I want to do a small review for the King-Size No.K-7 Shelvoke & Drewry Refuse Truck. I had a good buy last time and solved a little K7 mistery myself. I appreciate Nick's King Size guide and I will try my best to show some variations which are not covered by the K7 article.
The refuse truck can be found with or without side panel for the decals. Early issues had no side panel and the decals were applied to the rear of the refuse container. That was changed in the decal period, so a side panel was cast into the refuse container and and the decals were soon applied to the side panel. Later labels were applied instead of decals. We also have a variation to the linkage which allows us to tip the refuse container. It can be found either silver or unpainted. This variation is not easy to add to the timeline. Early issues (no side panel) and later issues (decals fitted) have unpainted linkages. I have one example with side panels and decals, which has a silver linkage.
The model can have a clear or blue tinted suspension clip.
We also have a variation to the hydrosleeve, it can be found in either red or black, but this is very easy to change between the models. (It is possible to find one with white hydrosleeve which should come from RW #6c Euclid dump truck)
Let's talk about the baseplate.
First of all it can be found in matt black or glossy black. Nick mentions that there is a variation with or without patent number. I seconded that and would add that we also have K-7's with or without tow guide.
The basplate shows the number N°K-7 on a raised plattform, which gives us the hint that the baseplate had been modified at some time. As I mentioned above, I had a good buy last week and found a K7 refuse truck with early (!) base without the raised plattform. Well...the original text was N°K7 instead of N°K-7. I was looking for an update for my "no side panel" variation and ended up with this find.
Don't know how special it is but I can't find a thread regarding this casting and had to share it with you.
I took many pictures of the different variations, feel free to use them.
Greetings,
Lucky Linus!
left: early casting without side panel (decal applied to the rear) - right: side panel added, decal applied to the side panel
left: unpainted linkage - right: silver painted linkage
left: blue tinted suspension clip - right: clear suspension clip
left: black hydrosleeve - right: red hydrosleeve
left: glossy black base - right: matt black base
Some base variations:
earlier base without patent number, without tow guide, N°K-7 on raised plattform
next one: base with patent number, without tow guide, N°K-7 on raised plattform
next one: base with patent number, with tow guide, N°K-7 on raised plattform
my latest find, first base type: without patent number, without tow guide, N°K7 (not raised)
The model after Superking modification:
There are some different boxes, too. I just have this one, in my opinion the most beautiful one:
