1920s Petrol Pump and Another A1 Van

Outside the Pump Room is some form of machinery. It is not clear from available photographs what exactly was there but since petrol and oil tanks existed underground here and the Pump Room was associated with these then it is a logical assumption it was a petrol and oil dispensing stand.

Having found a photo of a 1920s petrol dispenser I went overboard modelling as much of the detail as my dexterity would allow. A little foolish perhaps for a thing that is only 12mm tall for which a magnifying glass is needed to see the detail. But, I enjoyed the challenge. It is a column with hand crank and dial. The gun part of the hose attachment hangs by a ring over the top of the column when not in use, as is the case here.

Next to it is an oil dispensing cabinet. The top half is open and contains the dispenser that fills an oil can placed next to it.

On the other side of the yard from the Pump Room is the Repair Shop. Another A1 van has been placed here, this time a Thornycroft demonstrator van, with driver and another in conversation alongside.

A background  was created for this photo and stitched into it to represent factory buildings at the far end of the site that are off our model layout.

David

Photographer Caught in the Act

J.I. Thornycroft Ltd. of Basingstoke were prolific in photographing their newly built lorries, vans, buses and chassis. There is a large online archive of these at The Thornycroft Register. The Dunlop A1 class Van is depicted in model form below and its construction was described in a previous posting.

With such a plethora of prototype photographs taken by Thornycroft it seemed fitting to depict a scene of a van and photographer on our model layout. The van driver, wearing a flat cap, is also included standing behind the photographer and out of his shot.

The location of our model van is opposite the cemetery drive in front of the factory palisade fence but the location of the prototype scene was probably further along Worting Road beyond the railway bridge and off our layout, judging by the wooden fence in the background of the Thornycroft photo.

David

Thornycroft Dunlop Van

I mentioned earlier that a bodied version of the A1 chassis was on the agenda. I wanted a van that had a colourful livery with simple logos.

The Thornycroft Register has an amazing portfolio of vehicle photos. However, the 1920s/30s photos are all monochrome. Livery colours cannot be determined easily.

The Dunlop van caught my eye due to its simple branding. There is a George V 'by appointment crest' beneath which are the words 'By Appointment', the Dunlop  brand name and the words 'Rubber Company Co. Ltd.'

But what of the livery colours? I came across a photo of a Dinky toy Dunlop van in red, desaturated its colours in a graphic editing Application and compared the result to the Thornycroft Register photo. The grey shading was a perfect match! Further confirmation was needed and  a couple of 1930s Dunlop brochures were found where red featured. We can see from the Thornycroft photo that the roof is a lighter colour. One of the brochures showed the Dunlop name in black with a yellow border.  so, I assume the roof was yellow.

Here is an unkind photo of our N gauge model. Its roughness is far less noticeable when viewed from the normal distance of 2' or more.

Its chassis construction was described in a previous posting. The body is 3D printed in plastic and covered with paper overlays designed in a graphic editing Application. Windscreen glass and steering wheel are included as are headlamps and spare wheel underneath on the other side. The number plates carry the number of the Dunlop van in the Thornycroft Register photo.

Here is a very close up photo of the corporate branding. It occupies an area less than 10mm square.

On the layout I intend to park the van outside the factory in Worting Road with the Thornycroft photographer in attendance, thus capturing a typical scene shown in may of the vehicle photos.

David

Thornycroft A1 Chassis - 3D print

Whilst waiting for Ed to find time to work on the baseboard (phase2)  I skipped from phase 1 to phase 3 of the project to see how well our 3D printer could make a Thornycroft A1 chassis in N gauge.

A1 Class

Introduced in 1924 the light weight A1 had a load capacity of 1.5 tons. It was sold as a chassis for customers to add their own body work or supplied with bodywork from Thornycroft's range of styles. A war department subsidy of £120 was available to customers who opted for it, which meant in times of need the War Department could requisition the chassis with or without bodywork at a reduced price from owners. The book price of a chassis in 1926 was £460.

The Model

It was very common to see vehicle chassis in the yard at Thornycroft so it is the chassis that I initially wanted to make. A dimensional drawing is available from Hantsweb and the kit of parts I drew up in FreeCad.

The kit comprises:

• Wheels
• Front Axle
• Rear Axle
• Engine compartment
• Chassis with built-in cosmetic leaf springs
• Drive shaft with gear box
• Steering wheel
• Steering column
• Gear lever
• Petrol tank
• Exhaust pipe

Quite detailed for N gauge.

The paint finish of the assembled chassis is a big unknown because only monochrome photographs have been found and most of these suggest a lighter than black colour. I have not found any written records of the stock finish. I assumed they would have been stocked in primer paint to be finished in the customers livery before dispatch. I chose a red oxide colour (Humbrol 100) but grey may have been used in reality.

The chassis will be positioned outside the paint shop on the layout.

All the parts are so small that if they are 3D printed individually the plastic filament does not have enough time to get flowing before the print finishes! So I ended up making a batch of 5 for greater coverage! 

They turned out better than expected and I'm looking forward to making a bodied version and some other vehicle types. I quite fancy one of the six wheeled lorries.

David