Anglia105E

I have just come down from my workbench in the loft, where I was mixing enamel paint colours and trying out brush techniques . . . This is all to do with my ' Burr Walnut Paint Testing ' procedure. Some time ago last year I did try using printed sheets of different walnut grain patterns, so your suggestion regarding laser printed samples is very timely ! So far, I haven't arrived at the colours, shades and patterns that I am looking for, and in the past what usually happened was that I found the right mix accidentally while working on the Silver Cloud interiors . . . Once the burr walnut paint effect is on the dashboard, division and interior door panels I shall then apply a coat of yacht varnish, which always results in a wonderful highly polished gloss shine. David

François . . . I think your idea to display this Bentley Blower on a trolley is a great idea, and so you can display the rolling chassis without the bodywork covering all the work detail . . . This is why I do not glue the body to the chassis for my Rolls-Royce builds, because I like to have access to the chassis and interior later . David

Quote " How did you do the tint on the Pontiac if I may ask? " I seem to remember mixing up a thin green paint, which might have been enamel because I wasn't using acrylics that long ago, and then because the tint needed to be graded . . . I masked off the lower part of the screen, brushed on the band of thin green paint and tipped the screen over so that the paint ran down towards the bottom ( which was the top of the screen ) . . . This produced the ' graded ' tint that I was attempting to create. Hope that makes sense David . . . It was a long time ago, and I don't have any WIP photos from that build. The following photo doesn't show the graded tint unfortunately ! David

Well done with your window tint along the top edge of the windscreen David, and I do know from experience that this is a tricky thing to do . . . Mine was a dark green tint on a Pontiac Parisienne . . . Also you've done some nice work on the interior partition, which I think is quite an important addition. This is a large car by the look of it ! David

Then there is orange as well ! ! ! David

Thanks again David . . . This time I decided to add the detail to the dashboard BEFORE applying the burr walnut paint effect, whereas previously I have applied the burr walnut first , and then struggled with the detail afterwards . . . For the hat, jacket and trousers on this figure I didn't want black, white or grey, and I didn't want red, blue, green or purple, so I settled on brown which I think looks fine . . . David

The jubilee clips ( hose clips ) on the two cooling hoses that connect the radiator to the water rails that run along the top of the engine have been made from Bare Metal Foil, cut into thin strips, and tiny pieces of brass wire for the screws on top . . . Details have been added to the dashboard, including a grab handle on the passenger side made out of a short length of solder, and super glued in place. Once most of the details have been added, the painting of the burr walnut effect can begin . . . Last job today was to carefully paint in the pupils of the eyes of the figure, or should I say the IRIS which is Prussian Blue acrylic, and applied with a cocktail stick rather than a brush . . . A cocktail stick was used also for the dashboard detail, using Molotow Liquid Chrome refill and Humbrol Metallic Black enamel. David

The cutaway picture seems to be trying to show right inside the whole car, even to the extent of showing the pistons inside the V12 engine . . . Maybe a little confusing to the eye, but I see what they are attempting to do ! The second image is a very nice view of the rolling chassis, and it shows what a strong design this engineering was at the time, especially the X-brace between the engine and transmission. David

You clearly have your work set out there Les, but this Opel is going to be a nice model when completed, I'm sure . . . The ICM company in Ukraine is really good, and it was nice of them to send you the instruction sheet without charge. Both Miniart and ICM have somehow managed to continue with production of model kits, even publishing a 2024 catalogue. They are based in Kiev (Kyiv). David

Many thanks Randy . . . This is turning out to be a most enjoyable build for me personally. Several MCM members have provided me with some very interesting information . . . Cheers, David

Well Pierre . . . You say you want to build a Rolls-Royce in 1:24 scale, and there are only three that I can think of . . . First of all there is the Silver Cloud II by Minicraft, or Revell or Entex . . . then there is the Phantom II by Italeri, and one other kit is the Henley Roadster by Monogram ( Springfield Rolls-Royce produced in U.S.A. ) All these kits are not that easy to source, but I would suggest the Revell Silver Cloud might be your best choice, as long as you keep in mind that this kit has less than 30 parts in the box . . . The Italeri Phantom II is a nice kit actually, and they suggest you build it as the famous ' Star of India ' in the orange and chrome paint scheme, but you don't necessarily have to of course . . . David

I am impressed with this diorama of yours Shawn, and what makes it special is that this project is your first diorama, and your first experience of weathering. I am well aware that weathering is a difficult skill to get right, so your results are really good . . . David

That is one beautiful Ferrari 250 swb Pierre . . . and not a red one ! Perfect in every detail too . . . David

Some further interesting facts that you have uncovered there Dennis . . . I have made the decision to have black wire spoked wheels on my Phantom III, so I won't be fitting any wheel covers to this one. However, that is useful to know that those wheel covers on the 1:16 scale Revell Phantom II would fit nicely onto Phantom III wheels . . . Although the wheel covers for the model car will not fit onto the wire spoked wheels, they were apparently fitted to the real cars in that way, purely to save cleaning time for the chauffeur driver or owner driver. Your time test fitting the wheel covers and wheels from both kits is much appreciated, and by no means wasted ! David

Email sent David

Well, funny you should ask me that . . . I am indeed intending to add more detail than is included in the excellent Gunze Sangyo kit. One example would be my hose clips for the two cooling hoses that go between the radiator and the water rails along the top of the engine, and other detail plans might include headlamp and tail lamp lighting from a 9 volt battery that could possibly fit inside the luggage compartment . . . Certainly, I would welcome any diagrams or images that you would be happy to share, regarding PIII cars. David

Thank you Dennis . . . You know how you get a gut feeling about the colour of a particular car, well that is how I feel about this one. I can already see in my mind's eye this Phantom III looking gorgeous in black and cream as you say . . . This paint scheme will be further complimented by the dark brown interior. David

Thank you Skip, and you are right about the seating fabric, many Phantom III cars would have leather for the front driver's seat and then cloth covered seats in the rear compartment behind the division . . . Many cars would have leather for both front and rear seats. Thanks for the photo, and the interior colour matches the shade of brown that I have chosen, so I am pleased about that ! David

Thank you so much Pierre . . . Delightfully British sums up Arthur J Webb perfectly ! The decision is made . . . Black and cream with dark brown interior and seating, black wire spoked wheels and absolutely no whitewall tyres . . . This is very much an English Rolls-Royce in every sense. David

Thanks David . . . I tend to use the Vallejo acrylics for the figure painting, and then a combination of brushed Humbrol enamels and Tamiya aerosols for the car models . . . I still can't believe that I actually found those two tiny parts on the floor, and especially the single finger which is only 4 mm in length. David

Painting of the figure in the top hat was progressing well, until disaster struck . . . The figure fell off the blob of Blu Tack that he was mounted on for painting, and hit the hard wooden floor from a height of around two feet. Surprisingly, there seemed to be hardly any damage that I could see, although I was primarily concerned with the top hat . . . Then today, on closer inspection, I realised that four fingers of Arthur's right hand were missing, so broken off as a result of his recent fall. I set about searching the floor of the loft, immediately below my table and chair . . . I wasn't optimistic about finding a tiny part that comprised four fingers, but a small miracle happened and I did find a part. Sadly, there were only three fingers, so I began searching again for the remaining fore finger, the fourth finger in fact . . . Yet another miracle happened. The missing finger was found ! All four of Arthur's fingers have been super glued back onto his hand, and after further painting the break is barely visible . . . Boy that was lucky ! Here are a few photos of the missing digits, and the happy ending that followed . . . David

As other members have commented François, the photographs of the real full size Bentley Blower and those photos of your 1:12 scale Airfix Bentley Blower are both equally convincing, in terms of realism . . . Also, I think your statement that 25% of this build is Airfix and 75% of the build is the work that you have produced is totally justified. . . David

Well David, the real problem with the gold paint scheme is not so much the colour funnily enough, but more to do with the fact that I simply cannot bring myself to put whitewall tyres on any Rolls-Royce motor car . . . For this reason alone I shall most likely follow my original plan, and then probably not have any number plates / license plates on the car at all. You see, the previous comment regarding how ' British ' the black and cream colour scheme comes across, is precisely the point really. Therefore, I would describe the gold paint scheme and the whitewall tyres as being more ' American ' . . . This of course is purely a matter of taste, and there is a distinct difference regarding how we like to see cars styled on each side of the Atlantic. and neither view is right or wrong . . . just different. If you want to see an example of what I mean, take a look at the Phantom III that is widely known as the ' Copper Kettle ', which might not even appeal to some British and American car enthusiasts ! - https://www.mecum.com/lots/388752/1937-rolls-royce-phantom-iii-freestone-webb-sedanca-deville/ Ironically for me anyway, is that the Copper Kettle has bodywork by Freestone and Webb coachbuilders !!! David

I agree that the gold paint scheme is quite unusual, and as such would make for a nice model . . . Sourcing those two paint colours could be tricky though. Had this been during the Summer I would have completed the exterior paint spraying well before now, but as we are still struggling to reach 9°C, the paint work remains on hold . . . How are your temperatures up there in the Orkneys ? David

So, the actual car that the Gunze Sangyo Phantom III kit is based upon, does exist and it is owned by the Toyota Automobile Museum in Japan. This means that car number FV 8910 has a paint colour scheme that is two shades of gold . . . There is an excellent vehicles database on the museum website that has four very good photographs of the real car, showing front three-quarter view, front view, rear view and also the dashboard layout. The interior colour can be seen clearly on the front seats, and this is very close to my chosen colour of brown. This car does have whitewall tyres, as displayed in the box art for the Entex version of the kit. My predicament is now, do I abandon my chosen paint scheme of black and cream, or do I try to reproduce the actual two-tone gold ? Do I build this Rolls-Royce Phantom III as ' FV 8910 ' in gold, or do I choose a different registration number and finish this model in black and cream as planned ? . . . Referring to the Gunze Sangyo instruction sheet, they suggest two alternative paint schemes, neither of which are gold. One is black and silver, and the second is all ivory, so one colour. Usually, I do like to build a scale model Rolls-Royce car that accurately represents a real car, including specific paint colour, registration number and as many other details as possible. It seems that I have to make a decision regarding this build ! David