Anglia105E

Good afternoon, Mr Ambrose...... I think I probably fall into the same category as Pat...... which is that my long running, and evolving topic should stay in the Dioramas - Workbench area...... am I right to assume that ? Many thanks, David - ( Hooper & Co. Dioramas )

This is going to be one helluva an engine, Pat........ you have a very interesting project here. All the background and reference material will help you immensely. David

Nicely done Porsche, Alex...... what a rich yellow colour ! The paint finish and the whole build is excellent...... and the car is very realistic looking, so in a close up photo it could easily be mistaken for the 1:1 car. Well done ...... and the fact that this one ix box stock, shows just how good the Tamiya kit is. David

Thank you, Bernard...... I can tell you that some Silver Clouds did not have the chrome strip running down the centre of the hood, and this is true of UTU 486 and many of the early cars built between 1955 and 1957. It is your choice of course, but personally I think it is nice to have the two panels opening up, and then you can have a detailed engine in view.. David

Thank you, James2........ these Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud models are very prone to losing their roof aerials and bonnet mascot, and sometimes I may not have glued a particular part properly, which then becomes detached during transportation or just general handling. David

Thank you, Guy........ and it is funny that you suggest the fine brush method, because usually my Molotow Liquid Chrome pen deposits a blob of liquid chrome on a piece of card, and I wanted to use a soft brush to paint the Spirit of Ecstasy...... but try as I might, I could not get the pen to produce a ' blob '..... which is why I ended up stroking the tip of the pen very gently onto the surface of the tiny bonnet mascot, which is extremely fragile and delicate. Your method to unscrew the tip of the pen sounds like the method I should be using, so thanks for that. David

Thank you, Dann....... and what makes the Minicraft kit really interesting for me, is that the body shell is actually very accurate. They certainly got the proportions and the dimensions right, so all we have to do as scale model builders is to add some further detailing, using whatever means at our disposal. In my extensive collection of Rolls-Royce Silver Clouds, I also have a Hubley promo model car that is moulded in blue plastic, and the body shell on that one appears to be identical to the one produced by Minicraft later. One further addition to my collection is a resin cast body shell that I moulded and cast myself, directly from a Revell version of the Silver Cloud body shell. That would be a bit naughty if I had intended to sell the resin cast model as a kit, or to produce multiple copies of the body shell, but I haven't done that..... there is only one built model car with the resin body, and it is purely for my private collection. David

Many thanks for the compliment, Eric...... and generally I do feel pleased with the improvement in this model's overall appearance. David

Well, Ron...... the only Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud kit ever produced was by Minicraft, and also boxed as a Revell Germany kit in 1:24 scale. You can get diecast models of the Rolls-Royce Phantom I by Franklin Mint, as well as the Rolls-Royce Phantom III by Danbury Mint in diecast, and there is a Rolls-Royce Phantom II kit by Italeri, also in 1:24 scale. This is why I had to use the 1960 Silver Cloud kit by Minicraft, and replace the V8 engine with a 3D printed 6-cylinder engine of my own design. David

The 1955 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I has just been restored, as this model car had suffered some minor damage during transportation between exhibition venues. Here we see the car, which was the first Silver Cloud ever produced in 1955, parked outside the Hooper & Co showroom building sometime in 1958, with the original registration number plate ' UTU 486 ' David

Thanks a lot, Gary...... yes, there were some aspects of the restoration that proved to be difficult, but this was one of five builds that turned out to be the best of the five......... Right from the start, I wanted to show that it is possible to build an accurate scale model of the Silver Cloud, even from a rather simple basic kit. The Minicraft kit for this car was also available in Revell branded boxes, and it is the only company that ever produced a kit of this Rolls-Royce, so the only other version of it is the Franklin Mint diecast model....... Here is a photo of the restored Silver Cloud in a Hooper & Co diorama setting, which does appear to be more of a painting than a photograph, but this is just a photo taken from a distance and using maximum zoom..... David

Couple of nice old Fords there, Pat.......... and I do like the woody. The guy up there on the forklift is way up high...... maybe he needs a hard hat? If the boss sees him, there will be words! David

This is not a build that is on my workbench at the moment, but more of a restoration...... one of the Silver Clouds has suffered a little during transportation between exhibition venues. Here we have a 1955 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud I that was actually the first real 1:1 car ever built in 1955, which has the registration plate UTU 486 and is finished in Shell Grey over Black Pearl...... The Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet mascot was missing, the roof aerial came off during restoration, the radiator grille became detached and the two bonnet panels were not a good fit, certainly by Rolls-Royce engineering standards. Once the body shell was lifted clear of the rolling chassis, I noticed the engine had also come adrift. This was an engine that I had designed using FreeCAD software, and then 3D printed by Shapeways. The main reason for the poor fitting of the bonnet panels was that one of the slots just ahead of the windscreen was not at the same height as the one for the other bonnet panel rear edge. This was causing the panels to lift at the corners when the two panels were in the closed position. First of all the radiator grille had to be mounted onto the chassis at the front end, glued in place with Revell Contacta Professional and then the bonnet panels could be carefully aligned front and rear. Both of these panels now open and close as they should. A new ' Flying Lady ' bonnet mascot was precisely super glued in place on top of the radiator grille, and then chrome plated using Molotow Liquid Chrome Pen, taking great care because this tiny resin cast part is extremely fragile. The size of this cast part is correct, whereas the part supplied with the kit is way too large and out of scale. The 4.9 litre straight-six engine was fixed in place using a small amount of super glue, and after checking the clearance between the top of the engine and the underside of the bonnet panels when closed, the body shell was lowered onto the rolling chassis. The front bumper and registration plate was fitted and the roof aerial was replaced, again using super glue. I scratch built this roof aerial out of a short length of household fuse wire, and then added a blob of solder to the base of the aerial, along with a tiny pin for mounting to the roof of the model. In order to fit the Spirit of Ecstasy and the roof aerial, I drilled a tiny hole in both the radiator grille and the roof, using a Revell hand drill. The Silver Cloud was then polished with a micro fibre cloth, photographed and restored to it's former glory in a diorama setting. This is the Minicraft kit in 1:24 scale and is heavily modified, because the original kit for this Rolls-Royce has only 26 parts in total. My build has real crimson leather interior seating, a boot panel for the spare wheel with crimson carpet, scratch built windscreen, 3D printed 6-cylinder engine as opposed to the V8 engine supplied with the kit, which is the main difference between the Silver Cloud I and the Silver Cloud II as the kit is intended. Chromework is both BMF and Molotow Liquid Pen, and the paintwork is Zero Paints custom mixed Shell Grey and Black Pearl by Hiroboy in UK...... there is a walnut dashboard and this has been converted from LHD to RHD, with further interior scratch building which includes interior mirror, headlining in real beige fabric, rear interior quarter mirrors crimson felt carpeting and individually cut pieces of real crimson leather for the seating. Hope you find the following photos interesting, guys...... and keep safe everyone ! David

Sorry to hear you had a fall, John...... and being able to access the diorama from any side is really good if you have the space. I find myself having to turn diorama baseboards through 360 degrees, just to get a different angle for the photography. David

Okay thanks, Tim David

You are doing a marvellous job on this really nice Danbury Mint model car, Tim........ and I am by no means any sort of expert on these matters, but something crossed my mind when you mention ' textured ' roof area, which you then decided to smooth with sandable primer...... could this have been a vinyl roof ? Maybe I have no idea what I am talking about, because you might be able to tell me that there were no vinyl roof automobiles available in the States in 1955..... I guess that I am suggesting this car might have been intended to have a textured vinyl roof ! David

Thanks, Pat. David

Really nice build you have there, Ron....... I like the car, the paint colours are so vibrant and brilliant chrome work too. Your Dad would indeed be very proud. Late '50's American cars interest me, and if I wasn't specialising in building '50's Rolls-Royce model cars in 1:24 scale, I would go for kits like the one you have built, for sure. David

Nice Mustang, John...... or at least it used to be! David

Sorry, guys...... clicking on 100_6730.MOV is downloading the file, rather than playing the video file as I intended. Apologies for this mistake. David

I would politely suggest that you have a look at the 10 second video clip, before viewing the two photographs that follow..... Harold Brown is standing on the corner of Duke's Road, waiting to cross over to the other side of Western Avenue, when the reckless driver of an Austin 7 motor car arrives on the scene at too great a speed. Losing control of his automobile, the reckless Austin 7 driver has abandoned the scene of the accident after he realises that he has knocked poor Harold down onto the ground. Fortunately for Harold, there is a London County Council ambulance waiting at the junction of Dukes's Road and Western Avenue....... The ambulance immediately turns onto Western Avenue and attends to Harold's injuries. This all happens in not much more than ten seconds and the bewildered Harold never saw the approaching Austin 7, until it was too late. David 100_6730.MOV

Forgot to mention...... the following photograph in B&W is taken close up within the 1:43 scale diorama, and in this instance, the 1:24 scale Hooper building in the background does not appear out of scale....... another forum member has previously experimented with three different scale models, which I think he was able to display correctly in foreground, middle ground and background, so it can be done. David

Due to the corona-virus restrictions it is not possible for friends to view the scale model dioramas at my house, so I thought I would put together a short introduction to my project, in the form of a YouTube video presentation. Please excuse the dubious audio quality, and the shaky video camera work, but keep in mind this is the first video that I have ever produced in my life, and I am 66 years of age. Although the Hooper & Co project has been three and a half years in the making, this video presentation was put together and uploaded to YouTube within one week. This has probably been done much too quickly, and it is rather amateurish on the whole, but I do hope that the video gives you some idea of what this project is about. This is not the finished version of the video presentation and others will follow, that will show the actual cars in more detail. My voice is not really suitable for the narrative I'm afraid, and maybe I should simply have music playing in the background throughout the video film, with perhaps a few bits of information as lettering on the screen. The music is from a Chinese film of ' Mulan ' as opposed to the Disney version, and it is the work of Stefanie Sun. The link to the YouTube video appears at the bottom of this email message, and I hope that you can find at least some of the visuals interesting.... with my apologies for the poor audio content. https://youtu.be/H60gcSmndp4 The video is 11 minutes in length, and I hope you manage to see it through to the end..... Many thanks, David

Gary is correct..... the Scalelink people in UK took over the South Eastern Finecast kits, and the MGA or MG A is still available to purchase, in both hard top and soft top versions....... I have built the MG K3 Magnette original Finescale Auto Kits white metal model, which was a very old kit, and although it was a bit challenging it did build up into a very nice model car. The Finescale kits that come up on Ebay tend to be a bit expensive, and I was very lucky to pick one up that was cheaper. David

Hi Mike...... myself, when I go looking on Ebay it is always for a specific model car, so I know exactly what I want...... I do prefer ' Buy it Now ', and some of these items are ' Make Offer ', which is even better. Having said that, I do like the auction process, and I have a particular strategy that I use to win quite a few bidding auctions. When I see ' Buy it Now ' the postage usually plays a part in whether or not I buy the item. Many are free Click & Collect which suits me perfectly, while some will want £2.50 postage, £4.50, £6.50 and even £8.50, which is excessive in my view. Having been very anti - Ebay some years ago, I now enjoy the whole Ebay experience in the UK, and I do buy many items. I think their website is very well organised, easy to use and the process works really well most of the time. Only very few items have arrived damaged or not as described, and most Ebay sellers will sort out the problem efficiently and honestly. David