Ground Support Equipment

Now that the big GPU(Ground Power Unit) is finished I'm going to turn my attention to the smaller one.
So the big one will be used for HHrA and the Smaller one will be uses on the pax ramp when it's needed. 

One side of the GPU2 sprue. 

Another side of the GPU2 sprue. 

All built and drying on its back as the axles are a little glued up. 

What I can say is these things don't build too easily, alot of skimming on the corners is required otherwise a 3mm gap is going to show. 

And she's done!
It sure did take a while but I'm happy with the results.
I've painted it up to look like an ex Swissport Ground Power and I've used some spare Instrument panel decals cut up and put into the 2 relevant spaces on the front near the towbar. 

You gotta love the F-16! 

I went digging around in the Revell YF-16A kit and brought out another crew ladder, another Towbar and a figure. 

And the Rampie has been painted to look like me! 

I'm quite pleased how this guy turned out. 

I decided on the original uniform I wore as the new 1 is just dark blue. 

Crew Member now is finished. 

1 and 2 together finished for the first time. 

Kyle on the belt loader being guided to the hold door by Pete. 

The Dash-8 Towbar is painted with its added wheels. 

I used abit of off cut sprue to create the stability bar near the tug end of the bar. 

I found this in a box of toys we bought for the kids, they didnt play with it so I aquired it as a potential Scenery piece on the airport diorama. 

I removed the yellow stickers and cut off the wonkey pole as it was half the size it needed to be. 

I dug out some wooden stick I've had many years, measured it to just under 16cm, tall enough to accommodate a 1/72 Boeing 737-700 and fixed it all in place with some effort. 

The flood light is finished.
I modeled it off a similar Flood Loght I've seen at RAF Mildenhall. 

I've added filler to the base.
Adding weight to the base seems to have made the light more stable. 

This is a kids toy I bought from a charity shop for about 25p. 

The screw wouldn't budge so I drilled it out, I gave the toy truck bit to the kids as they seemed more excited about the Trucks compared to some steps. 

I dug out some wheels from the spares box, made some axles using the same 0.81mm brass rod that I used on the Ford Tractor and used a big piece of sprue to rest it all on.

Needs a repaint but Its what I needed.

Please note these wheels are just the prototype and have since been removed. 

And then there were 3! 

All striped and primed. 

I did a test paint.
The paint needs tidying up a tad but otherwise has the desired effect.
I'm still unsure weather or not to change the clunky base for a more slim frame like the ones I used to work with. 

And then there were 5! 

Atlas Editions Eddie Stobart De-icer rig "Cand-Ice"
This is one piece of equipment I didnt ever get to use, my wife bought me this as a gift as she always does, shes the best. 

These Maintenance and Access ladders were on the bench for a while.
I couldn't decide what paint to finish them in.
So in the end I dressed them as standard silver and black like any multipurpose ladder normally is. 

Next I'll be rebelling more kids toys.
Basically it's about 1/72ish, I may just end up scratch building most of the Hi-Low as alot of it is really warped and just broken.

The 2 ULD containers are about the correct size too.
They need filling and painting, I may go with AK Xtreme Metal as the ones at work were chrome covered in a layer of s$%t. 

All the flash shaved off. 

Filler added. 

Alot of filler... 

All sanded and ready for primer.
I'm not too fussed about imperfections in the filler and plastic duct as the real things, even new ULD's are beaten beyond belief! 

The white interior was doing my head in so I did a quick first coat of Vallejo Model Air Silver. 

Thw ULD's have been primed with Matt Black.
Upon further investigation the 2 ULD's need more filling and sanding so I'll do that soon. 

If you aren't familiar with how cargo is loaded onto modern aircraft.
Well this is it.
A train of ULD containers on dolly's(uld carriers) will line up and they will be slid onto the Hi-Low which will spin the.ULD into the correct position and then lift and slide it onto the aircraft. 

I know these are toys and completely unrealistic but it's the only way I have of replicating my old job in 1/72 / 1/76 scale. 

Moving kn, they have now been sprayed Vallejo Silver. 

The base of the ULD Dolly is rather basic but it won't be seen anyway.
I've modified it so the towing arm is movable by cutting g it off the black base and sanding it smooth allowing it to rotate freely. 

The top is also basic but it's exactly what is needed, I just need to get rid of the metal pin were the ULD sits. 

The Ford Tractor is now the designated Dolly puller! 

I used a dremol to grind off the guide pins. 

I then reshaped what was left of the pins into the ULD rollers. 

And nearly done.
Ford Tractor has been used to show size comparison. 

The ULD dollys are now silver. 

The EBT Tug may look small but from experience I know this is about the correct size. 

Here are a few photos of an Islander turn-around without the floodlights. 

Grandad the ground Handler gets the pilots attention to hand signal "Power On" 

Side on view. 

A drone view of the turnaround. 

Higgins is just about to jump off the beltloader to get in the hold whilst Grandad is out of side bringing the EBT tug round to take the 2 bags to the arrivals baggage belts. 

This is the Matchbox 1/76 Runway Wrangler.
So far I have primed and painted the front bumper and 2 silver tanks on the right hand side.
More to come as I plan on dismantling it for a major repaint. 

A second Wrangler HE.1 has now joined the growing fleet. 

A better type of pushback Tug has also joined the fleet. 

First job on the Big Orange Tug done.
I drilled out the rivets to a point where it slots onto the chassis and stays together by push fit. 

The new Wrangler got an old lid!
I wasn't sure at first about the colour but now it has an Orange lid it's perfect! 

The old Wrangler got a new lid!
This one actually reminds me of many tugs I worked on. 

I got lucky at a local Market Stall today when I discovered this 1/72 Shell MAN Fuel Truck. 

The one thing I felt that needed to happen was to convert her from a left to a right hand drive.
All it took was to take it apart, drill a hole, relocate the steering wheel and sand back the previous drive tube were the steering wheel was mounted. 

The base and pole are finished. 

The Windsock is almost ready to paint  

I started the windsock from the Gaugemaster Hanger Kit. 

And the Windsock is finished! 

I completed the Towbar from the Hasegawa Mitsubishi MU-2 kit with an added wheel from a scrapped 1/500 Herpa BA Landor B757-200. 

This set of steps was included in the Airfix Dehavilland Heron "Vintage Classics" kit.
My plan is to use 2 lengths of 0.81mm brass rod, 4 wheels and what resembles a tow bar A-frame from the spares box to make one of those units seen being towed by Fuel trucks at Airports. 

This is what I have achieved so far.
More to follow. 

These 5 and a bright red Mercedes will be used to populate the airports small car park which is similar to the work car park I used to park in at East Midlands Airport.

YPDATE: currently there are now 30+ of these in the collection. 

So these are the Mazda CX-5's I have chosen to be Airfield Ops and Follow Me cars during Airshows. 

These bad girls are the "StarJets" executive fleet of luxury cars.
There maybe more but currently they only have 3. 

Another beast added to the luxury fleet.
Rolls Royce Phantom 5. 

28 scratch built 1/72 scale chocks.
They are made from a ruined cut up eraser and invisible string.
I do plan to paint these black and yellow one day. 

The Shell fleet is growing!
The fuel Bowser is to fuel the aircraft.
The Classic Truck is the Shell heritage truck.
The 2 vans are for fleet maintenance.
And when ut gets gere there's a Hornby Tanker Wagon in black Shell livery to deliver Jet A1 to Hoton-Radford Airport.