggests. I held the camera too close and the perspective is distorted.

And this instalment wouldn't be complete without a gratuitous veg photo. 

Taking a break with Wallace & Gromit

I'm taking a break from model railroading projects for a little while - just enjoying what's left of the good weather and installing some kitchen cabinets. And working on Airfix's Wallace & Gromit Anti-Pesto van from The Curse of the Were-Rabbit here-and-there as time permits.

First thing is to wash the truck body with some mild dish soap to remove any remaining mould release.

Before spray painting the body I taped in the doors so paint coverage will look even and natural.

The body was lightly misted with Tamiya Field Gray (TS-78) and Krylon Ultra-Flat Camouflage green.

Since The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was the first vegetarian horror movie it's fitting to end with some veg. Debra picked these up at the farmer's market today. The only one I'll need keep an eye on after dark are those chillies and jalapeno's over on the right :-)

Yorkville streetcar barn from 1912

Vince sent me a link to this handsome streetcar barn located in Yorkville circa 1912. It was sourced from The Chariotter at photobucket (although the link now appears to be broken and the photo gone). Today, Yorkville is a neighbourhood in Toronto's downtown core, and it's probably safe to say that this building is long gone. Vince mentioned that I "may need to build this". I agree, but I've promised Debra to build her Wallace and Gromit kit and have yet to deliver. Looks like there's some anti-pesto in my future :-)