Anglia105E

Thank you Robert . . . The grille on these cars is always tricky, but mostly it was the chroming that gave me trouble this time. Although a two-tone paint finish is much more work than a single colour, the Silver Cloud looks best in two colours. David

This is a 1958 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I in 1:24 scale . . . The model car is finished in Shell Grey over Velvet Green and is based on the Revell of Germany kit. As well as parts from the Revell kit, I have also used parts from the Minicraft kit of USA and parts from a Franklin Mint diecast model, also USA of course. The 6 cylinder engine and cooling radiator are from the diecast model, and so is the windscreen and rear bumper. The wiper arms and blades were taken from a Tamiya Jaguar MK 2 kit. Both the Shell Grey and Velvet Green are rattle can automotive cellulose paints, which have been applied over Plastikote Black Primer, and final polishing was done using Tamiya Polishing Compound, in grades coarse, fine and finish. The Shell Grey does appear to be light blue in natural daylight, and the Velvet Green appears to be black until sunlight brings out the rich green colour. Some of the chrome work is Bare Metal Foil, while some areas have been airbrushed with Molotow Liquid Chrome . . . Several parts have been scratch built, including the picnic tables on the rear of the front seats, also the boot lid number plate plinth and boot lid handle and locking barrel. It was necessary to convert the dashboard steering column arrangement from left-hand drive to right-hand drive. On the driver's side of the car, the front and rear side windows are in the lowered position to allow viewing of the interior detail, while over on the passenger side the side windows are in the raised position and closed. Front and rear axles are the steel components from the Minicraft kit, as opposed to the plastic axles from the Revell kit. The rubber tyres are from the Revell kit, which are better than the plastic tyres from the Minicraft kit, and the chassis is rolling free. Parts such as the roof aerial, boot lid plinth and handle, as well as the exhaust tailpipe have been added by myself, as these are not included in either the Revell or Minicraft kits. This model is 99.9% completed, apart from a few minor details such as interior vanity mirrors and sill mouldings to be added shortly. Altogether, the model has taken me 6 months to build, which is by far the longest of all my builds. Usually I would expect to complete a build within 2 months at the most. Even the 1:24 scale Revell London Bus which has almost 400 parts, was completed during 2 months, whereas the Revell / Minicraft Rolls-Royce kit has less than 30 parts in total. Most of the work has been to do with the painting and the polishing, and the chrome work was also time consuming. Here are just a few photos of the Silver Cloud, registration number VWX 1 . . . . As always, thanks for looking guys and happy model building ! David

The Blu-Tack has been removed from underneath the boot lid number plate plinth, now that the glue has dried overnight. After drilling two holes at the lower edge of the windscreen for the wiper arm spindles, both wiper arms and blades have been fitted. This model car is now coming together quite nicely and I need to go round tidying up any details that I am not happy with. David

Today was all about the final phase of the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud build, which is part of the 1:24 scale Hooper & Co. diorama. Both scale model dioramas are undergoing continuous work alongside each other. Having Bare Metal Foiled the radiator grille for the Silver Cloud, and also BMF'd the boot lid number plate plinth, the radiator grille was glued in place today. Then the roof aerial was carefully super glued in place at the front edge of the roof, just above the centre of the windscreen. The aerial was supported by a small wad of Blu-Tack while the glue dried. Then it was the fitting of the Spirit of Ecstasy, and this was mounted on top of the radiator grille, using Crystal Clear white glue. Moving to the rear of the car, the bootlid number plate plinth was mounted onto the boot lid, again using Crystal Clear glue, and supported on Blu-Tack. These three parts, which are so important for this Rolls-Royce model, are now being left to dry overnight. Next up will be the wiper arms and blades, which have been taken from a Tamiya Jaguar MK 2 kit. This particular model has been 6 months in the building so far, and I really need to get it completed. David

Your figures are the best I have seen, Harald . . . Very surprising that not one of the manufacturing companies has got the details right or they are missing. Your version of this car will surely be one of the best, and maybe the best. Your figures are realistic and have good positions. David

WIP is Work In Progress as you are building, and Under Glass is for completed projects, Mattias David

There is quite a lot of work going on around the Hooper & Co factory diorama over the past few days, some of which has included the steam locomotive. The two loco crew, namely the driver and the fireman, have been glued into place inside the cab. Shortly there will be some further weathering of the loco, using Humbrol Dark Rust Weathering Powder . . . Meanwhile, there is some preparation under way for the YouTube video filming to be carried out inside the factory building itself. Having purchased a cheap miniature camera and run some tests, I am setting up a rolling ' probe ' that can access the factory through the side entrance on Duke's Road . . . The probe is basically a length of wood that has the axle and wheels from a 1:43 model car mounted on one end. Over the next few days the video camera will be positioned at the rolling end of the stick, with the cable running back to a hub, which leads to the power source . . . Although the miniature camera does have infra red night vision, it does not have an internal battery unfortunately. David

Harald . . . The fold down soft top that you have fabricated is really very good, and this is a big improvement on the kit part. You have a good eye for detail ! David

Excellent choice of colour for your gullwing Mercedes Anders . . . The Vallejo Sky Blue acrylic looks great ! David

Yoy have put a lot of effort into building and painting that VW Beetle Jim, and the finished model is just stunning . . . I haven't seen a VW Beetle done like this before, and when you started out, I thought no this 'aint gonna work . . . but it sure as hell did work! Brilliant job David

I have ordered a pair of those number plates for £6.75 including free shipping . . . I just hope they don't take 8 weeks for delivery ! ( not sure if that was minimum 8 weeks for the Dapol version of the plates ) David

Thanks very much Steve . . . Those plates for the numbers on the Pannier cab look really good, and they are priced very reasonably too. The numbers that I have put on the cab sides are some old decals that a friend gave me, but those plates would be so much better. Thanks, David

Thank you Paul . . . Luckily, I only have to ballast one 36 inch length of track, as opposed to an entire model railway layout ! Also, this is O gauge, rather than HO / OO gauge or even N gauge. David

Several days work on the baseboard for the railway line have produced some good results. Two panels of 3 mm Foamex board have been attached together using double sided tape, so that the 6 mm baseboard mates up to the main baseboards of this Hooper & Co. factory diorama. Then a strip of 6 mm foamex board was mounted on top of the baseboard, also using double sided tape, both having been coated with Oatmeal colour emulsion. Once everything was carefully lined up, I applied a coating of PVA glue to the strip, onto which the length of Peco track was mounted, and the level crossing assembly was pushed up to the track rails. While the PVA glue was still wet, the Woodland Scenics Medium Buff Ballast was sprinkled along the length of track. This will be allowed to dry overnight, and the excess ballast can be brushed off later. Here are a few photos showing the progress so far . . . There is a 1:43 scale Series 1 Land Rover with a trailer that I had 3D printed some time ago, along with the O gauge Pannier Tank steam loco and the Lima Great Western passenger coach. David

Thanks Paul . . . I know what you mean about a shortage of good figures in your 1:64 scale, and to a certain extent this is also true of 1:43 scale. The gentleman in the flat cap, and also the lady in the head scarf pushing a pram are both professionally painted (not by me) and consequently they are silly prices. My philosophy with realistic dioramas is that either we can use extremely realistic figures to good effect, or best not to use any figures at all if they are of poor quality . . . You have the problem of finding farm figures, and I struggle to find 1950's figures rather than modern ones. David

These two photographs show the elderly gentleman wearing his flat cap, and he is standing alongside the Great Western passenger coach . . . The O gauge / 1:43 scale steam locomotive is having some weathering work done, with dark rust using Humbrol Weathering Powder, and the railway line area of this diorama is receiving some further attention, in terms of painting and track ballast. David

Mark . . . I remember you starting this project at the beginning of 2019, and now you have 36 pages of build history. What an achievement ! I have met a professional scale model builder who lives local to me, but you sir are of a rare breed of superhuman, if you don't mind me saying so. This incredible level of detail that goes into your models, and especially this Lola T-70, shows us just what can be done when you really understand every single component of such a fine piece of automotive engineering. I don't believe that you can put a price on a model like this . . . All the man hours, the materials, the research and the absolute care with which you have assembled the model car, leaves me somewhat speechless . . . Thank you for posting the detail of the whole project. David

You have a recipe for disaster there Tony . . . Cat + computer keyboard + blades + workbench = ' OMG + BOOM ' David

It is so interesting to see all of these model building work space scenarios, and what seems to be a common factor . . . regardless of how much bench space we have, or what size room we are talking about . . . there is only around one foot square of actual empty space in which to work, and sometimes less. I have so much ' stuff ' piled up on what should be the workbench that I have to build models on my 3D printer table, which is quite a small table. A friend of mine who lives across the road is a professional model builder, and when I visit him for advice every so often I see that his well equipped workshop is completely overwhelmed with boxes, partly built projects, tools and materials, scribbled notes and drawings on bits of paper, and all manner of clutter . . . leaving him with only about a square foot of real space in which to work. It is so funny how we men of a certain age, say between 50 and 70 years of age, are able to turn out scale models that are assembled and painted to a high standard, and all within such a tiny space on the ' bench ' David

Here is a photograph of a 1936 - 1938 Rolls-Royce 25 / 30 which is parked outside the main entrance to the Hooper & Co. factory, and also a photograph of the Pannier Tank steam locomotive pulling a Great Western passenger coach as it is passing by Imperial Motors . . . David

I really like to see an old kit that has been built and painted so well . . . At first glance, I thought that this must be a 1:25 scale kit, but no it is 1:32 You mentioned that the old plastic did not like the modern cement, and no clear plastic window parts ! Well done . . . you have done a marvellous job on this one. The cream coloured background to the photos works well also. I do like 1950's American cars in particular. David

It is late evening and Imperial Motors is closed for the day . . . A customer has parked his Ford Cortina outside the main gate, so that the garage staff can drive the car into their workshop when they open for business the next morning . . . David

You are correct Ken . . . The scale of Corgi and Dinky toy cars is approximately 1:43, but sometimes closer to 1:50 This why I tend to buy Oxford Diecast or Truescale, or Neo and Lansdowne model cars. David

Thank you Ken . . . These are 1:43 scale model cars, buildings and figures, with O gauge model steam loco, carriage and level crossing. David

Thanks Paul . . . The following three photographs were taken shortly before the young mother with her pram turned the corner at the telephone box, which leads from Western Avenue onto Duke's Road . . . The refuse bins have been put out for collection on this particular day, and someone has left the door of the telephone box slightly open . . . David