Anglia105E

Parked outside Hooper's showroom on St James's Street, and behind a parked taxi cab, there is a left hand drive Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I waiting to be shipped to Canada. This is 1958 and the wealthy lady client of Hooper & Co is Mrs Margaret L Sayward-Wilson of Victoria, British Columbia. The Silver Cloud is finished in Velvet Green which appears to be black paintwork in anything less than bright sunlight, when the colour assumes a rich dark green. Following some final detailing work to this fine motor car, specifically an ivory coachline along the length of the car on either side, the Rolls-Royce will be driven to the docks where she will board an ocean going cargo vessel, bound for the east coast of Canada. Then after crossing the Atlantic she will make her way across the country to the western provinces of British Columbia and her new owner will be waiting to collect her eagerly anticipated purchase. David

More expert detailing work from you Pat...... and the finished result is so real looking. I particularly like the large hole in the side wall of the engine block ! David

While out walking this evening, I picked up an item from a most unlikely source, which was an indoor market aimed at the tourist market. Saw this Police Public Call Box and without knowing what scale it is supposed to be, I bought it for only £7.00 and brought it home. Standing on the diorama pavement it looks right, and I checked the dimensions of both my red telephone box and the Police version..... surprisingly the scale dimensions are actually correct for 1:24 scale. The model seems to be made of wood and it has lights inside, powered by a couple of batteries. This second telephone box could turn out to be a significant feature of the diorama setting and it is precisely what my Police Constable needs when he is on patrol outside Hooper & Co. David

This man Guilherme Holtz is a scale model car diorama genius.... where on earth does he keep models of this size? Do you happen to know Gary, are the model cars diecast or are there any built kits in 1:16 scale? David

My goodness, Gary..... I didn't realise they were 1:16..... I just assumed they must be 1:24 scale. I thought my building was large, but his must be HUGE ! David

Many thanks Eric for your appreciative and constructive comments, and I have just joined the Flickr group, having previously uploaded photos to Flickr purely for storage really. I agree that many of those photos on the Flickr group are incredibly realistic. The Guilherme Holtz memeber has posted a tribute to Michael Paul Smith, and his work is clearly high level. My diorama is lacking weathering and ageing (aging) at the moment, so I have to address this. Things like rusting manhole cover, rubbish or litter in the gutters, cracked and broken paving slabs, dirty windows..... that sort of thing. I appreciate you finding something to smile about when looking at my diorama postings..... my work shall continue! David

I just had a look at your link to the Flickr Diorama Models Photo Gallery and I can see some very interesting models shown there. Yes, I would certainly consider posting to that website, as it is exactly the sort of platform on which to display the results of my diorama work. I particularly like the 1938 Alfa Romeo diecast in the Mobil garage, also the level crossing and the old Bedford coach, as well as the Early Bird breakfast with the old Mercedes Benz. Thanks for the interesting link Gary. David

The asphalt has been applied to the surfaces of the two streets and also around the zebra crossing and the manhole cover. Paving slabs have been laid along the full length of the pavement on the bus stop side of St James's Street. This required 140 paving slabs and there will be 18 curb stones, as well as a second drainage grate fitted into the cobblestones in the gutter. These photos show how the various elements of the diorama setting are working together. You can see a bus company workman just about to climb the ladder in order to clean the glass of the destination boards. David

Mark..... no-one on this planet is capable of producing accurate gauges on the instrument panel as you have. This is scale model car scratch building at the finest level. We can all learn a great deal from watching this build thread, and I don't see myself ever getting close to what you have achieved here. David

Greg.... Fascinating work going on here, and I shall keep dipping into your build to see the work in progress. Although I don't build 1:12 scale, I am working in 1:24 scale, and although my builds tend to be Rolls-Royce motor cars I do like the Datson 240Z especially. When I was much younger and followed rally sport in the UK it was the Fords that held my interest, but at the same time the Datsun 240Z caught my interest too. David

Dave Branson..... Both of your Ford builds are excellent, and funnily enough I prefer the 2005 to the 2018..... ! David

David Mitchell...... My first purchase from diorama debris was an Ebay item that comprised 9 individual packs, including paving slabs in three colours, also bricks in two colours, curb stones in grey, a manhole cover and frame in grey, and two grates with frames in grey, one large and one small. This means that so far I have not attempted any moulding or casting of these diorama materials, although I am hoping to do so. The parts supplied by diorama debris are actually very good I think, but they are cast in Herculite 2 which is a type of plaster. I did find this material quite brittle and I broke the manhole cover frame when inserting it into the well that I chiselled out of my diorama baseboard, so you must handle with care. When I do get round to producing silicone rubber moulds, I intend to cast my parts in Ivory White Fast Cast Polyurethane Resin by DWP Plastics, who also sell their products on Ebay and they are excellent products I must say. The photo below shows the 9 packs of materials that they sent me. These must be really suitable for your Gulf station diorama and I was really pleased to find them on Ebay for my Hooper & Co diorama. David

Picked this one up on the Bay of ' E '....... Monogram MG TC 1:24 scale kit from 1977, so 41 years unopened box, diecast metal and plastic. David

Phil..... So far I haven't posted any work in progress photos yet, but maybe I should? David

I shall be interested to see how you get on with this build Phil, and you may be surprised to know that the Toyoda AA was copied directly from the Chrysler Airflow. At the moment I am well advanced into converting a 1936 Tamiya Toyoda AA into a 1948 Austin FX3 London Taxi Cab...... which is not an easy task! The Tamiya kit is very nicely produced, and you even get a good driver figure, who is now driving my Austin FX4 diecast taxi cab. The front fenders and rear end of the Toyoda are the two areas that need attention and modification. David

Thanks Gary, and pleased to hear that you found the scene amusing ! David

Sorry, I did mean to say 4 - door conversion..... David

Hi Oliver...... your Monkey Mobile / 1967 Pontiac GTO build looks very interesting, especially the colour and the proportions of the car. Nicely done, and it works! Mark...... Like you, I am particularly drawn to the Pontiacs of the late '60's and early '70's, and I did own a 1:1 car which was a 1968 Pontiac Parisienne, having right-hand drive from Canada, and 5.3 litre V8 engine, registration number FCK 33. Tried to find a kit in 1:24 or 1:25 scale that I could build recently, but none of the Bonneville kits seem to be suitable for a 2-door conversion and they are difficult to find on Ebay from here in UK. The Parisienne was a wonderful motor car and I was only 23 years of age at the time I owned it, and I am just approaching 65 years of age next month. David

From the attached photos you can see that our London City Council workman has been tasked with the fitting of a manhole cover on St James's Street outside the Hooper & Co. building. This job is part of the groundwork prior to the laying of the asphalt road surface material. However, all is not going according to plan unfortunately, as the workman has dropped the cast iron frame of the manhole cover, breaking the frame in two. His boss has arrived on the scene and he is asking the man what he intends to do about the breakage. Perhaps this means the cost of the damage may have to come out out of the workman's pay packet this week. Anyway, the manhole cover is in place, the asphalt is laid and now there has to be a delay of 24 hours while the surface of the road is allowed to dry. The cobblestones have been masked off with protective tape, and the edges of the zebra crossing have the same tape applied. Later there will be some minor application of asphalt to the area between the white lines, and also around the grates. First impressions of the asphalt material are good.... it spreads easily and thinly, with only half the amount ordered being required for these two streets, and the colour will be the correct lighter shade once the drying phase is complete. David

Received a delivery of some 1:24 scale diorama building materials this week, which included curb stones, pavement slabs in three colours, bricks in two colours, drainage grates with frames and a manhole cover with frame. Here are a few photos of the grates and the manhole cover, which are cast in a material called Herculite 2 and this is a a type of plaster. My plan is to add a great deal more detail to the Hooper & Co diorama, using these building materials, the AK asphalt paste and also weathering techniques as I learn them. Aiming for even greater realism, partly for the next exhibition and partly for the photography. David

Interesting and unusual builds Doug..... and not a scale model car build that I have seen previously. Very nicely done too, with impressive decals from Studio 27 David

Hello Rick..... I use a one inch household paintbrush to ' sweep ' the roadways / streets of any dust that has accumulated, and a cosmetic blusher brush to clean dust off scale model cars. A compressed air duster is a bit too drastic and would cause bits of the buildings to fly off! David

I really like these 1953 motor cars Tulio, and both your builds are extremely good. As others have pointed out, the black and white colour combination suits both the Ford and the Chevy equally well. Personally, I find the cars of the '50's very interesting, including American, English, French , Italian and others. David

Excellent solution Pat..... so what do you have in mind for the next phase of this diorama build? David

Special thanks to Peter, Gary and Joel........ such comments are always welcome of course! Having played around with the lighting angles and combined lighting sources, the end result was close to the night time effect that I was aiming for. The later shots are more like early morning because I was using two 100 watt daylight bulbs rather than the single lamp earlier in the photo shoot. This was a run of 84 photos, so only 7 of these made it to the ' acceptable ' stage. There is the additional interior lighting of the Hooper & Co building and also you may have noticed the street lamp appears to be lit. This is actually bare metal foil reflecting the low mounted light source, and although the BMF is happy to stick to my resin cast street lamp. it was impossible to get BMF onto the Shapeways 3D printed street lamp. The last photo in this series of seven, number 0431, is my favourite of the bunch. The driver figure inside the Austin FX4 taxi cab is the one from the Tamiya Toyoda AA kit, and this driver is destined to take the driver's seat of the Austin FX3 taxi conversion when it is eventually completed. David