1933 Ransomes & Rapier mobile crane

Whilst having a clear out today, I found a long forgotten kit I purchased locally from a model shop which the owner was more than happy to dispose of cheaply as it has several major parts missing.
The smile on his face when I handed over the money made me question my decision to buy it
So finding it today made me open it up and re check what’s there and what needs making….question is, either have a go or sell it on……

I did try to contact the kits producer in New Zealand without any success, thankfully the previous owner contacted him to obtain email drawings and pictures as the original instructions looked very basic

The main issue looks to be the girder style tower and cross members are missing, these will need some careful fabrication. Cab detailing, radiator, pulleys , hook assembly and control panel will hopefully come from my spares boxes and or plasticard / brass etch.
Thankfully the jib brass etch is complete as is the cab, roof and a very nice “Rapier” name plate.
So hopefully this will be my new project to get me back into modelling after a fair few months away.

 

Cheers Toto.

Pete, the pictures of all the parts is of the actual parts,as you can see I’ve placed all items left in the kit on the photo…..so if you need a better copy of it I can send it over to you if that helps..

 

Found some oo gauge grills which will be used to make up the radiator detailing.

First major job is to construct the missing A frames. I’ve used code 124 rail and some brass section. Using the plan of the A frame as a template to measure and cut the section plus add the pulley wheels locations plates.

main body is straight forward to assemble, just 5 parts cleaned up and low melt solder

wheels needed a hole opened out for a brass rod axle. These I will leave removable to help with painting. Mounting point for the jib soldered into position after some slight modification as stated in the instructions. I’ve added a plastikard section to represent the balance weight

jib pivot fixed to the platform, and a trial fit of the A frames…….this will need to be altered as the jib will not fit in the opening…..

 

A frames modified today and the platform has had all of the missing parts added from the scrap / spares box.

 

Yes mate…..got to get my brain back into things

 

“I’ll keep that….you never know , one day !” Springs to mind Rob

 

Jib next…….very thin etch and four butt joints to form 4 long seam with only a couple of tabs to hold it together. As soon as I added heat to the etch it warped..took nearly two hours to get it together.

ready for a good clean up but before that I need to source some pulleys as again these are missing from the kit……no,pulleys in my scrap boxes…I need 6 x 8-9mm one……..in another spares box I found these “plastic top hats” from another project, these might just work.

I drilled out one washer end, cut off the tube end then inserted one “top hat into the “washer” and there’s my first pulley….repeat process for the twin set but using two “washers” and for the triple I used 2x complete “top hats” and two washers.

fitted into the jib they look ok to my eye….once painted and rigged up I don’t think they will look to out of place.

and with the jib fitted back on the model…

etched cab next…………

 

Cheers Ian, Mark Pete.

the cab is made up from 5 parts, the rear lower section needed to be curved to follow the shape of the chassis frame and then the rear windows needed a bend to meet up with the sides.

I’ve added a small brass strip at the back to allow the cab to simply click into position. This will help me when painting and detailing the model plus I can remove it when adding the cab detailing module which will include, drivers seat, pedals and levers, all of which I will have to scratch build. I’ve also just ordered a industrial driver figure from MODELU3D , this will be here in a few weeks, fingers crossed

final clean up and then it will be ready for primer…….I’ve found a photo of a pale blue crane on the internet which I will use for reference.

 

Cheers Rob.

not the same version but still worth a watch.