As a one-time driver and HGV coach painter (of the 1970’s), now retired and maintaining my sanity as a scale model maker, I am building a series of 1/24 scale models of the vehicles I drove, worked on or have particular memories of during my time in the industry. My next build will be a pair of Atkinsons - a MK1 and a Mk2 - for which I’m struggling to find specifications / dimensions / brochures.
The Mk 1 will be a 6x2(?) of Jos Walsh, Darwen and the Mk2 will be a 4x2 Borderer of Bowkers, Blackburn.
Can anyone help with specifications for these units? Dimensions, data sheets, brochures, drawings - anything which would help the builds. Or point me in the right direction. I’ve searched online, including ebay, and contacted the Classic Atkinson Club, but nothing has surfaced so far.
I have plenty of photos of the Bowker one and a few of the Jos Walsh unit kindly provided by the family, plus I’ve found a few faded ones on this forum to refer to, but I would welcome any more of the Walsh’s units if available - certainly anything showing the chassis arrangement.
And the links - I have the Modellers Resource kits for both the Mk1 and Mk2 models and will be using those as the basis for the models. The 44 pages of Atkinson link is one I’ve ploughed through a couple of times now but many of the images are not showing, so perhaps I’ve missed something? Mind you, my search has probably been a bit heavily focused on finding images of the Jos Walsh vehicles in particular, so again, it’s possible things have been overlooked. I’ll grab a coffee (or something!) later and take a more leisurely stroll through those pages later today to see if I can find more general images to help.
Thanks for the ‘bump’ - I’ve made a start on taking a more general look through the pages and have so far found a few photos with good reference detail, so the nudges re the thread have been well worthwhile!
The real missing links are the specifications, but if necessary, I can work around using dimensions from the details I have for the ERF A series / Bedford TM recently done. Not ideal, but my aim is for something which looks the part rather than counts every rivet, so things will still go ahead if I can’t get the Atkinson specs.
Paul when I built this twin rear steer many moons ago now I used the spec for the Leader rolling chassis as in the pic above. This was in a copy of a 1971 Observers Commercial Vehicle book and the overall L x W x H was 211.5in x 97in x 107.5in, the WheeIbase being 138in. I just converted the chassis overall length and wheelbase to 1/24 scale and went from there (there are free conversion tools to use on the internet that will convert any measurements to those you need). I also used the above photo for the positioning of the chassis components, however this is a MkII if you intend to build a MkI twin rear steer this may differ. The MkII 4x2 wheelbase was usually 128in. Hope this helps. Franky.
Paul I had a look through a CD of my Truck Model World articles and came across the following Atkinson Borderer spec sheets you will hopefully find useful for the 4x2 build. Franky.
What a great response to my post!
Many thanks Franky - the detail you have provided is exactly what I’m looking for and means I can now get started on the project as my next build. I’m just finishing off a Scania 3 series (Fagan & Whalley) for a family member - all a bit modern for me even if the thing is 25 years old!! - so should be under way before Christmas. And your model pics have definitely helped throw some perspective into my thoughts.
Thanks for taking the trouble to get the detail together, it’s really appreciated.
Paul
just like to say thanks for the fantastic response to my request for help - I now have the details I need to make a start on both the Atkinson Mk1 and Mk2 models with the confidence to achieve a decent level of accuracy.
I also have some reference on engines, Gardners were always popular. Modellers Resource make a nice kit of this and Kit Form Services make a Rolls Royce Eagle. I have taken various pictures at shows of Borderers, rear of cabs, chassis and wiring etc if you require anything in particular, let me know. I don’t have a lot of reference on Mk1s however Peter Davies Atkinson book (the one with the Killingbeck on the cover) has a great selection of Mk1 and Mk2 blueprints printed in the back.
James
Thanks for the brochure and engine detail James - that is superb detail and very welcome. Paul Motyka suggested I contact you in a previous post reply but it’s been a distracting week, so you’ve actually beaten me to making contact! Thanks for taking the trouble to do so.
I have the MR Gardner engine kit which will go into the MK1 version, but the Borderer will have a ■■■■■■■ unit as in the Bowker’s vehicle being modelled. I got hold of ■■■■■■■ resin kit from Auslowe for the ERF A Series of Bowker’s which I’m working on in the background, but got caught out with import duties on the thing which makes it a much less attractive proposition for use unfortunately. So I’m just finishing off an attempted scratchbuilt ■■■■■■■ engine for using in the Borderer. Done from bits of scrap Plasticard and Plastruct sections, it’s modelled on the Auslowe one - a bit crude perhaps, but it suits the purpose!!
As for the book, I now have one of those on order!
Thanks again for getting in touch - very much appreciated.
paulsavage:
Thanks for the brochure and engine detail James - that is superb detail and very welcome. Paul Motyka suggested I contact you in a previous post reply but it’s been a distracting week, so you’ve actually beaten me to making contact! Thanks for taking the trouble to do so.
I have the MR Gardner engine kit which will go into the MK1 version, but the Borderer will have a ■■■■■■■ unit as in the Bowker’s vehicle being modelled. I got hold of ■■■■■■■ resin kit from Auslowe for the ERF A Series of Bowker’s which I’m working on in the background, but got caught out with import duties on the thing which makes it a much less attractive proposition for use unfortunately. So I’m just finishing off an attempted scratchbuilt ■■■■■■■ engine for using in the Borderer. Done from bits of scrap Plasticard and Plastruct sections, it’s modelled on the Auslowe one - a bit crude perhaps, but it suits the purpose!!
As for the book, I now have one of those on order!
Thanks again for getting in touch - very much appreciated.
Paul
If you need any more Bowker photos, Paul, drop me a line
paulsavage:
Thanks for the brochure and engine detail James - that is superb detail and very welcome. Paul Motyka suggested I contact you in a previous post reply but it’s been a distracting week, so you’ve actually beaten me to making contact! Thanks for taking the trouble to do so.
I have the MR Gardner engine kit which will go into the MK1 version, but the Borderer will have a ■■■■■■■ unit as in the Bowker’s vehicle being modelled. I got hold of ■■■■■■■ resin kit from Auslowe for the ERF A Series of Bowker’s which I’m working on in the background, but got caught out with import duties on the thing which makes it a much less attractive proposition for use unfortunately. So I’m just finishing off an attempted scratchbuilt ■■■■■■■ engine for using in the Borderer. Done from bits of scrap Plasticard and Plastruct sections, it’s modelled on the Auslowe one - a bit crude perhaps, but it suits the purpose!!
As for the book, I now have one of those on order!
Thanks again for getting in touch - very much appreciated.
Paul
If you need any more Bowker photos, Paul, drop me a line
Many thanks for that. I’m fortunate that the Bowkers preserved unit has been so widely photographed for the general shots, but I could always do with the detail shots in particular, things like chassis component layout, plumbing etc where these would be available - with my increasing experience now, I’d like to make these two that bit more complete with the finer details than my more ‘fit for purpose’ builds to date.
paulsavage:
Thanks for the brochure and engine detail James - that is superb detail and very welcome. Paul Motyka suggested I contact you in a previous post reply but it’s been a distracting week, so you’ve actually beaten me to making contact! Thanks for taking the trouble to do so.
I have the MR Gardner engine kit which will go into the MK1 version, but the Borderer will have a ■■■■■■■ unit as in the Bowker’s vehicle being modelled. I got hold of ■■■■■■■ resin kit from Auslowe for the ERF A Series of Bowker’s which I’m working on in the background, but got caught out with import duties on the thing which makes it a much less attractive proposition for use unfortunately. So I’m just finishing off an attempted scratchbuilt ■■■■■■■ engine for using in the Borderer. Done from bits of scrap Plasticard and Plastruct sections, it’s modelled on the Auslowe one - a bit crude perhaps, but it suits the purpose!!
As for the book, I now have one of those on order!
Thanks again for getting in touch - very much appreciated.
Paul
If you need any more Bowker photos, Paul, drop me a line
Many thanks for that. I’m fortunate that the Bowkers preserved unit has been so widely photographed for the general shots, but I could always do with the detail shots in particular, things like chassis component layout, plumbing etc where these would be available - with my increasing experience now, I’d like to make these two that bit more complete with the finer details than my more ‘fit for purpose’ builds to date.
It’s tucked away for the winter now, so not really accessible, but I have a number of photos that we took during the rebuild, and one poor quality photo of it when it was still in service on the general fleet, before it went to be the workshop shunter in Hull - it worked longer in that role than it did in revenue-earning service. This is the original back dash - at least you can see the original signwriting on it!
Thanks Dean for another very much appreciated reply to my request for help. I certainly have no excuse now for messing this one up!! I’ll be starting laying out the chassis in the next week or so with both the Mk1 and Mk2 being built together as a single project. I’ll post the odd photo of progress if that’s ok to do? Promise not to bore you all!!
And thanks again to all who have been able to provide the information.
