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Hooper & Co Diorama


Anglia105E

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Yesterday I picked up some KIWI neutral shoe polish, which I have applied to the interior seating of this model, using a cotton bud. Then after allowing a few minutes to dry, the seats were buffed using a microfibre cloth. The leather upholstery effect is quite pleasing to the eye. This is shoe polish over matt grey primer (not sanded). So far, I have treated the rear seat with shoe polish, but not yet the front seats . . . 

David

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11 hours ago, Hoffman said:

That works really well! Great idea....

Thanks Tim . . . I have tried this method of applying shoe polish to a matt plastic surface previously, and as you can see, the finish is quite realistic.

The front and rear seats have been treated, so now I am working on the detailing of the dashboard and also the picnic tables.

David

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The picnic tables have had well over 24 hours drying time for the yacht varnish, so they are almost ready to glue to the back of the front seats.
The chrome handle on the nearside of the dashboard was in the wrong place, so this has been put in the correct position higher up.
The radiator grille has been curing for two weeks, so I have now coated the grille with Vallejo black acrylic, and after wiping away the excess black paint with a piece of kitchen roll while still wet, the vertical bars were touched up with liquid chrome pen. This creates the realistic effect of the black vertical gaps between the chrome. 
This is probably the most realistic radiator grille that I have produced during eight builds. The small rectangular badge at the top centre needs to be a black RR motif, which is embossed into the styrene part under the airbrushed liquid chrome.
The upper half of the main body has now been masked off, ready for applying the Velvet Green cellulose paint to the lower half of the bodywork. I shall follow the same procedure with the Velvet Green as I did with the Shell Grey, and then wait 5 days before polishing.
 
David

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18 minutes ago, Kodiak Island Modeler said:

You're artistry never ceases to amaze me.  It is beyond words sensational!

Thanks very much Douglas . . . . I do try to keep pushing the boundaries, and also hopefully improve my skills. Your comments are much appreciated !

Having built and painted seven 1:24 scale Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I model cars, I would like this build eight to be the best by far.

David

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The Minicraft kit for this Silver Cloud gives you 5 wheels and 5 tyres, but the wheels are poorly chromed and the tyres are of a plastic material, not rubber. The Revell kit does give you 5 wheels, but only 4 tyres. How you are supposed to put a tyre on the spare wheel is beyond me.
The Revell wheels are not chromed so you can do your own, and the tyres are very realistic rubber material. Also, the tyres have one side that is plain English, so no whitewall and have ' DUNLOP ' lettering, with the other side of the tyre having a narrow band for a whitewall, USA and Canada.
The axles in the Revell kit are plastic, and the axles in the Minicraft kit are metal. This time I don't have any metal axles remaining.
I carefully set about using Tamiya Polishing Compound on the Franklin Mint windscreen, only using Coarse and Fine grades, so not the Finish grade. The scratch has almost been removed, but the bad news is . . . the polishing compound has removed most of the chrome from the windscreen surround moulding ! This means that I have to re-chrome the windscreen surround. I can't really use the liquid chrome pen, so most likely it will be Bare Metal Foil, which I can cut cleanly to the glass with a scalpel knife. Maybe I should have left the scratch as it was?
I attempted to create the knurled inner rim of the steering wheel with the mini grinder, but that went badly. Found a second steering wheel and used a round hand file to do the job successfully.
Drilled a tiny hole in the dashboard, just to the left of the speedo, and inserted a short piece of 30 amp fuse wire to make a switch. This can be repeated for the other switches.
The carpets are glued in place, also the picnic tables, using PVA glue.
These finer details are proving tricky in 1:24 scale, and 1:12 scale would be a little easier.
 
David

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I do have a number of options for restoring the windscreen surround chrome. I can mask off the glass of the screen, then either airbrush the liquid chrome, or apply the liquid chrome with the pen. The other option is to use Bare Metal Foil, or I could use a windscreen from a different diecast model.
All the Revell kits have only 4 tyres, and I do have two sets of four, so I can use one tyre from a second set, leaving only 3 tyres for the next build that would require 5 tyres. Certainly, it is worth emailing Revell Germany to see if they would send me at least one set of four.
I have scratch built the dashboard mirror and super glued it in place. The roof aerial is also scratch built, and is ready for later. I used the same yellow head pins for the mirror stalk and the aerial.
This morning I applied the second coat of cellulose Velvet Green to the lower half of the body, and this evening I removed all the masking. The two-tone joining line looks good, and I shall wait five days before using Tamiya Polishing Compound on the paintwork.
 
David

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3 minutes ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Hi David, I have not looked much into the diorama side of the forum since I finished mine. Coming back and looking at your work is always very inspiring. I love the work you are doing on the Rolls Royce. Someday if I take one of these on your work will be my reference.

Many thanks Pierre, and your comments are most appreciated . . . These 1:24 scale Rolls-Royce model cars are well worth building, and you can produce a very accurate replica of the Silver Cloud I as long as you can improvise and scratch build to some degree. The Minicraft, Revell, Entex, Hubley and Masterkit versions of the kit are a good basis from which to start. The Franklin Mint diecast version is also useful for donor parts if you dare to dismantle them !

David

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I was not happy with the blemish on the nearside front wing, which I think was caused by wet sanding down to the primer. I decided to mask everything off, leaving a small rectangular window around the problem area. There is also one on the offside front wing, but less obvious.
I applied an extra coat of Velvet Green cellulose to both sides and removed the masking four hours later. The repair has worked, although you can see a rectangular outline where the tape has been. Hoping the polishing will remove the outline.
Did some really good masking on the windscreen glass, and also the radiator grille, ready for airbrushing Molotow Liquid Chrome.
The photo number 5480 is taken with flash, so it shows every imperfection.
 
David

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I airbrushed the windscreen moulding and the radiator grille was airbrushed again because it had some damaged areas. While there was some excess liquid chrome remaining, I dipped the roof aerial mounting in the chrome, and also touched up the top of the dashboard mirror.
Started detail work on the 3D printed engine, and used an ignition coil from the Tamiya Jaguar engine. The distributor cap needed correcting, because the spark plug leads exit from the side of the cap, and not from the top. I have some plug lead material ready, as well as some tubing to run the leads through. The Franklin Mint engine is good for reference, as it has an accurate distributor cap and leads setup. Despite close examination, I cannot see a way of extracting the engine from the diecast model. All the other parts of the car I know how to dismantle, but Franklin Mint have been very clever with the engine.
 
David

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The past two days have been mostly about the polishing process, although I did add some further detail to the engine, and mounted the steering wheel and column to the dashboard.
Having applied each grade of Tamiya Polishing Compound with microfibre cloth, and then buffed the surface of the body with a different cloth between each application, I can see the gradual improvement. A typical polishing session takes around two hours, and this is repeating the cycle of application and buffing maybe three times. The cellulose paint seems to be resisting all attempts at abrasive polishing.
From starting off quite gently, I found that repeated swirling motions which involve a fair amount of pressure, do not damage the paint surface to any degree. I have produced quite a nice finish, but I am some way off from the ' mirror ' finish that I really want to aim for.
The Velvet Green is responding better than the Shell Grey, but I think this is due to the Shell Grey being a metallic paint. There are plenty of YouTube videos showing how to use this Tamiya product, and the reviews are all good. I suspect that most modellers are using paints that are specifically for models, or if they are using automotive paints they are not cellulose.
 
David

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54 minutes ago, speedboy57 said:

nice

You have posted one word comments on 13 topics that took 10 minutes of your time Stephen . . . Well done !

Have you not got anything better to do with your time?

These 13 topics represent weeks, months, years of hard work and attention to detail by regular members of MCM forums.

If you can't be bothered to string a meaningful sentence together, then go play somewhere else DUDE.

' Nice '  ( thanks for the detailed analysis of my project, and those 12 others )

Have a good day speedboy57

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Disaster struck last week, when I decided to wet sand the polished paint finish, in an attempt to remove the ' orange peel ' effect. This took me through to the primer layer underneath, in one area of the roof and also on the wheel arch. It has become necessary to start again with the wet sanding, primering, painting, polishing process.
Having wet sanded the body, boot lid and bonnet panels, I have given these a coat of black primer. This has been wet sanded after 28 hours, and I need to mask off the lower part of the body. Then I shall apply the first coat of the cellulose Shell Grey, and I might go to three coats instead of two in order to avoid wet sanding through to primer again.
The engine detail is coming along nicely, and I am scratch building the rear number plate plinth.
In between workbench stuff, I am doing some experimental photography, using the glass TV stand that is now on top of the burr walnut coffee table.
Thanks for looking guys, and all comments are very welcome.
 
David

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While the first coat of paint is curing, and also while the engine fitting is awaiting further cutting on the chassis, I thought I would change the mood slightly.

The following photographs were taken in both colour and black & white, using an Art Deco lamp, an Eric Ravilious poster featuring Hooper & Co., the brass sill plates from a Hooper Rolls-Royce motor car and a 1:24 scale Silver Cloud model. These items are displayed on glass, with a burr walnut coffee table underneath, and a framed antique Chinese painting on the wall behind.

Hope you like this.

David

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My intention to use the 3D printed engine, as designed by myself and printed by Shapeways, has been shelved for now.

Plan B involves the use of a straight 6-cylinder engine removed from a 1:24 scale Franklin Mint diecast Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I . . . This was not easy to remove, but I managed to figure out the process without breaking anything! Actually, the detail is very accurate on this FM engine. Then I found that the height of the engine was preventing the bonnet panels from opening and closing properly. I have solved this problem by removing the tiny screw that holds the two halves of the engine together, and this allows the sump and lower part of the transmission to be detached. Now the engine can sit perfectly in the carefully cut out engine bay, and the hood panels are able to close above the air cleaner without touching.

The lower parts of the engine sump and transmission are moulded into the Revell chassis anyway, and I believe that Rolls-Royce used the same GM transmission for both the 6-cylinder engine as well as the V8.

David

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  • 2 weeks later...

Before commencing the polishing process, I put together a mock up of the Silver Cloud model, by test fitting the body, boot lid, bonnet panels, a spare radiator grille, interior seating tub, chassis, front and rear axles and wheels and tyres. The car looks pretty good at this stage of the build, and the daylight shows up the Velvet Green paint finish nicely. Most of the work in progress photos are taken under fluorescent lighting usually.

David

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Printed out the number plates and test fitted front and rear bumpers.
The boot lid handle is moulded into the plastic on the Revell / Minicraft kits, so I decided to scratchbuild a proper handle for the boot lid. I used a short length of 30 amp fuse wire, bent into shape, then drilled two holes in the boot lid and added a locking barrel made of square styrene rod, filed off and rounded the edges. The handle is not yet glued in place, so this can be chromed. The number plate / reversing lamp is the Revell part, but I might use the Franklin Mint lamp that is more realistic in detail.
 
David

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The spare wheel panel from the Franklin Mint diecast model is slightly too large for the Revell car, so I have produced some drawings to calculate precise measurements for this panel.
Previously I have made the panel from thin card, but this time it will be made from thin styrene.
 
The boot lid number plate plinth has been removed from an early 1960's toy Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud that I bought on Ebay . . . This was a 1:25 scale model car, so slightly smaller than my 1:24 scale Revell model, but the number plate plinth seems to have the right proportions for the boot lid.
 
David

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  • 2 weeks later...

A recent attempt to use the boot lid plinth from the ' toy ' Silver Cloud to create a mould, has resulted in the destruction of the master part. Thinking that I would be able to cast further plinths from such a mould, I carelessly melted the original part with hot glue. So it's back to the drawing board for the plinth part, and there are two additional issues at present, both of which are holding up completion of this build.

The windscreen does not fit very well into the body shell, and also the radiator grille chroming has failed again at the third attempt. Three of the five surfaces of this radiator grille have a nice smooth chrome finish, but the other two surfaces have serious blemishes.

All the work on the rear end of the Rolls-Royce has turned out nicely, which is more than can be said for the front end of the model.

David

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Currently, I am preparing a scene within the 1:24 scale Hooper & Co. building, ready to film videos that will be uploaded to YouTube shortly.

These video films have background music, and show the interior as well as the exterior of the showroom building.

The first photo of the following set shows the 1:24 scale building to the left, then there is a 1:32 scale Victorian terraced house, and the 1:43 scale diorama is furthest to the right of this photo. Inside the ground floor showroom there is a 1957 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I, and upstairs there is a gentleman in the office.

Here is the link to a test video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3FCrk1RZdY   ( thanks for watching )

David

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Here is a link to a further test video featuring the Hooper & Co. diorama . . . https://youtu.be/PkgYwmC_V8A

The gentleman in the hat is standing at the office desk with his back to the window. At this window there is an intruder . . . preparing to enter the building. The intruder's accomplice is keeping watch at the corner of the building on the ground floor, while upstairs at the second floor window . . . . The carpet is disturbed and broken fragments of the window have fallen to the floor in disarray.

David

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  • 2 weeks later...

Both the Silver Cloud build in 1:24 scale and the YouTube video filming have been put on hold for the moment, while I commence work on a separate project.

The 1:43 scale Hooper & Co. Acton factory diorama has two roads to the right of the factory building itself, and further to the right of the second road there is a railway line . . . Previously I was toying with the idea of having a railway line as an extension to this diorama, and this is something that is now on the workbench. The locomotive and rolling stock need to be O gauge, which is compatible with 1:43 scale vehicles. Having downloaded 37 files for 3D printing a locomotive, I am working my way through each part individually. This loco is a GWR 9400 Class 0-6-0 Pannier Tank steam locomotive from the late 1950's period, and these 3D print files are in 1:48 scale. A local model builder friend has offered me some rails and sleepers, so that I can make some 1:48 track that will fit this loco model.

The idea is to 3D print the loco, then sand, primer and paint the model to run along a 36" length of track over to the right hand side of the factory diorama. This is how it would have looked in 1959 on Western Avenue, Acton, London, England . . . I would like to add some wagons and a brake van as well, or even a couple of passenger coaches if I can afford them. As I understand things, O gauge in UK and Europe is 1:43 scale, while O gauge in the US is 1:48 scale.

Here are a few photos to show current progress with the 3D printed loco, and also the real 1:1 loco in the appropriate setting at that time.

Thanks for looking guys,

David

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