Valiant by Shapeways

Modelling the 1970s requires 1970s model Aussie cars.

 One of the difficulties of modelling the early 1970s section of my layout is the lack of 1970s Australian cars. Weico which are now no longer produced manufactured a Holden Kingswood HQ sedan, one tonner, ute and Monaro in white metal. Road Ragers have also just started to produce some of the muscle cars of the 1970s including the Valiant Charger RT, Ford Falcon GTO, Ford Falcon Coupe Cobra however, most of these are not family cars such as sedans and station wagons that were on numerous on the streets of Sydney. 

After discussing with a friend I decided I might as well get the model make up myself .

I decided on the Valiant VH Sedan.

Above: finished Shapeway Valiant models made into a Valiant VH Regal and Valiant VH Regal 770

 The underdog , the Wog Chariot

One brand which I had a stigma whilst I was growing up in the 1970s was the Chrysler Valiant. It was referred to as "Wog Chariot" or "Greek Mercedes" because wit as perceived to have a following by Australians of Italian or Greek descent. 

If you were a true Australian, you had a Ford or a Holden. We had a Holden Kingswood and were proud of it. However, now an Adult I remember the Chrysler dealership near my house in Belmore and wanted to have Valiant VHs for my layout and on for my car carriers.

If you don't find it make it yourself
So I either had to wait until a manufacturer makes Valiants I wanted or substitute some of the other American prototype cars to simulate the valiants. After chatting to a friend who was able to get some a locomotive made in 3D printing by using a 3D software drawer in India, I decided to seek this option.

Sourcing photos
Although I found photos on the internet of the Valiant VH, I needed good straight side, rear and front photos. I joined a Chrysler Valiant appreciation group on Facebook to seek an owner who would share their to take photos of these views of the car.

Above: Valiant VH Pacer one of the many variants of the Valiant VH when released

3D file to Shapeways production
With the aid of my friend who sent the photos to a 3D drawer in
India he was able to prepare a file that I would be able to upload to a 3D printer to produce. I checked out Shapways created a shop to get it produced but also share it so others could buy it

Link to page on Shapew
http://shpws.me/Q9i6


I initially bought 6 cars one made from Frosted Ultra Details and the other of Transparent material.
Here are photos of the 6 cars in various stage of painting and finishing.

Conclusion
After seeing the 3D model the only thing I didnt like about it was the wheels and tires. I cut most of these off the model in order to use aftermarket wheels from Busch and Wiking etc.
I hope to be able to get other car models made such as the Valiant VH Station Wagon and Chrysler by Chrysler CH Hardtop just need to find owners who will provide photos.

Fifty years of Finger lickin' good

Today 27th April 2018 marks the 50th anniversary that KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) opened its first store in Australia in Guildford Sydney's western suburbs. I was only just over a year old and wouldn't remember it. However, I had fond memories of going to KFC as a young child in the early 1970s and always wanted to have a KFC outlet on my layout.

My KFC diorama as a tribute to 50 years in Australia today

Opening of Guildford store - Source: https://www.9news.com.au/national/2018/04/26/14/00/kfc-australia-50-years-anniversary

Childhood memories

Most times we would visit  KFC on a Sunday or Saturday late afternoon as we lived during the weekdays at Bondi Beach where my parents had a restaurant and then go back to our family home at Belmore over the weekend. There was no M5 motorway in the early 1970s so my dad would drive to Bondi via Homer St Earlwood, where we would ask if we could go there to pick up KFC and we would eat in our light blue Holden Kingswood station wagon as there were no tables and chairs  back then. 

My favourite  menu item was the snack box with potato and gravy as well as the coleslaw. I remember they also had roasted BBQ chicken but we were never fans and enjoyed the original KFC with 11 herbs and spices a time before the hot and spicy. 

Modelling my memories

If you go around most train shows you will bound to see the Life Like KFC kit built on a layout. Whilst the kit is great as the first version of the KFC store and is still widely available, the one thing I did not like was the carpark and footprint which did not resemble anything in Australia.

Above: Opened kit ready for building and kit bashing.

Modifications

Instead of building the kit as is I had reduce the size of the back kitchen in order to fit in the space I had on my layout.

I also added both interior and external LED lights. The carpark was enlarged to what I remembered it at Earlwood and I also made the bucket rotate. 

The rotating bucket is a source of trial and error and I have installed one motor but the rpm appears to fast. I have tried to slow it down with resistors but it did not help. I have ordered a 3rpm motor so hopefully that would look more realistic. 

Above is the finished model with all lights lite next a competing fast food outlet that never last. 

See my previous post. http://innerwesthoscale.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/hurry-on-down-to-hartees-where-burgers.htm

Attached is the bucket finally rotating

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bib3OnynlhC/

50 years on KFC is not the same as I remembered it the servings are smaller.  I still like the mashed potato and gravy and the coleslaw but feel disappointed after having it. I just have to yearn for those good old times. For those wanting to live the past here are some old KFC commercials on You Tube

 First Australia KFC TV AD
Mid 1970s KFC ad

Christmas 2017

Thanks for all the followers on the blog during the year and happy modelling for 2018. I hope to be able to finish off the work on my 1970s section of my layout in 2018

Hurry on down to Hartee's where the burgers are barbecued!

Growing up in the Canterbury-Bankstown area in the early 1970s, I remember the ads on the TV for "Hartee's", the new burger joint where the catch jingle was "Hurry on down to Hartee's, where the burgers are barbecued" sang by a cowboy. I always thought the burgers tasted better than the latest food chain McDonalds. But they just disappeared overnight and my local Hartees restaurant on Canterbury road, Canterbury was no longer there and was soon replaced by McDonalds.

It has only been the result of the internet that I have finally found the fate of Hartees but more of that later.

I decided to rekindle my youth and model the Hartees that I remembered in the early 1970s.

Above: Finished model of the Hartee;s restaurant

Basis of restaurant
I purchased a Fast Food Restaurant cardboard from Kingsway in the UK which I asked the supplier to reduce to kit from 00 gauge to HO scale. I started to build the kit as per instructions but found the kit a little large and it needed to reduce the kit by a quarter. 

Above: Original size walls of the Kingsway model

Above:cut to size to represent Hartees

Building Roof
I attempted to use the stock roof that was included in the Kingsway kit but it did not represent the roof for Hartees so a custom built roof made of cardboard and paper mache was used.

Retaurant Signage
Restaurant signage examples were sourced from the internet. As Hartees was based on the American Hardees who part owned the Australian operation with Kelloggs, I was able to find some colour Hardees photos as Australian sourced photos were in black and white. I used word to mock up the signs and then pasted them on styrene.

 

The most useful source that I found on the internet was from flickr which had a black and white ad from "The Leader"newspaper advertising the grand opening of the Hartees store in Kogarah 

Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sydneyneverbuilt/19530497500/

Hardees as they were in the US in the 1970s and still going strong

source: https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2015/07/30/hardees-1970s/

The Final Fate

For those of you who wanted to know a whatever happened to Hartees or like me was too young to be able to know about the news at the time the blog the Past Lives of the Near Future has some interesting reading on Hartee's.

https://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/2012/04/05/the-hartees-saga-part-iv-the-shocking-conclusion-bankstown-nsw/

https://pastlivesofthenearfuture.com/2012/03/27/the-hartees-saga-part-ii-canterbury-nsw/

 If Hartee's continued today it will probably be Hungry Jacks however instead of having barbecued hamburgers we are getting "The burgers are better at Hungry Jacks.

Moving to the 1970s (Torn between choices)

As the new year of 2017 commences everyone has anticipation of new things to look forward to. I wanted to commence something new to spur some enthusiasm again into completing my layout. 

Torn - Choice of two different approaches

I was torn between either completing a full double track around the room to enable continuous running of trains or starting the 1970s scenery section of the layout. 

In the end, I half completed the full double track which ended when I ran out of flexitrack around the fiddle yard area and lost momentum  so ended up starting to commence the 1970s section again. 

New 1970s section

I have yet to name this section of the layout but it will have scenery items that will bring back memories of my childhood living in Belmore and travelling along Canterbury road during the early 1970s. 

 Size

The section measures 1800 mm long x 600mm wide. 

Track layout

This will consist of double track with Peco code 75 with a oil siding in the corner of the section. Track had been laid in previous months so what was needed was to paint and weather the track and ballast the sleepers.

Terrain

I found a supplier in Blacktown, Austech that supplies extruded polystyrene which is denser than the normal polystyrene. I bought a couple of sheets a  few years ago. This will be used for the embankments where the track will be raised about street level. No more gaps are used to cover holes where there were joins between the polystyrene.

Above: Start of the embankment section of the 1970s layout

Rail and sleeper weathering and ballasting

I applied rust acrylic paint along the rails and nail heads with a light grey paint for the sleepers to remove the black plastic look.  This is where you can spend time weathering and detailing the track that can make a difference between a toy train and realism. I will probably need to do some more dry brushing with different shades of greys and browns to get the right look. 

Ballasting
I used Chucks Ballast - Martin's Creek fine on my previous layout and also on Wardell section of the layout. This is also used in this section applied on with a plastic spoon and a mixture of PVA glue with water and dishingwashing liquid applied to the ballast using an eye-dropper.

Above: Oil distribution section of the 1970s layout. with ballasting of sleepers commenced. 

 Accessibility 
I originally had the backdrop board already screwed on to the baseboard but found I needed to remove it to correct the underpass road that would represent the Arnotts rail bridge at North Strathfield. This made the layout detailing more accessible so I could access the back of the layout. I will probably won't reinstall it until after I have completed the scenery

 
Still alot to do
There is still alot to do with the scenery in the meantime I have been also been building some of the structures for this section. If I could complete the scenery in 6 months that would be fantastic.

Lets see. 

(Originally published on http://innerwesthoscale.blogspot.com/ (3/1/2017)

A Track Plan

Below is the original track plan for the 1970s section of the layout with the planned buildings and roads.