An army marches on it’s stomach.
Never has a truer word been spoken. Consequently it is obvious to all why a burger or buttie van can often be found in any industrial area.
This little model started life as an Oxford Diecast model called Bob’s Burgers. You will have seen on other pages I am prone to being ham fisted and this model is no different.
Having made a poor job of getting out the box and snapped the sign off I got thinking. Stopping to think for a few minutes, it occurred to me having frequented many such as establishment that I had never seen one with a sign on it’s roof like the original model. Therefore I set about making it more familiar…
DOWN TO ACTION…
First step was to pull out some 1200 grit wet and dry paper and gently sand down the stumps from the snapped off sign. Wet and Dry paper is an invaluable tool in my modelling armoury. Mine has come from Toolstation where they sell a pack of 10 sheets which are a decent quality for less than £2.
Next I found that 2mm masking tape fitted perfectly above the serving hatch and the roof was masked off for painting. Having painted the roof to match and disguise the sanded elements, next up was the roof light & vent. The vent was masked off again and painted a ‘grey white’ colour to represent the tired looking plastic so typical.
My normal tool of choice for painting is the airbrush. However with this project I just used a normal brush and paints that had been thinned. I prefer working with thinned paints as you can apply a finer layer. Generally this also gets you away from the problem of brush lines in your paint.
My inspiration for this model came from the home of a brilliant greasy burger. For many years Chezzy’s burger van was a main stay of the car park at Wickes on Leads Road in Hull. Although not nouveau cuisine the food from here often acted as a perfect hangover cure!
The silver towing framework on the original model was next on my radar. As I was aiming for a more typical look this was treated to a layer of dirt. Being precise – Railmatch Roof Dirt, thinned a bit so it just ‘toned it down’ without completely recolouring it.