Anglia105E

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

First of all I must say thanks to Gary ( Gramps46 ) for mentioning Peter Mc Kercher and Guilherme Holtz, both of whom I had not heard of previously. Having looked at their photography of scale model car dioramas I can see they are on very much the same level of expertise as Michael Paul Smith. The Hooper & Co building has undergone extensive improvements recently, and has now been reinstated in the far corner of the diorama. I have posted a few photos to show the changes, which include the polished crimson red floors of the two showrooms, where Rolls-Royce Phantoms from the 1920's and 1930's are on show. The front of the building on the upper levels has a Royal crest, a flag pole and a chimney stack. On the far side of the ground floor showroom there is the wooden staircase with a brass hand rail, and this structure has blended seamlessly into the corner aspect of the building. Work continues on the latest Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud build, and this one has real leather upholstery for the seating, as well as polished walnut burr dashboard and a real fabric headlining to the roof interior. Thanks for looking and I hope this project is of some interest. David

Welcome to Model Cars Magazine forum Paul, from a fellow model maker in Derbyshire, England. It's nice to see someone using ' England ' rather than UK David

That's okay Dale in Australia, your comment is honest and welcome, and this topic is about FX3vette's build not mine. David

I remember the Ford Sierra XR4i because at the time they were produced here in England I was working for a Ford dealer, both trucks and cars. As others have said here, it was possible to extract a significant amount of power from the Cosworth engine, especially with a turbo fitted. David W.

I really like this build and it's a superb scale model. Looks like a real car in the first of your photos especially. You can easily fix the shiny interior seating and the road wheels are stunning. Revell kits are so well manufactured, I have built several Rolls-Royce Silver Clouds and also the London bus by Revell which is a huge build. From here in England I have done a lot of research for a Rolls-Royce motor car that was owned by Margaret L. Sayward-Wilson of Victoria, British Columbia. I was able to obtain some very useful information from the Royal Colwood Golf Club and also the Rolls-Royce Foundation of North America and Canada in Pennsylvania. I do like the dark red colour of your Camaro, which photographs great outdoors. I am photographing my 1:24 scale diorama and the scale models indoors, using 100 watt daylight bulbs. Noticed your engine detail under the hood.... very impressice and nicely done! One photo below. David J. Watson

Excellent detailed work Eric, and the time taken to get it right will be well worth it. Like you I make good progress for a day or two then something goes badly, and it takes a few days of struggling to get back to where I was before, only with a better result. All part of the scale model building experience I guess. David W.

Many thanks Phil, and it's all coming together nicely now. One year hard work.... six months to exhibition stand day. David

Sorry I don't know of any resin casting suppliers that do the '65 Pontiac Bonneville Wagon, and I have so far been unsuccessful in locating a resin cast body for a 1968 Pontiac Parisienne 4-door RHD Canada. ( nobody seems to have produced a kit for the Parisienne as far as I can see ). David J. Watson ( UK )

Here is a brief update on current work in progress with the Hooper & Co 1958 diorama. Both the ground floor and first floor showrooms now have highly polished crimson red floor surfaces and the staircase is a stand alone model in it's own right. The main entrance door has been given a coat of gloss black as well as a brass door knob. Interior improvements for the main building include framed paintings for the walls, a wall clock, and extensive foam board panelling to the opening wall. A flag pole and a chimney stack are being added to the roof area, while further street lamps are being molded and cast. Meanwhile up on the second floor, which is for office space not a showroom, I have laid a cranberry felt carpet. Few more photos to show progress. David W.

Thanks Ellen for mentioning the adhesives.... Only last night I super-glued two small pieces of foam board together to support a 3D printed street lamp. This was paper side to paper side, so I've survived! When I used contact adhesive with foam board I did notice that the core between the two layers was eaten away by the adhesive.... Yikes !!! David

Hope you don't mind me chippin' in on this topic, but I totally agree with Ellen, in that making your own accurate buildings from foam core ( we call it foam board here in UK ) is far more satisfying than buying a ready-made scale model building. Having got to the stage where the building in my diorama is almost finished on the outside, I am now enjoying the process of detailing the inside space. Foam core is my material of choice to fabricate the walls and the sides of the staircase, and I am finding it such a wonderful material to work with. Watched a few videos to observe how model makers who know what they're doing tackle the design and build of a real building. I particularly want my Hooper & Co building to look exactly as it was in 1958 and this applies to the surrounding streets, vehicles, people and street furniture. Of course I understand that if someone wants to create a diorama in 1:64 or 1:43 or 1:76 scale, then maybe there are some good ready-made buildings available, unlike working in 1:24 scale. David Watson

The Mustang is looking really good Chris and the wheels do look right too. I have a Hubley promo from 1959 of the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, and although this could be converted along similar lines to your Mustang build, I shall keep the Hubley in original blue plastic or resin. The car is 8 1/2" long in 1:24 scale and I also have the Franklin Mint diecast version of the 1955 car. David Watson

Chris, Your work on the Mustang is really very interesting, and thanks for your comments on my Morris Minor Traveller build. Just been looking at your red interior for the Mustang, and I have just completed my crimson red leather interior for my Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud build in 1:24 scale. For this I have used real crimson red leather by cutting out individual pieces of leather, and carefully glueing them into place. Some photos here of the leather interior for your attention. The scale of 1:12 and 1:11 is a nice scale to be working in I thinks, although I do like 1:24 also. David

Very nice looking kit..... and I don't think Streetblisters are available in UK, are they Hasegawa? I think white wheels with a white car would go well, but with a black car maybe chrome or gold ? David

From your photo of the building Dave I can see a remarkable similarity to the Hooper & Co building, and the interesting thing is, they had a vehicle lift to move Daimler carriages and Rolls-Royce motor cars up to the first floor showroom from the ground floor. At some time during the past years the vehicle lift was replaced with the Bennett House entrance, the one with the ancient Greek style pillars. I shall have a look at the Bobby Rahal MB building in Pittsburg Pa using Google..... it does sound interesting, and I do like Packards. Had I not chosen 1:24 scale Rolls-Royce Silver Clouds my choice would have been American cars of the 1940's and 1950's, which would also have been much easier to source as kits. David