Anglia105E

Nice to hear from you again Eric....... and I believe the Routemaster bus kit by Revell is well worth the 2 months of work to build it. You can pick up the kits for around £28.00 GBP which is US $ 37.20, although you will also see prices that are double that amount. Certainly it is by far the most difficult kit I have assembled and once you start on the seats for this bus it feels like a never ending task. I converted my bus to the older type AEC bus from the 1950's which is mostly front end work. Technically if I was doing the conversion properly I should have shortened the wheelbase by taking out the middle section of the entire bus, as other more skilled model builders have done successfully. Work in progress at the moment is this small model of a World War II Cromwell Tank that has a Rolls-Royce Meteor engine ( modified Merlin engin ) and it represents the model that is in a display case at the headquarters of the RREC. The model when finished will be an exhibit inside one of the Hooper & Co showrooms. The build is fom a kit by Airfix and is 1:76 scale to match the proportions of the real model, as opposed to the 1:24 scale tank which would be rolling down St James Street as a vehicle that was three feet longer than a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud in 1:1 scale. David

Lots of detailed work have gone into your project JC, and the result is nothing short of breathtaking! Just shows what can be done from a basic kit by Sunny / Academy / Minicraft, which in my experience applies to the Minicraft / Academy / Revell / Masterkit / Hubley Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, so I see where you are coming from. David

You had an earthquake?...... Or was it an earquake? Seriously Chuck, the pegboards with the head gaskets are just brilliant. Now you must be seeing the real building at this advanced stage. Getting that air compressor down from up on the restroom roof is going to take two guys heavy lifting I reckon! David

Sorry, Cale not Ellen I meant.... David

Yes Ellen.... I got the same error screen for most of yesterday ( Monday ) - the home page was fine, but could not navigate to any forums. David

Your work on the lobby is great.... and elements such as the photos, the history of the building and business, doors and windows are all important aspects of the diorama. Are you planning on adding figures to the scene, as well as vehicles? Finding the right figures in this scale is not easy, as you are probably aware already. The diorama builders in Germany seem to have a much wider choice of interesting poses, although usually in 1:35 scale which doesn't help us 1:24 scale builders. I have only just found one company, offering one Policeman figure, which is a rare diecast figure apparently. David

Thanks for the recommendation on the book David, and I shall keep a lookout for it. Any reference material that comes up while I am doing research for a project is always useful and very interesting even if it is not entirely relevant to the current project. David

Speaking as a ' Foreign Object ' myself Chuck, the carpet material you have stumbled upon is absolutely right for the floor in your building. As you say. this will dictate the general theme for the rest of the decor. We don't have Elmer's spray adhesive here in England, and I am finding that contact adhesive can react badly or at best unpredictably with foam board, so I am on the look out for an alternative adhesive. Your lobby is coming on nicely Chuck. One photo of the latest small addition to my diorama, the 1958 Vespa motor scooter...... alongside the largest vehicle in the scene... the big red bus. David

I really like these '50's black & white photographs of motor car showrooms and gas / petrol stations, both in the USA and England too. They are always good for reference when you are building a scale model diorama from this period. David

The 1:24 Tamiya Vespa Motor Scooter build is completed and appears here photographed alongside the largest model in the diorama, which is of course the Revell London Bus. These are the two extremes for this scale model project, as the scooter has 8 parts, while the bus has almost 400 parts. My scooter build represents a 1958 Vespa 125 cc and is finished in Ferrari Giallo Modena Yellow, with a final coat of yacht varnish for a glossy shine. The seat is matt black enamel paint with Kiwi black shoe polish to produce a realistic leather look. Chrome work is Molotow Liquid Chrome pen and the rear number plate is V3 SPA printed on thin card. Hope you like it, and for a simple small build this one turned out quite nice I think. David

Nice shot of the building outdoors Chuck, and you've done a fine job with the overlap wood siding panels. Like you, I find that browsing through materials in the DIY store sometimes throws up materials that are just what I was looking for to add some feature to the diorama I am building. Your project is coming together nicely, and the whole process of putting it together as a concept idea is so satisfying, much like constucting a 1:1 building I would imagine. David

Interesting post Christopher...... Certainly this is exactly the sort of book that I would find invaluable as a source of reference. David

Just shows what can be done from a pile of discarded kit parts...... never throw anything away! Nicely built model car Johnny. David

Quite a lot of interesting detail work going in there now, Janne....... this is a good stage in the process of building your diorama. David

Janne....... my favourite RR kit is the Revell of Germany version of the Silver Cloud, because it has better tyres than the Minicraft version. Also, the Revell version does not have chromed parts so I can use Bare Metal Foil or Molotow Liquid Chrome. When it comes to the RR Phantom II then my favourite kit is the Italeri version 1934. David

Jason..... your interior, including both seats and carpets, and the dashboard is the best I have ever seen.... not just on these forums, but the best I have EVER seen. I get the feeling you like blue. What a superb build, and lots of detailing too. Like it a lot. David

Thank you Anders, glad you like the line-up of Silver Clouds. Yes, the whole diorama is coming together nicely as we approach the day of the event. Thank you Bruce........ pleased to hear that you like the idea for the tank model. It was lucky that I took the photograph of the large model in the display case when I visited the headquarters of the RREC, which not only gave me the idea but will turn out to be a good point of reference as I build the model of the model. Some yellow ochre acrylic detail has been added to the building on the right of the background painting. David

This scale model diorama is going to be phenomenal and I am not surprised that you are being asked to show the finished building already. Such fine detail is an inspiration to us all on here, and gives us something to live up to. David

Thank you Eric....... each of the five Silver Clouds has different attributes, and of course I can't say which one I favour the most, but the last of the five builds has turned out surprisingly well. This is the Fred Astaire motor car, and although the 1:1 car appears to be a single colour which is either Brewster Green or Velvet Green, depending how the light falls on it, I have confirmation from the RREC archives in England that this car was shipped from Crewe and Glasgow to the United States as finished in two colours which are Velvet Green over Sage Green. Presumably Mr Astaire asked Peter Satori of Pasadena to supply the motor car in his favourite colour that was used for the Rolls-Royce Phantom I that is more famous than the Silver Cloud. Current additions to the Hooper & Co diorama include a 1958 Vespa motor scooter complete with lady owner, and a 1:76 scale Cromwell tank in a display case that has a Rolls-Royce Meteor engine and is on display at the RREC headquarters building in Paulerspury as a large scale model of the Second World War tank. My idea is to place the display case containing what is a model of the tank on one of the floors of my Hooper & Co building as an exhibit for customers to view. The display case will be scratch built from sheet polyester and balsa wood, with only 29 days to the event...... no pressure ! David

Tom...... thanks for the response, and I totally understand the time and space issues. Your work is truly excellent and I hope that you do find time ( and space ) to continue with the Texaco diorama. The photos seem to be displaying correctly and boy are they fascinating! David

The pics of the restrooms are very interesting, all the more so because as far as I know Photobucket has not had a change of policy. I checked the image info for one of the pics and it does indicate a link to Photobucket. The quality of your diorama build is of a high standard. Not sure why your last post was November 14 in 2015, and now a new post in 2018 ? David

Nicely put together Andrew...... superb matching caravan and car combination. David

Here are a few photos of the interior of the building, where fire safety equipment has been added to both the ground floor showroom and the first floor showroom and the Managing Director is standing at the top of the stairs. Also, two photos of the petrol sales ( gas sales? ) direct from tanker to the street. David

The five builds are completed, which include the Rolls-Royce Silver Clouds from 1955 to 1959, one motor car for each year of production. Also, the Hooper & Co diorama is now displayed on a free standing open table, as it will be for the exhibition event, rather than in the confined space of my office. Few photos of recent work..... thanks for following this project. David

You have a really nice build there Garry, and the detail of that Revell kit looks to be every bit as good as a Tamiya kit. Seeing your finished build makes me want to buy one of these and the only reason I haven't built one so far is that my diorama is 1950's whereas the Citroen 2CV is 1960's. I like the way the roll top roof has a very realistic appearance to it. David