Hi there

I pulled out this old build I did years ago. This is totally scratch other than a set of wheels from an american pickup that will be lying in my stash for me to figure out what I do without wheels (tracks maybe).

It is a model of my dad's old Bedford CF camper he had for a few years that we named muppet (MUP 386T).
My good wife on holiday in Muppet


I had considered trying to convert a GMC or Chevy van like Mr T's in A Team thinking the cabs were similar but never found a donor to try out. I looked at a block of balsa wood and started to carve and shave away to see if it were possible to get the curves of the Bedford having the camper at hand at the time to refer to.


The main door panels, wings, bonnet and grill are all one single piece shaped from the balsa block (lots of sawing, sanding and scraping which shows on the underside).


A plasticard grill was added to smooth out the front and to place the light lenses into

The front and rear bumpers were made out of sections of an old umbrella that had folded in on itself and I thought had nice bits of shaped metal that I kept

A very basic floor of plasticard with donated engine flat, difs and gearbox from a car kit



Body of camper was made up on a sheet of plasticard to the floor plan I drew up and working up from there


I had a heap of profiled plasticard from building my railway layout buildings as a kid which was a reasonable match to the real



Interior of camper is made up of various materials including plasticard, balsa sheet, timber veneer.




Kitchen sink, boiler, cooker and dining table as per the real layout






Handy camper sleaps four is ideal for fishing trips or the like


Gas is carried in the outside hatch


Like the gas cupboard, I need to make a new front door and a replacement wing mirror. On the real camper I put a gouge along the side and smashed the nearside plastic window with an overhanging branch trying to avoid a Landrover on a single track road



These windows were formed by pressing shaped balsa into heated clear plastic then lining inside with used photographic film
(They are double glazed and tinted just like the real thing)






It is a model I would like to try again to get the scale and detail of the cab a bit better, but I enjoyed this build with all the close connection to the subject

Nige

super cool RV dude. How long did this project take?

Hi there Ko

Suprisingly not very long as you know, balsa is very easy to work, looking back at it I think I rushed it in areas as you will possibly notice I forgot to keep enough under the bumper area for the curved section where the indicators are mounted.

It needed a lot of filling then sanding smooth again and then filling again. I also used a lot of tipex for smaller areas.

I could of course go back and add on a section to replace that bit, but given the fact that I am slightly out with the scale of the cab to the rear accommodation, I would probably chalk this one up to experience and try to do a completely new one using calopers to get the wings, side elavations, etc even.

The rest of the materials were easy to work with but next time I would be taking a bit more time over each section.

All the best

Nige