Strange Red Car

**Thumb Dog** · #1 02-13-2018, 01:41 PM

Hi All,

Here are a few photographs of an interesting build I did some months ago. I discovered this strange red car in a digital copy of the Allers Familie Journal of April 21st, 1920. Published in Oslo, Norway, the weekly AFJ began publication in 1898 and is still in business, known today as Allers. It is a subsidiary of Aller Holding A/S, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The holding company publishes a wide variety of magazines for the Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Danish markets.

The AFJ has changed over the years, with its current target audience being women homemakers of a certain age. But a century ago, the magazine focused on technical articles, fiction and craftwork directed toward the family unit, with an emphasis on children. The old issues included how-to articles on how to make any number of things, including fretwork knickknacks from cigar box wood and sewing simple items from fabric scraps. There were games, cartoons and chess problems, too. Some of the material in the magazine seems to be rather dense for interested youngsters, and in keeping with the “family magazine” premise, parents were encouraged to guide and assist their children through the more sophisticated articles and intricate craft projects.

Which leads us back to the strange red car. For a time, most issues of AFJ included a paper model. These were generally small buildings, often touching on classic fairy tales, such as Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel. Miniature stage sets and paper actors were also published to satisfy the Scandinavian appetite for paper toy theatres. And occasionally, something like this fantasy car might be run. The models were usually found on the back page of the magazine, which presents some problems for the modern collector and vintage modeler. The unprotected back cover would often suffer quite a bit of wear as compared to the inside pages of the magazine, and the extra exposure to light might cause the model to fade. Lastly, the thin, pulp paper tended to wick the ink through from one side of the page to the other, permanently marking the model. This can create the need for some serious pixel pushing to get the model into a buildable condition.

The Norwegian title of the model is, "En Veddelops-Automobil," which roughly translates to, “The By-Pass Car," or presumably, “The Fast Car.” The long wheelbase and monoposto body look more like a modern drag racing rail than any car from the 1920s. And the ten louvers along each side of the coffin-like hood promise at least two, if not three unseen engines to drive the beast. The descriptive text found under the title translates as, “A fun thing anyone can make by following the instructions.” I usually ignore the instructions for these vintage models, especially when they are written in Norwegian.

Built from 110 lb. cardstock, my finished model measures eight and a half inches in length. I haven’t worked out the dimensions of the model as published. As usual, the kit wheels were simple, one-sided parts that needed some filling out. I made up a set of treads from the color of the tire’s sidewalls, and I printed up another set of wheels to build the desired two-sided, three dimensional parts. I even made the treads of the rear wheels slightly wider, giving them a 1920s racing slick look. I wanted the wheels to go round and round, so solid brass axles were inserted through brass tubes. The wheels are held to the axles by brass eyelets.

Back in January, 2016, I built a similar roller known as the Pioneer Aero-Car. Below find the pair of fantasy cars ready to race. I wonder which will be faster?

The following will take you to the April 21st, 1920 issue of Allers Familie Journal. Have a look around the other issues if you’d like to search out some more interesting paper models.

https://issuu.com/plu-archives/docs/...l-_v.44_no.16_

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

**altomentis** · #2 02-13-2018, 10:04 PM

Hello,

I live less than 30 miles from PLU. I should stop in and find out if I can access their archive copies.

**davetun** · #3 02-14-2018, 10:47 AM

Thanks for the link!

**Madbrit** · #4 02-14-2018, 11:28 PM

Thumb Dog, Fun stuff. Interesting illustrations along with the occasional model. Thank you for posting this.

Derek

**patriciaeureka** · #5 02-15-2018, 08:02 PM

OOOHHH!!!!Thanks for this great link , if you want i've doing some capture and put pics on a "flickr" set:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/taffet...57663746233137

Patricia

**Madbrit** · #6 02-16-2018, 12:00 AM

Once again, Patricia, you are doing us all a great service. Merci beaucoup !!

Derek

**davetun** · #7 02-16-2018, 06:56 AM

Many of the models in these issues were designed by the artist, "H.C.M."

The few buildings I tried were well designed and went together easily.

**Thumb Dog** · #8 02-16-2018, 11:50 AM

Hi All,

And thanks for the comments, too. So far, I’ve built two other models from the Allers Familie Journal, and I’m including some photographs below.

The first recalls a dramatic moment in the lives of Hansel and Gretel. Hansel is caged in the back of the witch’s house, and Gretel is being led away to her doom. This is a pretty scary image for young children to have on their nightstand, made even more frightening by the fact that real smoke from the witch’s oven can be made to rise from the house’s chimney. The paper model is in fact an incense burner. What we have here is a designer combining the image of abandoned and terrorized children with an actual, smoldering fire burning inside a paper house. Pleasant dreams, Bjørn. What were my Scandinavian ancestors thinking?

The second model is a bit more lighthearted, as it’s a camera that takes magic photographs of your crazy uncles. I put more effort into this model, as it needed more cleaning up and finesse in its construction.

If anyone else has built some models from the Allers Familie Journal collection, feel free to post them on this thread. We’re always interested in seeing vintage, two-dimensional drawings realize their potential in the three-dimensional world.

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog