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Home / Albums / Seddon / Seddon 32:4 Ouseburn Tpt 32
Frank Dobson details his impressive Seddon build.
- 3892
The central grille panel followed the same idea although it didn’t need to be a sandwich construction, Evergreen strip being used for the slats and pieces of card positioned behind as shields either side of the radiator. I ran fine rod around the grille edges using liquid glue to help soften the rod to bend and turn it. In retrospect I could have used wire or solder to achieve sharper corners but the finished result looked fine. A couple of detail items were added, grille panel latches from softened and flattened rod and washer jets from small off cuts of the same rod. A coat of Primer would then show up any bumps and dips and they would be rectified. A scratch built bumper was also made up as this is also different to the kit bumper. - 3890
- 3889
The lettering went on and looked passable and I made up two small badges for the radiator cap cover and steering wheel boss. Between waiting for items to dry I scratched a flask, a coat from tissue and a bag from a 1/35th kit to place on the bonnet that had a tartan decal to act as the blanket cover and I went a bit mad and added white edging to the seats using thinly cut white decal. The remainder of the interior was painted Satin Black with some items picked out in Silver. I also added a thin strip of sponge to the front of the dash as I had a small gap here when the interior was placed inside the cab; the sponge filled the gap nicely and also helped to hold the interior in place without being too noticeable. - 3888
I searched Halfords for a light Cream colour to paint the cab, eventually I chose Ford Ivory which leaned towards a Cream that wasn’t too yellow, there wasn’t much choice in this type of colour so I hoped it would look okay on the model. The Ivory covered nicely, being cold and damp outside I sprayed in my model room with the cab in a box and old newspaper placed around to catch any overspray. Three light coats built up into a nice covering that I was happy with and the cab was put into a clean shoe box to dry so no dust in the air would stick to it. This gave me time to tweak the signwriting that I had been experimenting with over the last few nights. The Ouseburn lettering was Brown with a reddish Brown shadow to the left and although done on an Inkjet Printer the decals came out okay so once dried and sprayed with clear Satin Varnish they now waited for the cab to dry fully before being fitted. The small paintbrushes came out next and screen and window rubbers were done with Matt Black, the grille surround picked out in Silver and the front wings painted a couple of coats of Brown. I brushed the inner cab roof Satin Black and painted in the sections of the door panels with the same colour. A couple of days for all this to dry and I could start on the modeller’s favourite, the glazing! The rear and sides were simple enough but the two rear quarter windows took a little bit of patience; however this ran out when it came to the windscreen, after two attempts I had a screen that would do but I still wasn’t happy with, never mind I had to press on. - 3880
The only other addition to the cab was the headboard and it’s a shame here that this wasn’t included in the kit, many hauliers during this time had a company name above the screen in a headboard either factory or bodybuilder fitted, however these are easily made up and can be as shapely as your talent allows, I just kept mine simple and filled a gap around the joint line with white glue. I was happier once a second coat of Primer had been applied, any tiny defects had been seen to and the panel seemed as if it was always part of the original cab. I could put the cab to one side now and build the interior and chassis. - 3887
The batteries gave me a bit of a problem, they are not positioned the same as the GUY and the pictures I had did not show them on the outside of the chassis. I couldn’t remember back to the early Seventies as to where these were. I was about to concede they must have been in the cab under the passenger seat perhaps when a picture on the Internet of a Seddon showed that the batteries seemed to be inside the chassis behind the fuel tank, I could just see the battery tops in the picture. I had a look at the model and reckoned I had just enough room to fit two in line and scratched a pair slightly smaller than the kit resin batteries to allow them to fit into place. I painted them white to stand out from the dark chassis colour and put two ‘Champion’ decals on from an old decal sheet. I sought out an old spare wheel bracket which was fitted behind the air tanks, I would not have a spare but the bracket filled a gap there nicely. Simple plumbing was done with wire to show something in the chassis and one or two valves from scrap plastic placed around with wiring running to the rear lights and electrical Susie bracket. A gear linkage from welding rod was made to run from the offside of the engine to the gearbox. Run up ramps were fitted and I didn’t use the kit rear light brackets but made two up from channel and a rectangle of card for the number plate on the offside. I airbrushed the chassis, engine/gearbox and rear wings separately with Humbrol Gloss 10 Service Brown. - 3893
Finally I had the headlights to do, I cut two small pieces of clear sprue and glued them in place for bulbs then I needed to shape two pieces of clear glazing and score them to make lenses. I used a hole punch to gently knock out two round shapes from clear sheet, these were just the right size to fit over the lamps and proved much better than my experiment to use clear PVA glue dropped into the lamps and although it took on a nice dome shape, when the glue dried it just sank inwards, even after repeated topping up with glue the end result was the same, maybe clear silicon would work for this, being a lot more viscous, something to try next time. - 4155
The beginning of the Seventies would see in another great change in British transport on our roads, the earlier 1964 Construction and Use Regulations brought in much needed changes to vehicle lengths, widths and weights. This changed the scene as articulated vehicles became ever more popular and steadily replaced the rigid eight wheeler as the King of the Road. The main reason was, the artic was given a higher gross weight of 32 Tons, four more than the 28 of the rigid eight, which could only haul at the maximum 32 Ton when drawing a two axle trailer. However it wasn’t until 1968 that artic’s really came into their own by the introduction of further C&U Regs that allowed longer trailer length limits from 33ft to 40ft. This did not change the weight limit of 32 Ton but was introduced to allow the carriage of 40ft sea containers that had revolutionised the import and export of goods throughout the world. - 3891
The 32 Ton limit had created a boom time for manufacturers not only of trailers but vehicle makers who turned out many new models to cater for demand, previously older eight wheel rigids were cut down to three axle tractors and new configurations of Twin Steer and Twin Rear Steer units hit British roads to enable the 32 Ton limit to be easily met within the restrictions. The move to longer 40ft trailers now meant normal 4x2 tractor units could legally handle the gross weight so by the end of the Sixties many new outfits appeared with combined lengths what at the time seemed far too long for the roads of Britain, the maximum artic length being just short of 50ft. Many customers would exclaim that they had never had anything as big delivering to their premises and doubted the driver’s ability to reverse such a thing into the narrow entrances to loading areas. - 4163
One well established trailer maker that welcomed the new limits was the York Trailer Co of Corby, Northhants. The company had been founded by Fred Davies in Burnley around 1957, he had previously worked for the Canadian Trailmobile concern and his Brother had founded the Davies Magnet Fifth Wheel company. Davies was regarded as the prime motivator in the UK artic revolution and York flourished during the Sixties turning out many different models of semi-trailer. The York name possibly had Canadian connections; York was the city’s name before changing to Toronto in 1834 and still remains an area of the city. The York Trailer logo also has the Maple leaf incorporated in the centre of the ‘O’. - 4166
- 4167
It was a simple matter of adding the York decals that I made on the PC and printed onto Crafty Computer decal sheet, the logo came from an old magazine advert for York Trailers and includes the Maple leaf. On the rear of the trailer I added a larger Black logo to represent the profile cut out that York used. The Long Vehicle sign and red triangles came about after changes to the C&U Regs in November 1971 about the same time as the era of the model so they were included and with the Seddon tractor hooked up I hope it demonstrates the look of Seventies transport that would stay that way for over a decade before the age of Tauliners, Tri-axle tractors and trailers complete with sideguards and full wings would become a sight we are more used to seeing today. - 4170
For the purpose of the article and to get some pictures taken I loaded the front end with plastic square tubing acting as fabrication and chained down. The sheet was made in my usual way from boot box tissue and diluted white glue, placed over the load, in this case scrap polystyrene, and the ropes temporarily positioned until all was dry and the sheet could be painted and made to look old and worn, adding a few patches here and there. I used a letter stencil to write in the Ouseburn name on the sheet, not too strong and dark so it appeared to be washed out a little. The roping could then be done properly and a second sheet rolled up and placed at the rear of the load to finish off what had been a pleasing if not time consuming build. - 4168
- 4169
I had chosen a flat trailer so that I could have a roped and sheeted load but didn’t want to cover the whole trailer so it would hide everything above the chassis. I instead part sheeted a load on the rear half of the trailer and wanted to have some type of frame or steel work on the front to show the two different methods of securing in use in those days, ropes and sheets of course and chains for loads that ropes would be unsuitable for. All drivers would carry a selection of both, usually inside the vehicle on the passenger side floor and stout softwood batons termed ‘Kickers’ would either be stowed against the headboard of the trailer or slid into the gap between the landing leg stays, I replicated this by using long safety matches with the heads removed and stained with watercolour. - 3883
On my model, and the real Seddon, the mirror arms were fitted to the top door hinge, whereas later models had them fitted to brackets on the door similar to the GUY kit. The wipers also moved position from below to above the screen. It might be small points like this to take note of that date your model correctly. - 3882
Side lights were added from tube cut at an angle to enable them to curve around the panel, and then the front ends cut straight and again sanded to smooth them. I redefined the hinges as they had been lost in cutting the original panel out and added the mirror arms from brass wire, with scratch built mirrors from card, to the top hinges, a piece of tube acting as the mirror bracket. Finally any gaps or joints were filled with fine filler and the whole lot rubbed over with wet ‘n’ dry. I had to carefully shape the outer edges of the panel as they slope slightly, all the time checking with pictures to make sure I had the right look. I now had to mate the front panel to the cab having already removed the GUY panel with a razor saw; this was done with care as I wanted to save it for later. However I found I had not gone far enough, on a test fit the new panel protruded too far so a thinner slice of resin was again removed. - 3881
The front panel had been made up from a double skin of plasticard about 3mm apart, basically an upside down ‘U’ shape having a gap where the grille would fit. I slightly bowed the card to match the gentle curve of the screen and filled around the edges with car filler as later on I would be sanding the panel here to achieve the shape required. Once set I could add card for the raised areas, the Seddon cab panel has two, one following the door line and another half way down that. I bevelled the edges of the card before gluing in place as this would be difficult to do neatly afterwards. Being double skinned this allowed me to drill out the headlight sockets and shape around these using a small reamer bit in the mini drill, a bit of sanding around these helped to smooth and curve the edges. - 3886
Tyre Paint Treatment Diagram a. Untreated new kit tyre. b. Base coat of Matt Grey Enamel. c. Light Grey Pastel around inner edge of tyre and tread. d. Black Pastel around tyre blended with the finger. e. White Pastel used sparingly to highlight edges, tyre details. f. Completed tyre fitted to wheel. g. Pastels used in process. - 3884
I decided to use a Volvo donor for quickness although I really would have liked to have scratched a chassis for this. I had no decent chassis drawings or plans though and could only go off my photo’s so following the kit instructions I went ahead and cut the rails to size and removed various items as instructed. I was also building a chassis to the same length as the GUY so the instruction measurements were followed, however I found later that it was slightly too short, not enough to notice once the model was finished but I did have to reposition a few parts during the build. I was sure I had followed the instructions carefully so have no idea where the few millimetres were lost. I made up a simple engine and gearbox from bits and pieces, little of these would be seen, infact the engine has no front and this would ensure I had no later problems when it came to fitting the cab, cutting off the larger GUY front panel had reduced the Seddon cab length somewhat. The fuel tank and air tanks are on different sides on these two makes so the fuel tank brackets were superglued to the nearside and I made up brackets for the three air tanks, two resin tanks from the transkit and one plastic from the donor. Straps were made from thin card with rod for bolt ends glued in place and passed into holes in the brackets; the whole unit was then glued to the offside chassis. - 3879
The GUY interior is different to a Seddon and I also wanted to keep weight to a minimum, keeping the kit plastic front axle in mind, I scratch built an interior from Plasticard. This isn’t as daunting as you might think, I kept the shape simple and in three levels. The engine cover being the highest, the seat level, then the floor. Having taken measurements from inside the cab bottom, a simple construction was made and adjusted by trimming any excess plastic until the interior slid inside. Once I knew I wouldn’t have problems fitting the completed interior I could add details, a simple dash and instruments from tube off cuts, a steering shaft from tube and wheel outer from a metal key ring with tube for the centre boss and strip spokes. A ‘Dead Mans Handle’ or hand operated Auxiliary Brake was added to the left side of the steering shaft and an ignition switch lower down, with switches added to the dash from rod and strip. I didn’t bother with pedals on the floor as these wouldn’t be seen and I was thinking of maybe adding a figure so didn’t want anything to prevent this sitting comfortably so to speak. I didn’t bother shaping the bonnet either as this would be covered later in the painting stage with the obligatory blanket or carpet. A gear lever was made from brass rod and a blob of White Glue for the gear knob. I had no spare or suitable seats so had to use the kit seats which were the same for both vehicles anyway. Other smaller detail items would be added at the painting stage. - 4164
I fully plumbed the air and electrics which compared to a modern air suspension trailer are quite basic and I added the mechanical ratchet hand brake and a cable which runs to the front axle brake levers. It only remained for a floor to be cut to size from thin Balsa, I had added side raves from channel with only a few side members to support the floor, you could add every member but once the floor is on these won’t be seen so it was a case of saving materials and time. The rope hooks made from bent wire were super glued to the channel side raves with two at the front and rear, a total of 52 but the thick type of superglue is superb for this and it didn’t take too long. - 4165
Unlike today’s air suspension systems that level off whatever weight is carried the steel suspensions would lower considerably when fully loaded and with the fifth wheel on the tractor being mounted higher a noticeable slope would be seen from the front to the rear of the trailer as opposed to having a straight and level look that we see today. I also think this angle of slope gives an attractive look to an articulated outfit and I had to carry out one or two test fits to determine the right sized spacer to fit under the front axle before finally fixing in position. Once that was done I could add U bolts from paper clips and torsion bars and brackets from below the axles to the spring brackets. Finally I made up the brake chambers and shafts to add to each brake back plate from bits and pieces of rod and tube, a fiddly, time consuming job but worth the effort. For the trailer wheels I decided to convert a set of old AMT spoked types, I removed the wheel nut heads with a mini drill router and cut and shaped four plastic discs, the centres were drilled out the same size as the wheel hubs and they were then pushed inside the wheels, a slightly tight fit so they dished a little when pushed over the hub caps. Once they were secured with liquid glue I cut ten short slices of rod for each wheel and spaced them around equally as wheel nuts and once dry I drilled ten holes in each dish for the air vents. This actually didn’t take up too much time and the result was a set of dished wheels for the period. - 4160
Channel was used as a front member and a 10cm length of 7.9mm (5/16th) ‘I’ Beam was used as a rear member giving the width to the trailer, this would also be seen on the completed model. The resulting chassis frame was now quite rigid and thoughts turned to the suspension unit. The fine white metal set from M&G would be perfect here for those that feel scratchbuilding this unit is beyond their skills but having built up one or two in the past I thought I would try to scratch as much of the model as I could and started with the leaf springs built up into seven leaves each from 3mm wide strip with a slight bow to each one similar to the real springs. I cut out and shaped the various brackets and built up the nearside and offside separately then glued them to the chassis making sure they were aligned with each other. Holes were drilled through the brackets at the required places and tube pushed through from one side to the other leaving 1mm sticking out each side, the air reservoir would locate in the centre on its own member. Two 6.3mm (1/4inch) square tube axles were glued into position onto the springs, the front axle having a spacer added under each spring to give the correct angle of slope once the trailer was coupled to the tractor.