Anglia105E

Today I set about fabricating an exhaust tailpipe for the Silver Cloud, and previously I would have used super glue and Liquid Chrome for this part. However, this time I needed to find a method of making the part without resorting to any solvent or chemical based materials . . . The exhaust system is moulded into the chassis rather crudely, and the rear section of the exhaust ends short of the where the chassis floor ends, This would be correct, except all Silver Cloud cars had a chrome plated tailpipe which extends just beyond the rear bumper, and immediately next to the overrider. This part is not supplied in the kit. First of all, I measured and cut a 14 mm length of cotton bud stalk, and this was drilled out along it's centre lengthways. Another hole was drilled into the end of the exhaust pipe on the chassis . . . Then a quilting pin was pushed through the hole in the tailpipe, and inserted into the end of the exhaust pipe on the chassis floor. The white tailpipe was covered with Bare Metal Foil, and after cutting off the surplus quilting pin, the tip of the tailpipe was blackened with a permanent marker pen . . . The end result seems to have worked, and I am pleased because the idea came into my head out of nowhere. I used my Revell hand drill to fabricate the holes. One of the following photos shows the tailpipe as it was done on a previous build of mine ( photo number 101_0399 ) . . . David

Today I set about fabricating an exhaust tailpipe for the Silver Cloud, and previously I would have used super glue and Liquid Chrome for this part. However, this time I needed to find a method of making the part without resorting to any solvent or chemical based materials . . . The exhaust system is moulded into the chassis rather crudely, and the rear section of the exhaust ends short of the where the chassis floor ends, This would be correct, except all Silver Cloud cars had a chrome plated tailpipe which extends just beyond the rear bumper, and immediately next to the overrider. This part is not supplied in the kit. First of all, I measured and cut a 14 mm length of cotton bud stalk, and this was drilled out along it's centre lengthways. Another hole was drilled into the end of the exhaust pipe on the chassis . . . Then a quilting pin was pushed through the hole in the tailpipe, and inserted into the end of the exhaust pipe on the chassis floor. The white tailpipe was covered with Bare Metal Foil, and after cutting off the surplus quilting pin, the tip of the tailpipe was blackened with a permanent marker pen . . . The end result seems to have worked, and I am pleased because the idea came into my head out of nowhere. I used my Revell hand drill to fabricate the holes. One of the following photos shows the tailpipe as it was done on a previous build of mine ( photo number 101_0399 ) . . . David

The RREC here in England responded to my enquiry message within 12 hours, during the following day. The Rolls-Royce Owners' Club of North America however, have not responded to my enquiry at all during the past seven days . . . There could be any number of reasons for this, and I won't dwell on them. The Texas license plate for the car that I chose to base my model on was not a valid license plate, and I was not able to validate the UK registration plate either, so I have chosen an alternative motor car for my build . . . This is a 1957 black Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, registration number 200 DYO which has a verified chassis number of SDD54 . This car appeared in the opening sequence of a British film . The Fast Lady ' in 1962, and I have viewed the film to check this detail. Also, I checked the DVLA database, which is the official government website used to verify every motor vehicle ever registered historically. The car registered as 200 DYO is taxed until February of 2026, so this actual Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud is still on the road today, since it was built in 1957. Here are three images obtained from the film, in which the car was driven by James Robertson Justice . . . David

Using the kit supplied windshield part, I covered this with blue tape and cut around the perimeter of the screen. Removing the blue tape, allowed me to press the tape onto the surface of the clear plastic film . . . Once carefully cut out, following the outline of the tape, the screen was taped onto the inside of the body first of all. Then I mounted the screen onto the outside of the body, again using tape to hold it in place. I shall study the following photos more closely over the next day or so, and then decide which approach is more realistic, so inside or outside the windscreen frame . . . Then there is a third option available, which would be to mount the glass into the frame, as it would be on the actual 1:1 scale car. This method would require some reduction in the dimensions of the screen by a small amount, and also there would not be much material on which to apply PVA glue, in terms of the screen plastic material . . . The rear window was also cut and taped to the inside of the body at the rear of the car, but this was done from measurements and not using a tape template. I was outbid at the end of the Ebay auction for the Revell kit, during the very last minute, and by only one GBP . . . Starting price was only £15.00, and the final sale total was £27.02 . . . David

Thank you Michael . . . I shall continue to post more interesting updates during the next few days and weeks as this project develops . . . David

The following photo shows three windscreens / windshields . . . The screen at the top is the Franklin Mint diecast version, with it's chrome surround as part of the screen. The screen in the middle going downwards is the kit supplied screen part that is included in the Entex / Minicraft / Revell kits. The screen at the bottom of these three is my piece of cutout clear plastic film . . . As part of the process I shall use the masking tape method to determine the precise dimensions for a template . . . David

That is indeed excellent thinking on your part David . . . I was watching a YouTube video only yesterday, where the guy was showing how to use masking tape in exactly the same manner as you have just described. The curvature of the Silver Cloud screen is very subtle, but I agree that this third dimension is important. Here are two photos, one of the Jig that the Rolls-Royce factory used in order to fit Silver Cloud windscreens, and one showing the price of a real screen, which is very reasonable at £648.90 which is US $. 875.28 . . . David W.

Turning my attention to the windscreen / windshield of this model, I measured precisely the dimensions of the part required. This came out at 50 mm for the top edge, 53 mm for the lower edge and 16 mm for each of the side edges . . . This positions the part on the outside of the windscreen frame, with around one millimetre of overlap. The part was cut out from a sheet of thin clear film and offered up as a test fit to the windscreen frame on the outside of the body . . . Now I need to think about how to mount this thin clear film screen onto the body . . . I am toying with the idea of reducing the dimensions of the screen part very slightly, and then attempting to mount the screen just inside the frame, from the outside, exactly how this would be done on the real car. There would of course be a rubber seal surrounding the glass on the real car . . . David

Having completed the Phantom III during 7 months of last year, and the Bungalow during 7 months of this year, I am now working on my second build for this year, so you are winning at four completed !!! Life is not a race . . . David W.

Nicely done Oldsmobile stock car David G., . . . Another one completed ! David W.

Thanks Jose . . . You did a great job with your incomplete glue bomb back then, and you didn't have much to start from . . . The display in the previous photo was my tables at the 2018 Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts Club Annual Rally, held at Burghley House in Stamford, England . . . David

When you explain it like that Jose, I can understand why this is not a super detailed kit. The Hubley promo in blue plastic came first, around 1960, and was distributed to motor car dealers to begin with. Then came the Hubley version of the kit, some in blue plastic and later in grey plastic. Eventually, the kit was produced in black plastic by Revell and Minicraft . . . As a toy in the early'60's this was a very accurate representation of a Rolls-Royce motor car. You can see the Hubley promo on display, just right of centre in this photo, and it compares well to my built models from kits . . . David

Today the body was lowered onto the chassis and I examined the area around the spare wheel and boot lid . . . The rear bumper has been inserted into the slots between body and chassis as a test fit only. I have a thin card template for the boot carpet, used to build previous Silver Cloud models, so this was placed inside the luggage compartment for a simple visual inspection. The boot carpet will be grey, and the interior upholstery will also be grey ( not blue as on the test model ). The parts to be assembled at the rear of the car include the reversing / number plate lamp, the number plate plinth and the two rear lamp clusters. These chrome rear lamps have been given a thin coating of amber and red, using a Sharpie. David

Thank you kindly Sir . . . I cannot quite understand why they didn't include perhaps 52 parts in the kit, rather than only 26 parts . . . I mean, this is a scale model of probably the finest motor car in the World, ever ? Even more surprising is that no other kit manufacturer produced a kit of this car. Hubley were the first company to make this available, and subsequently the tooling was passed down to Minicraft, Academy, Revell and Masterkit . . . I have found a Revell version of the Silver Cloud kit listed on Ebay, and the auction ends this coming Sunday afternoon. There are zero bidders, the starting price is only £16.13 ( US $. 21.64 ), postage is just over two GBP, and this kit is complete, with only two parts painted (rear seat ). I might bid on this one . . . David W.

After checking that the boot / trunk lid can be raised to the fully open position, the spare wheel and tyre was mounted onto the chassis floor. The rear bumper fits between the body and the chassis at a later stage . . . Then I have measured, drawn and cut out the panel that fits immediately behind the spare wheel. One of the photos below shows this panel mounted in white on a previous build, which is 225 ALG. The panel has been given a coat of black permanent marker, to give it the black colour. The same permanent marker was applied to the lower edge of the rear body, after this was sanded down to remove a rough imperfection. The spare wheel panel was fabricated from thin white card . . . David