Anglia105E

The paint seemed to go on well during a weather window of 13°C temps, despite the fact that I did not remove the chrome from the wheels using Oven Cleaner . . . I was worried about the effect the aggressive chemical might have on this 40 year old plastic, to be honest. So this means I applied Tamiya grey primer over chrome, then Tamiya black over the primer . . . As you can guess, this forces me to be extra careful handling the parts, as the paint is easily rubbed off. By Thursday of this week I shall have a rolling chassis, which is pretty good for only 5 weeks into the build. The front wheels, brake drums, hub nuts and hub washers are in place, and the steering is fully functioning. I discovered that the front wheels were not parallel, and as there didn't seem to be a way of adjusting the turning in of the wheel on one side, I came up with a clever idea . . . I cut the track rod on one side with sprue cutters, then I removed a further 2 mm of material from the track rod nearest the centre of the chassis, and then I fabricated a 10 mm length of aluminium tubing. The two ends of the track rod were glued inside either end of the tubing, and with the wheels parallel, the idea has actually worked ! David

Thank you Urs . . . This is a really enjoyable kit to build actually, and I do understand your concern regarding where to find the space to display this 1:16 scale car, which is a large car. I don't have the space, but I want to make this the best build that I have completed so far . . . Currently I am almost at the rolling chassis stage, and the whole project will probably take 6 months I reckon. David

Thank you David G., and certainly the wiring is going to be challenging . . . Most of the wires are hidden from sight, as they are inside the metal tubes, so only a small amount of wiring is actually visible when the engine is completed. I take your point about the BMF on a '50s American motor car, and that would be my preference also ! The Phantom III chassis is not too far away from becoming a rolling chassis, and the front suspension was looking good last night. This is known to be very challenging, as mentioned by a skilled model builder on a different forum. What makes the suspension / steering assembly particularly difficult and frustrating is that the Gunze Sangyo instruction sheet shows left and right in one diagram, but then turns the chassis over and consequently left becomes right and right becomes left ! One minute you are looking at the chassis from inside the car as it were, then the next minute you are looking at the underside of the chassis, which also means top becomes bottom and upper becomes lower . . . Despite my extremely careful orientation of the suspension and steering parts, I discovered that I had got the wishbone arms on the wrong sides . . . This was easily rectified as it happens because the link rods are clipped into holes and not glued. I am hoping to post photos on here of the chassis WIP very shortly . . . David W.

Here are some photos of the engine, which is not yet completed . . . The carburettor and air cleaner are mounted in position, but not yet glued in place. This is because I have fabricated two conduits and two tubes from aluminium material, and these will have to be fitted in the vee between the cylinder heads, and also along the outside of the cylinder heads . . . There are twelve ignition plug leads running from the distributors and then routed through the two aluminium conduits, with a further twelve plug leads routed through the two tubes. All the leads end up at the spark plugs of course, and there are the two inition leads as well. According to the Gunze Sangyo instruction sheet, those two lengths of red rubber piping should be connected to the front end of the two exhaust manifolds, and these are then connected to the front pipes of the exhaust system underneath. Surely this rubber piping will need to be painted in burnt iron or similar? At the moment, none of the suppliers in the UK have any ignition plug lead material available in 0.4 mm size, so I have moved on to the assembly and painting of the chassis . . . The engine can be worked on later, and there is no need to hold up the progress of the build. I managed to source the three Tamiya paints that I shall need, from an Ebay seller that does have stock. These are Tamiya Surface Primer Light Gray, TS-14 Black and TS-7 Racing White . . . The TS-14 Black is very difficult to obtain currently. The V12 engine block is finished in aluminium enamel, with gloss black enamel rocker covers and air cleaner, while the exhaust manifolds are done with bronze Sharpie over aluminium enamel. The conduits and tubing for the plug leads will also be gloss black enamel. My next post will show the construction of the chassis, transmission, propshaft and rear axle, which is now at an advanced stage. David

Many thanks David G., and I shall try to make this a good one ! Looks like being a long slow build, so I do appreciate you following my progress. David W.

Thanks Pierre . . . I would say that the kit is good enough out of the box, but I shall take great pleasure in adding further refinements as I uncover the details from any reference photos. As far as I am aware, there is not a Rolls-Royce Phantom III available in 1:24 scale, so only the Danbury Mint diecast version. You can get hold of Phantom II kits, but not Phantom III so this is one reson why I chose 1:16 scale. David

Such an interesting project Nigel . . . Back in the day, I always liked the Datsun 240Z ( full size car ) and I didn't realise there were so many versions of the kit . . . Good luck with the builds ! David

Thank you Nigel . . . The Gunze Sangyo kits appear to be very good, and there is hardly any flash on the sprue parts, which so far have fitted together well. There is a Revell version of this Phantom III kit, also an Entex version and an Anmark version . . . My Gunze Sangyo kit is around 40 years old. David

Shortly before Christmas I purchased this kit from an Ebay seller in the southern United States of America, and less than three weeks later the large box was delivered to my home address. I thought that was quite impressive, given that the package was shipped during the Christmas holidays and also the New Year holiday. Although the kit box was quite badly damaged on one side, which appeared to be rodent damage, there were no missing parts when I checked the contents and only two parts were detached from the sprues. Apart from one of these kits on sale in France, and one more in Germany, this was the only kit available worldwide. The two kits in Europe were twice the cost of this one in the USA, so presumably they had boxes in perfect condition. I am happy with my purchase and I expect to be working on the Phantom III for the next six months at least. As usual, with any Rolls-Royce scale model that I build, there has to be a lot of research and gathering of reference material, particularly photos. I do intend to add a lot of detail to this build and I feel it is important to produce a really nice model from this excellent kit by Gunze Sangyo. I have been working on the build for three weeks now and progress is good, I have to say. The body is by Freestone and Webb, and I shall be finishing the paintwork in black and cream. I have decide to use Tamiya Fine Surface Primer Light Grey, also TS-14 Black and TS-7 Racing White, which is more of an ivory cream than a pure white. You can see from the following photos that I intend to have black wire spoked wheels for this car. There will be some wheel covers as well, and I hope to be able to attach these wheel covers with micro magnets, so not glued in place. I would like to wire up some working headlights and rear lights later, using side emitting fibre optic lighting strands, with a 9V battery in the boot of the car. The first stage of the build was the assembly and painting of the V12 engine, which is 7340 cc capacity, and it has 24 spark plugs, two distributors and two ignition coils. This was followed by the assembly and painting of the chassis, transmission, propshaft and rear axle. I have wrapped the rear leaf springs in leather shrouds, as was the custom for pre-war Rolls-Royce motor cars. All painting so far has been with Humbrol enamels and applied by brush brush. Here in England the daily outside temperature is just beginning to creep up to 12°C and I need this to be above the 13°C minimum for any spray painting from Tamiya cans. Anyway, not many photos to show just yet, but more will follow in due course . . . I hope you find this build as interesting as I do . . . thanks for your attention. David

I do like the Burnt Copper paint colour David G., and this body shape for the 1949 Mercury reminds me of the early 50's Hudson Hornet . . . David W.

Welcome to MCM Forums Patrick . . .

Your Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud has pride of place in your display case David . . . Surely worth it's weight in gold !!! David W.

Thanks John . . . I did not know that Fujimi produced any kits of Rolls-Royce cars. The Phantom V sounds interesting . . . David

Yes Bill, you are right there . . . My local Sainsburys store is huge, but so many items keep running out, and some don't even come back in the same form. One example is kitchen roll, which is now in paper wrapping instead of plastic wrapping. That is fair enough, but guess what? The size of the kitchen rolls has reduced, both in width and also number of sheets in each of the rolls. ( same price or higher, mind you ! ). David

Hi Mark . . . I am hoping that the Humbrol enamels in small tins are not going to end, as some members on here believe, but that would not surprise me these days . . . Like you, I have not tried the Tamiya enamels in small square bottles yet, but I must try them. There are no stores that have stock of these near to me. They must be just as good as their aerosols, in which case I should not ignore them any longer ! David

I quite agree Dennis . . . The way most stores and businesses generally operate since the pandemic ended has changed significantly. Fewer staff employed, plus increased costs of the premises and consequently lower stock levels. As you mentioned, the online availability and fast delivery (often free delivery) has impacted the stores on the ground in a big way. It is a shame really, because I am the sort of person who likes to pick up the product in my hand before I purchase it, and also speak face to face to a real human being. The convenience of the online experience is outweighed by these two points. David

Thanks Graham . . . You have explained in great detail the MEKO issues, and I was not aware of those facts. The Tamiya aerosol paints are really good in my opinion, and I do have experience of using many different types of paints while building scale model cars. The Humbrol enamels in tinlets seem to be superior to the Revell enamels tinlets, and the Revell paint is a bit too thick and gloopy (this can be thinned of course). Also, the Humbrol colours are more accurate. I have not tried the Tamiya small square bottles, and I only started using the Tamiya aerosols about 6 months ago, so I must get some ! David

Thank you for your input Bob, and much appreciated . . . You are fortunate to have two good hobby shops so close to you ! How I wish that I had a local hobby shop / model shop that stocked Tamiya paints. These days I have to place an order to one of the many Ebay sellers that do stock Tamiya paints. When I am wanting for example, three paint colours for a project that I am currently working on, each seller will always be showing no stock of one of those colours . . . I tend to wait until all three colours are showing stock with one seller, rather than ordering from multiple sellers. My Hobbycraft store is only 10 miles away, and is massive, but the model section has gradually reduced in size, and they don't have much of any interest nowadays. They stock Revell products and not Humbrol, while my Boyes store that is 3 miles from where I live has Humbrol products but not Revell products . . . neither of these two stores sells Tamiya paints. David

Thank you Les . . . I didn't realise that Humbrol might still be adding a small amount of lead to their enamel product, and maybe the additive isn't actually lead but some other chemical that is harmful to the environment ( and people ). David

Thanks Skip . . . I did see an article that suggested Humbrol had moved their enamel production out to China, but then due to quality control issues they moved their production back to UK . . . When I opened my tin of Humbrol Grey Primer 01 yesterday, there was around 3 mm of dark brown liquid in the tin, so I had to stir thoroughly to get the grey pigment to blend with the liquid. This primer applied to my engine parts seemed to be touch dry after 22 hours drying overnight at something like 2°C, but the paint finish is semi gloss and not matt ( it does say Matt on the tin ). David

Thanks for your comments Mark, and that is a bit worrying as regards the Humbrol enamels product. One item that I have managed to purchase just happens to be Milliput white, funnily enough ! David

I am interested to hear what other MCM forum members think about this one . . . Recently I have found that my local suppliers of modelling materials have run out of certain products, most notably Revell Contacta Professional cement / adhesive. Also their stocks of Humbrol enamels in 14 ml tins are greatly reduced. Meanwhile, the online situation with Ebay as a supplier has also changed slightly . . . None of the Ebay sellers have any stock of Tamiya TS-14 Black paint, and it turns out that Tamiya have no stock of TS-14 either. Does anyone know of supply issues that I might not have picked up on ? Maybe containers falling off ships somewhere mid-Pacific Ocean ? Do you have similar concerns over in the US, or could this be a UK / Europe problem only ? Thanks, David

Those headlamps François . . . You have clearly put a huge amount of effort, work and thinking into those components, including the bezels and the protective mesh. What an excellent result ! This whole model car is absolutely museum quality, and you must be so satisfied with your achievement so far. This has been such a joy to follow, and I understand the completion of the build is some way off yet . . . David

I reckon the darker blue one being loaded onto the transporter first may well turn out to be the winner Pat . . . David

The Land Rover Station Wagon, is that the 1:24 Revell Series III, Pat ? . . . I might build one of those one day, as it looks a nice kit. Don't feel too bad about giving up on the Delahaye 135 . . . that is one difficult build for sure ! David