Hi All,
I’m going to take a step away from the architecture theme of this thread and show a few of the paper vehicles I’ve built for my slot car layout. First up are the three racecar transporters available at:
Home of カードã®å…µéšŠ
To find the three transporters, locate the F1 1961-1965 listing at the top of the page, and scroll down to the bottom.
Along with some rather cartoonish pre-wing F1 paper cars, this site, also known as Ichiyama’s Paper Cards, offers some realistic 1/30 scale Bugatti Type 35s and a selection of accurate, 1/30 scale paper models of mini and micro cars of the past. The three transporters are a bonus and I was happy to find them.
The Team Lotus vehicle is typical of the custom made car transporters of the 1950s and 1960s. Seeing as you couldn’t just drive your F1 car to the track, these transporters were the logical evolution from the trailers and flatbed trucks that were used prior to their introduction. More than just a hollowed out bus, these custom designed vehicles served not only as transportation for the thoroughbred racecars but also as a mobile shop and office. It was nice for the crews to have an enclosed place of their own to retreat to when on the road visiting the various tracks.
Printed out on my inkjet printer onto 110 lb. cardstock, all three transporters are heavily reinforced with mat board. The Lotus is designed to have a tailgate that lowers for loading the cars, but to insure strength, I built my Lotus with the tailgate sealed in place.
The Owen Racing Organization transporter is also known as the Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster LRT as well as the BRM Transporter. Inflated titles aside, the Owen transporter is a similar tailgate vehicle, but it was designed with a more angular look. Both the Lotus and Owen models include printed interiors that are meant to be installed inside the models, but again, my Owen is all sealed up in the name of strength. I’ve have these trucks in my collection for over eight years, and they are all holding up fine.
The final transporter is the most famous, the red Fiat 642 RN2. Built to carry three Ferrari racecars in the open, the original vehicle still exists today. Discovered as a barn find in 1988 and taken in hand, it was fully restored and now makes the rounds of Europe’s famed tracks. Some of my photographs show my model Fiat carrying three Ferraris. Sadly, the cars appear to be somewhat oversized when placed on the transporter. Even though I printed out all three transporters as large as I could, they don’t quite measure up to 1/32 scale. But, as they reside on the far side of the track, they are close enough.
After I finished the bodies of the trucks, I thought the wheels and tires of all three models were lacking, so I found some better examples on the net and used them in place of the originals. The three vehicles really add some color and history to the layout.
Finally, I built a pair of postwar Citro
ën trucks, a 2CV and an H van. I don’t remember where I got them, but I scaled them to 1/32 to fit in with the rest of my layout.
All for now,
Score and fold,
Thumb Dog