mardi 13 février 2018

Strange Red Car

Hi All,

Here are a few photographs of an interesting build I did some months ago. I discovered this strange red car in a digital copy of the Allers Familie Journal of April 21st, 1920. Published in Oslo, Norway, the weekly AFJ began publication in 1898 and is still in business, known today as Allers. It is a subsidiary of Aller Holding A/S, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The holding company publishes a wide variety of magazines for the Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Danish markets.

The AFJ has changed over the years, with its current target audience being women homemakers of a certain age. But a century ago, the magazine focused on technical articles, fiction and craftwork directed toward the family unit, with an emphasis on children. The old issues included how-to articles on how to make any number of things, including fretwork knickknacks from cigar box wood and sewing simple items from fabric scraps. There were games, cartoons and chess problems, too. Some of the material in the magazine seems to be rather dense for interested youngsters, and in keeping with the “family magazine” premise, parents were encouraged to guide and assist their children through the more sophisticated articles and intricate craft projects.

Which leads us back to the strange red car. For a time, most issues of AFJ included a paper model. These were generally small buildings, often touching on classic fairy tales, such as Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel. Miniature stage sets and paper actors were also published to satisfy the Scandinavian appetite for paper toy theatres. And occasionally, something like this fantasy car might be run. The models were usually found on the back page of the magazine, which presents some problems for the modern collector and vintage modeler. The unprotected back cover would often suffer quite a bit of wear as compared to the inside pages of the magazine, and the extra exposure to light might cause the model to fade. Lastly, the thin, pulp paper tended to wick the ink through from one side of the page to the other, permanently marking the model. This can create the need for some serious pixel pushing to get the model into a buildable condition.

The Norwegian title of the model is, "En Veddelops-Automobil," which roughly translates to, “The By-Pass Car," or presumably, “The Fast Car.” The long wheelbase and monoposto body look more like a modern drag racing rail than any car from the 1920s. And the ten louvers along each side of the coffin-like hood promise at least two, if not three unseen engines to drive the beast. The descriptive text found under the title translates as, “A fun thing anyone can make by following the instructions.” I usually ignore the instructions for these vintage models, especially when they are written in Norwegian.

Built from 110 lb. cardstock, my finished model measures eight and a half inches in length. I haven’t worked out the dimensions of the model as published. As usual, the kit wheels were simple, one-sided parts that needed some filling out. I made up a set of treads from the color of the tire’s sidewalls, and I printed up another set of wheels to build the desired two-sided, three dimensional parts. I even made the treads of the rear wheels slightly wider, giving them a 1920s racing slick look. I wanted the wheels to go round and round, so solid brass axles were inserted through brass tubes. The wheels are held to the axles by brass eyelets.

Back in January, 2016, I built a similar roller known as the Pioneer Aero-Car. Below find the pair of fantasy cars ready to race. I wonder which will be faster?

The following will take you to the April 21st, 1920 issue of Allers Familie Journal. Have a look around the other issues if you’d like to search out some more interesting paper models.

https://issuu.com/plu-archives/docs/...l-_v.44_no.16_

Score and fold,

Thumb Dog

Attached Images
File Type: jpg IMG_0720.JPG (152.8 KB)
File Type: jpg IMG_0727.JPG (151.4 KB)
File Type: jpg IMG_0731.JPG (229.4 KB)
File Type: jpg IMG_0735.JPG (180.8 KB)
File Type: jpg IMG_0738.JPG (201.0 KB)
File Type: jpg IMG_0740.JPG (165.9 KB)
File Type: jpg IMG_0741.JPG (154.0 KB)
File Type: jpg IMG_0742.JPG (133.3 KB)
File Type: jpg Allers Familie Journal 4 21 20 Cover - Copy.jpg (273.7 KB)
File Type: jpg Allers Familie Journal April 21, 1920 - Copy.jpg (409.6 KB)


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