Anglia105E

Six very nice builds Phil.... great work. David

I think maybe the Ford would be a good shop truck..... Your layout is taking shape already. David

It's all in the detail.... and you've got it in buckets ! David

Welcome Lindsey..... it is all here for you..... David

Thanks Eric, and I had a look at the website. Liking the old Shell petrol station ( gas station ). David

Merry Christmas to Bill and John, and I agree with you both that multiple passes with the Molotow Liquid Chrome pen are not as effective as a single pass. I have been using my first 1 mm tip pen for a couple of weeks and generally very happy with the product. There are some snow trap vents on the front of a 1:24 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud that could not be chromed by any other means. Not tried the Molotow pen on resin parts yet but I shall be doing so in due course. Definately important to wait at least 24 hours before handling the liquid chromed part. It works well on clear acetate windscreen surrounds and bumpers /fenders, but maybe the 2 mm tip is better for larger parts. I shall order a 30 ml refill for my pen or perhaps order two new pens. This has to be one of the most important products to become available to scale model builders since Bare Metal Foil in my opinion. David

Thanks very much Eric, and I had no idea there was such a thing as a Mad Dogs and Englishmen Auto Show..... that is news to me! David

Wishing everyone on the Model Cars Magazine Forum a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year for 2018..... I must be the only scale model builder on the planet to post on this topic at 2.00 am in the morning on Christmas Day..... but there you go, Mad Dogs and Englishmen ( go out in the midday sun ) Had this idea last night that I could see in my mind, which was an LED light behind the street lamp in my diorama and then spraying water over the street lamp, the London bus and the pavement ( sidewalk ) to create a scene of a rain shower at night. So, I tested the idea by clipping a battery powered LED bulb behind the clear glass of one of the two street lamps and covering all the other 19 bulbs with a black cloth, with some taped up with black PVC tape. No water used in these test shots, as I was just curious to see if the idea might work. Here are three of the photos that showed potential I think. There is not enough light from the one LED bulb, so needed some additional lighting to help the camera pick up the vehicles and figures. David

Many thanks Henry Wijaya, and you are correct, it is retro time. These are the motor cars of the 1950's and the Hooper & Co building as it would have looked in 1958. Hoping to produce some realistic photographs that give the whole project a period feeling. This diorama will be at the Rolls-Royce show in June 2018. Thanks again for looking at my project, and four more photos from last night. David

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year 2018 to Carlos Jiménez Martinez Look forward to building many models in the coming year David James Watson Derbyshire, England

Well Steve, I can hardly find the words to express how impressed I am by that build of yours. Beautiful Pontiac Bonneville '63, and in both of those photos the model looks like the real car, which is what I am striving for all the time. I totally agree with all the comments of other members on here, you have achieved such high quality with that one build, so don't worry about how many...... this ONE is exceptional. David Watson. England

The two 6 cylinder Rolls-Royce engines arrived from Holland this morning, and the resulting model is even better than my expectations. Here are some pics for you Gary, and as you can see the engine fits perfectly into the Silver Cloud's engine bay. The 3D printed engine will be refined before producing a silicone rubber mould and then an ivory resin cast engine will be fitted to the car you see in the photos. I shall be carrying out some extensive detailing work on the resin cast engine, such as plug leads, fan blades, fan belts, spark plugs, lettering, painting etc. David

Here is a short update on the progress with the diorama, as Christmas approaches. Just noticed that I mentioned 1:12 scale doll's house lighting earlier in this topic, but of course I meant to say 1:24 scale lighting! I have finished making three further framed paintings for the back wall of the first floor showroom in the Hooper & Co building. There are already three framed paintings on the back wall of the ground floor showroom, as well as a large wall clock. The paintings are by Whistler, Degas, Stubbs, Vermeer, Seurat and one is by my daughter, which is an embroidery not a painting. To the side of the building can be seen a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud build that is still a work in progress, having a windscreen fitted and also registration number plates. For this particular scale model motor car I have produced a 3D design file of the 6 cylinder petrol engine and this has been shipped from the Netherlands by Shapeways as a 3D printed model. Two of these engines are arriving at my house today, Tuesday 20th December. Any questions, criticisms or compliments are very welcome! David

Your excellent article rings true Tom, even here in England. Not only plastic kit built model cars, but also diecast model cars too. My cousin and I used to hold races in both our back gardens when we were not quite into teens, and these races were very serious affairs. The Corgi and Dinky diecast cars were of course reduced from shiny painted new models to badly scratched cars with windows missing and wheels coming off sometimes. These days, it is not unusual to see such model cars being sold at auction for huge prices, especially when they have the original box and are in original condition. They are in this ' as new ' condition because they have never been out of the box, or played with by young boys organising model motor racing. David

Thank you again Gary, and the whole issue of figures in dioramas is quite a big subject. I am convinced that Michael Paul Smith must have a very good reason for not including a single figure in any of his wonderful dioramas. He has used buildings that he constructs himself, Danbury Mint diecast cars that look absolutely real, and his photography is without question pure genius, so he must know for sure that placing a figure in there that does not look real would compromise the entire scene. The elderly gentleman in the blue suit is a Shapeways 3D printed 1:24 scale figure so I cannot take the credit for that one. My painting of the figure is reasonably competent but needs to be better really. His hair is not actually finished as it needs to have a darker shade of paint under the grey. I have recently produced a mold from this figure and converted the cast figure into a chauffeur for the Rolls-Royce of the lady from Canada, who is Margaret L Sayward-Wilson. Her car is the Velvet Green Silver Cloud from Victoria, British Columbia. Here is a photo of the chauffeur I made. The gentleman in the blue suit is the Managing Director and Chief Designer of Hooper & Co, Osmond Rivers who was in charge of the company when they closed in 1959. David

Many thanks for your comments Eric, and I suppose you are right in saying that this diorama is actually a work of art ! The lighting that I am using inside the Hooper & Co building consists of three LED aquarium lamps, but I am beginning to think that what might be needed is something more like 1:12 scale doll's house lighting. This would be true to scale individual ceiling lights rather than these large powerful lamps that may be too bulky and also have a blue tinge. Concealing the wiring for the lighting system is something that I have to be careful about. David

Fantastic result on your interior Steve and I bet you're really pleased with that. You can focus on other areas of the build now I guess. I am finding myself using the Molotow Liquid Chrome pen more than BMF these days, even though I am a firm believer in BMF. David

Thanks Bill, Good advice and I shall have a look on Ebay over here to see what is listed, but can't afford shipping from USA or Canada, which can be twice the cost of the kit. David

Thanks very much Steve, and I had a feeling the Bonneville kit was a rare one. The potential price of $200.00 is £150.00 GBP so it would take a brave man to have a go at a conversion that wasn't guaranteed to work! I will have a look round for MPC kits from '67 and '68, while I am sourcing Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud kits from Minicraft, Entex, Academy, Masterkit and Revell, maybe try a few resin body shell producers. I have moulded and cast two body shells successfully so far for this car that is 1955 -1959 only. I suppose the '66 GTO you mentioned is a different body altogether? David

Your dashboard for this build is really quite something Steve, and I wish I could achieve that level of detail with my 1950's Rolls-Royce dashboards. The 1967 Pontiac Bonneville is so close to the car I am interested in, which is a Canadian right-hand drive Pontiac Parisienne from 1968. As you probably know better than I do, the Parisienne was a 4-door and I just wondered if it is possible to buy a 4-door kit as well as the 2-door kits that you have? I used to own and drive a 1968 Pontiac Parisienne and I would like to build a 1:24 scale or 1:25 scale model of that car. Mine was pale yellow with a brown vinyl roof and the registration plate was FCK33. Maybe I could do a 2-door to 4-door conversion, although that would be quite a challenge. David J Watson ( England )

Office would be good in that small space, but you will need storage for parts also. You have a fair amount of space in which to work now, so ideas can can keep evolving as you go. The whole thing will come alive at some point you will find, and things just naturally get added because you see the need for them. I don't see any reason why the project should end, which means you can never say it's finished! David

Looks like you have made a good start Cale, and like me this is your first diorama. I find the scratch building part of the whole process very satisfying. The main building in my diorama is constructed from balsa wood, plywood and other hardwoods, but only recently I am doing more work with foam board, which is an excellent material to work with. You can have a look at the Hooper & Co 1958 diorama if you like and mine is 36" wide x 31" deep x 15" tall. I shall watch your progress with interest! David J. Watson

I managed to produce a successful cast from my mould of the Shapeways street lamp, this time using ivory white resin rather than the clear transparent resin which failed badly. There will be several street lamps around the area of the diorama and I found the 3D printed material, especially the ultra fine detail type was problematic. Paint doesn't want to dry on the surface and bare metal foil cannot be applied either, so I decided to use resin cast pieces instead. Extracting the street lamp during the demoulding was a very tense moment and I was fortunate not to break it, which was what happened to the 3D printed original piece. Thankfully, I was able to super glue the two pieces together but even super glue doesn't sit comfortably with the strange material. Most of my Shapeways pieces are white strong and flexible, so this street lamp was the first ultra fine detail item that I had encountered. David

Very nicely done Mark, and I think the Gulf colours look as good on this Seven as they do on a GT40 David J. Watson

Really well done with the bare metal foil work Chris, especially bearing in mind that your hands would be shaking badly. I like BMF a lot, and it is such a nice material to work with, sometimes quite forgiving when you get it slightly wrong. I shall be trying out a Molotow Liquid Chrome pen later today on the latest Rolls-Royce build. Still using BMF for the larger areas of chrome like radiator grille and bumpers ( fenders), but I thought the chrome pen at 1 mm tip would be good for finer work. It will be experimental of course. As well as the crimson leather interior work I am in the process of adding fabric headlining, walnut burr dashboard and door trims, crimson leather sun visors and cranberry felt carpets. Superb Mustang you are putting together there.... good luck with your build! David