Anglia105E

Work continues on the staircase, now that I have made a brass hand rail for the stairs. Picked up a pair of brass knitting needles from a local antique centre for only £1 and cut both ends to 45 degrees. The spindles are in place but not yet glued, and there are three more scratchbuilt spindles to add. Positioning the brass rail between the finials was particularly difficult, but got there in the end. David

Thanks a lot Dave, and it's good to hear that this building does resemble a multi story auto dealer. The floors of the showrooms on three floors will be finished in crimson red over the plywood, with two coats of yacht varnish over the crimson red acrylic. Just ordered the Tamiya Toyoda AA kit in 1:24 scale which I shall convert to an Austin FX3 Taxi that was produced from 1948 to 1958. This older style taxi will look much better in the 1958 diorama than the newer style Austin FX4 taxi, produced from 1958 onwards. The Toyoda is the closest design of motor car that I could find for an FX3 conversion build. David

More work in progress with the floors and walls of the Hooper & Co building, which is now focused on the staircase that goes up to the first floor from the ground floor. Few photos showing the figures and the left hand drive Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud from Canada. David

Really nice diorama Ellen, and sorry to hear that it got damaged. I shall be transporting my first diorama to my first ever show next year in June 2018, and I shall be so worried about damaging any of the scale models. The Hooper & Co building itself is very strong in construction and also very light weight, but some of the car models are quite fragile, especially mirrors, roof aerials and the Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy hood mascot. Good luck with the rebuilding of Florence ! David

You've made a good start Chuck, and this diorama has a lot of potential. You can let your imagination run freely as you build the whole scene. David

Thanks a lot to Gary and Eric, and such comments are most encouraging for me. I shall continue to post images of the 1958 Hooper & Co diorama in 1:24 scale as it progresses. The Rolls-Royce models are my favourites but there are 20 vehicles available for this project and the photography that goes with it. Still have to build two Silver Clouds, a Morris Minor Traveller and a Morgan 4/4, with many more figures needed for a busy city scene in London SW1. David

The Shapeways park bench is now in place and nearly completed, while the vintage ladies bicycle is a work in progress. Also working on a staircase assembly kit in real wood for the diorama, which will go from the ground floor showroom up to the first floor showroom. Some moulding and casting going on, and also the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud 1955 build. This car will have real leather upholstery, walnut grain dashboard and door trims, with a real fabric headlining inside the body shell and rear quarter mirrors inside. David

Thank you Chris, that's an interesting Mustang build and I shall watch your chassis build closely because I need to build a very similar chassis for a 1:24 scale Morris Minor Traveller here in UK. Like yours, the Morris chassis doesn't need to be seen, so it is purely to mount the axles really. David

Thank you Michael, and here is a photo of two new elements of the diorama that arrived today. Once fully painted they will add to the realism I think. David

Very nice build Michi, the colour combination works well, superb engine detail and nicely put together tilting front end too. Like the detailed explanation of how you built the car also. David ( Anglia105E )

The Hooper & Co diorama gets a new baseboard and a few improvements. Tidier electrical cabling and white foamboard walls to the rear of the showrooms on all three floors. David

Nice looking build so far Dave, and your truck is quite a bit larger than my Emhar Bedford O-Type Tanker ! Couple of photos attached for you. The tank on the Bedford is elliptical too. David

Thanks Ace-Garageguy, and I am really impressed with these Emhar kits. They produce four nice looking model trucks so I might buy a tipper version next. Moving on to my next build which is a 1955 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I, using some of the Minicraft kit parts, some Revell kit parts and many more parts scratch built by myself. Following closely after the Silver Cloud there will be a Tamiya Morgan 4/4 that will be getting a few coats of Ferrari Giallo Modena Yellow 4305. Doing some more molding and casting in between builds, consisting of lamps for a Minicraft / Revell 1886 Daimler-Benz carriage, also a chauffeur figure from a Shapeways 3D printed figure, and an interior seating module for a Rolls-Royce. One photo of the Bedford nearing completion. David

Here are some more recent photos of the Hooper & Co diorama, now that I have added the Bedford O-type tanker and also the Morris Minor Royal Mail van. Thanks for your comments Tony, and I have just turned 64 last Monday. Good to hear that this diorama brings back back fond memories of London for you. David

Here are some more recent photos now that the Bedford tanker is nearly completed. I have added some lettering on the tank sides for Watson Fuels, although a tanker for Watson in the late 1950's would be red not blue ! Engine still needs spark plug leads fitting, the driver's door is waiting for hinges to be fabricated and there are three bonnet panels to fit. I have already made and fitted the hinges for the passenger door from brass. Found that Tamiya Sky Blue acrylic paint is very close to the Zero Paints French Blue.

Thanks very much Bob, and you can view more of my posts in the Dioramas forum section if you want to see more of the Hooper & Co 1958 diorama. David ( England )

Building an Emhar Bedford OLB 5-ton tanker truck at the moment and here I have included a few photos of the build at its present stage. The fit of the parts in this kit is exceptionally good, and also the detail is excellent. Finding the instruction sheet very different from the Revell London Bus but easy enough to follow. There is absolutely no flash on any of the sprues, so no excessive cutting to do. Several options are available, one of which is a chassis extension to allow the spare wheel carrier to have an underslung position. This kit is quite expensive and at just under £38.00 is actually £10.00 more than the cost of the Revell bus. To begin with I was under the impression that the work involved to build this Bedford would turn out to be a lot less than the bus build, but in reality there is just as much work to do. The four long hoses that are stored on the racks at each side of the tanker body are rigid plastic as supplied in the box, but I have scratch built some flexible hoses out of boot laces and these look much more realistic. Much more work on the chassis than there was with the bus, and this even includes individual CV joints for the two propshafts! Emhar have four different versions of the O-series Bedford trucks from the early 1950's, so in addition to the tanker there is a tipper truck, a drop-sided truck and a recovery truck. I would certainly build one of the other versions, based on my experience with this one. Colour is French Blue. David

I was experimenting with some cheap battery operated LED warm white lights last night, and I stumbled across an unusual effect. Placed all the lights inside the upper deck of the bus and reversed the bus right up to the back wall. The lights were not arranged in any particular order and the only other lighting in the room was a low energy bulb on the ceiling. What seems to have happened, is that the camera has picked up a green light which is hitting the white foamboard, while the low energy bulb is casting shadows of the tree onto the same foamboard wall. As you can see, this has resulted in an almost photographic image of the tree.... very strange effect. Photos displayed. David

Your attention to detail is something to be admired. Wish I could achieve this level of detail for my 1:24 scale Rolls-Royce builds. David ( Anglia105E )

I am posting a few more pics of the diorama, taken with the interior lights of the building turned off, plus one of a Bedford chassis cab which is a work in progress ( first time for the Bedford in the diorama setting ). David

Many thanks Michael for your comments, and I have posted a few pics here. Certainly, a 1:24 scale diorama does take a lot of space but I like the scale. Apart from the pic of the Bedford chassis cab which is a work in progress, all the others are with the lights of the building turned off inside. David

Very nice work Michael, and it is interesting that your diorama base and configuration is quite similar to my Hooper & Co diorama, in terms of size if not the subject. I have the building in the far left corner, and around 15 vehicles in 1:24 scale, some diecast and some plastic built kits. Look forward to seeing your progress on this one! David ( UK )

I was wondering what scale the gas station is too ? David

Just noticed there's five cars in the gas station

Nice little diorama with four interesting cars too. Are you planning on adding another building, or roads? This gas station could be the start of a project. My Hooper & Co diorama started out with just the building but then took off as something larger, and I don't see me ever finishing it ! David in U.K.