A restoration in pictures
This is a Dinky "home made" from No.430 Commer Breakdown Lorry in the style of No.424 Convertible Articulated Truck. The back from an Austin pick-up. It was found in a sorry state and restored to like new condition by Raymond, one of diecast.plus.com's regular contributors.
He says "It was held together with old nails and a bent up hitch (which didn't survive bending it back...) Apart from the extra ventilation it also was a bad casting for half the upper window frame was missing. Holes can be filled but a missing piece of cabin is more of a challenge."
After the old paint was removed
work to be done
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A hole in the back of the cab
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Holes in the chassis
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A missing area around the window
bigger pictureRepairing the pivot
Wire is shaped and inserted to strengthen around the hole. It is the filled and drilled.
removal of the damaged pivot
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Repairing the pivot hole
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Filling the holes
A two part metal filler was used. It is mixed in equal proprtions and applied. The job is the baked for about 20 minutes to accelerate the hardening. The excess filler is trimmed to shape when hard using a Dremmel with a suitable tool or even better a small fine file. Final finishing is done with fine abrasive paper. Raymond says that the filler he used cures very hard like the metal of the original casting.
filling a hole
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filling a hole
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Chassis holes filled
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Repairing the window area
Trial assembly
bigger picturePainting
white primer
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white primer
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Yellow finish
bigger pictureThe finished chassis
The finished article assembled
The colours used are the same as Dinky 424. Another suitable colour combination would have been the tan and green of Dinky 430 Commer Break Down Lorry.
Thanks to Raymond for contributing the photos for this article.