Anglia105E

Many thanks David, and nice to hear from you again . . . I shall certainly try that technique, by reducing the zoom and backing off with the camera. At the beginning of this topic I did mention that the year of this diorama will be around 1935 or 1936, but of course the Phantom III in the foreground wasn't produced until 1937 . . . Keeping that in mind, this diorama depicts the year 1938. David W.

You are absolutely right there Paul . . . The depth of field is indeed the main issue, and forced perspective cannot work unless the depth of field is set up so that both foreground and background are in focus. I am able to use manual settings with the Nikon DSLR camera, or I can use the ' Auto ' setting, as shown in the above photos . . . The Kodak camera cannot do fancy manual settings, so that one is more or less point and shoot . . . David

I am now working on a slightly different idea, and thinking along the lines of using two scales within one diorama . . . Some time ago I played around with 1:24 scale models in the foreground, then 1:32 scale models in the middle ground, and then 1:43 scale models in the background . . . This should appear correct to the naked eye, when the photography is set up carefully . . . So what we have here, is the 1:16 scale Rolls-Royce Phantom III model in the foreground, and the 1:32 scale Hooper & Co. building in the background. Providing the camera is low down to the ground level, and as long as any figures and cars that are close to the building are 1:32 scale, the larger 1:16 scale car in the foreground will not appear out of place from the photographs . . . Here are a few photos at the preparation stage . . . The first two photos were taken with the NIKON camera, and the remaining three photos were taken with the KODAK camera . . . David

Thanks a lot Paul, and Mr Hitchcock is probably looking pleased because he is about to climb into his 1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Sedanca de Ville . . . The other Rolls-Royce is a Phantom I from 1928, that was owned by the diamond dealer Otto Oppenheimer . . . The MG K3 Magna was owned and driven in competition by Kitty Brunell, and this is also a 1933 motor car . . . Alfred Hitchcock was born in 1899, so he would have been 34 years of age when the Phantom II was produced. David

I am beginning to play around with a few different compositions, and also try out alternative light sources . . . The following photos have been taken using the NIKON DSLR camera. The blue lettering on the left side of the building needs some attention, as some of the letters are no longer visible. The lower signboard shows ' HM The Queen ' which was correct for the previous 1958 diorama, but this needs to show ' HM The King ' for this 1935 diorama . . . Two further issues iinclude the grand piano inside the first floor showroom, which is 1:24 scale, and the state carriage near to the window which is 1:43 scale. Both of these models must be 1:32 scale of course . . . David

Previously, I had mistakenly assumed that my scratch built Hooper & Co. building was 1:24 scale . . . However, and following some careful re-calculation, this building is actually 1:32 scale . . . The Hooper & Co. Coachbuilders showroom premises was located at 54 St James's Street in London, England and from 1805 until 1959 Hooper's displayed fine examples of horse-drawn carriages, Rolls-Royce motor cars, and also Daimler motor cars. The managing director and chief draughtsman was Osmond Rivers. In order to create this 1:32 scale diorama, there are various aspects of the building that need to be reduced in size from 1:24 scale. This will include the width of the two roads, namely St James's Street and Bennet Street, also the height of the Belisha Beacon for the pedestrian crossing, and the height of the pavement kerbs Several model cars in my collection will be suitable for this resized diorama, such as the Rolls-Royce Phantom I, the Rolls-Royce Phantom II and the MG K3 Magna. The figures shown in the following photos include Alfred Hitchcock, Miss Marples, Hercule Poirot, and Kitty Brunell is seated at the wheel of the MG sports car. Alongside the Hooper & Co. building there is the detached red brick house, which is also 1:32 scale . . . The year of the diorama is around 1935 - 1936. David

The following photos of ' AJW 55 ' show the car standing on the mirrored turntable, which has been placed upon a glass TV stand, with the lighting provided by a vintage table lamp and also a 100 watt daylight bulb . . . David

Thank you Donato . . . I like the word ' Awesome ', especially when used to describe one of my builds ! Few more photos to follow . . . David

Thanks a lot Carl . . . Few more photos to follow . . . David

These following photos of the Phantom III were taken in the video filming ' box ', with the model standing on the mirrored turntable . . . Several lamps are in place, and the camera used is a NIKON D3000 DSLR, on the Auto setting . . . David

Many thanks Larry . . . This build has taken just over 6 months to complete, and there were quite a few challenging moments during the process. Glad you like it ! David

Thank you David M., and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the working lights turned out, as this was my first attempt with that feature . . . You also mentioned the two suitcases inside the luggage compartment, which I made from thin card and then added those identification tags as an afterthought. Your comments are much appreciated ! David W.

Thanks for taking a look at the sections of this topic that you may have missed David, and I hope you had an enjoyable holiday . . . There is a YouTube video link in my new topic ' Under Glass ' for this car, and I am working on some final photos also . . . David W.

Here is a link to the YouTube video that shows the car in a finished state, and there will be further photos appearing here shortly . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gOcKwcgl8Q This video is best viewed full screen, and with audio on, as there is some background music . . . Watch for the changes at 2 minutes and again at 4 minutes ! David

I think you have it exactly Bob ! This would be an owner driver, rather than a chauffeur driven motor car . . . Thanks for your positive comments. David

Well, the early morning photo shoot did not go quite as well as I would have liked . . . I did manage to get 76 shots of the model car between the hours of 6:00 am and 8:00 am, but this turned out to be too early in the day. The sun did not rise over the treetops by the river, so there was no sunlight on the pathway . . . Despite early shots being too dark, there were some later ones that had the car nicely in focus. Although I did try many different combinations of manual settings on my camera, the background was not in focus, so forced perspective did not happen basically . . . Unfortunately the grey board that I was using was not grey enough, and it didn't blend in with the pathway as I had wanted. On the positive side, I did gather some useful information . . . For those MCM forum members who are keen photographers, the optimum settings for the NIKON D3000 were as follows . . . 1 / 60 shutter speed, and f / 25 aperture, ISO set at 800, and focal length was 34 mm. Here are the best 7 photos from the shoot, but none of these are good enough for what I was seeking to achieve . . . David

Two days before the planned photo shoot, and I picked up the Phantom III model, only to notice that the suspension on the front passenger side had become detached from the main body of the car . . . This was repaired today, using super glue, and at the same time I paid some attention to the spokes of the wire wheels. Quite a few of the gloss black spokes were showing chrome from underneath, as well as some small areas of the wheel rims. Using some Vallejo Glossy Black acrylic, the visible chrome was blacked out . . . All ready to go now, with a 5:00 am start on Tuesday morning, when the weather is forecast to be sunny, dry, no wind and 14°C - 16°C temps. David

By the middle of next week I shall be producing an outdoor photo shoot of the Rolls-Royce Phantom III, featuring the ' forced perspective ' technique. This will be carried out around sunrise, at a local rural location . . . Here is a small preview at the preparation stage . . . David

This topic is almost ready to move over to the ' Under Glass ' section of the forum, and here is a link to the YouTube video that shows the model car at the current stage . . . The video is best viewed full screen, and with audio on, as there is some background music. Even if you don't watch the whole 7 minutes and 52 seconds of this video, have a look at the changes that happen at 2 minutes and 4 minutes into the video . . . Many thanks for following my Phantom III build, and I hope you find the video interesting also . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gOcKwcgl8Q David

Mixed feelings really David . . . This might be as good as it is going to get, but I would prefer to achieve a better fit ! David W.

Hi Greg . . . Your photo does show a Rolls-Royce Phantom III, but the body is not by Freestone and Webb . . . The part that you have circled in red actually a ' dummy ' hinge, because although there appears to be three door hinges on each side of the car, there are only two in fact. The hinge at the top of the door is not a real hinge, so it just matches the other two lower hinges . . . Also, your photo shows the front and rear doors being ' suicide ' doors, so both are rear hinged,whereas the model that I am building has suicide doors at the front, and conventional front hinged doors at the rear . . . Well spotted ! David

The ' walls ' between the square sockets and the underside roof channel have been removed, using a mini drill and grind stone . . . Also, some further material has been removed from the top surfaces of the door posts. Test fitting revealed a slight improvement, but not really anything significant . . . All four doors are closing more satisfactorily, apart from the passenger side rear door, which almost closes. Forcing that door closed results in the rear section of the upper body lifting slightly . . . I would say that the driver's side doors do fit better than those on the passenger side. This might be as far as I can go for now . . . David

This diorama has been done to your usual high standard Charles . . . One of your photos stands out as the most realistic of your many good ones . . . This would be in my opinion, ' the yard8 ' ( 16 of 28 ) . . . David

I reckon you have cracked it this time David ! ( not literally ) . . . David W.

Well Matt, just like you have noticed this, I keep coming back to the central division and the way it fits into the roof channel . . . All of what you say is very observant, and 99% correct. The one aspect of the structure that I must explain is this . . . At the top of the outer door posts there were originally two lugs, and I ended up cutting them off. These were only half lugs, that were intended to slot into half of the square socket . . . The Gunze Sangyo idea was for the top edge of the division window glass frame to be inserted into the channel on the underside of the roof, and then the two half lugs would be inserted into the square sockets . . . I am hoping that the following photos explain this better than I can . . . ! Based upon your excellent suggestion Matt, I think I shall have a go at removing those ' walls ' between the outer square sockets and the central slot, and then see what difference that makes . . . It would be wonderful if that actually worked, and I would be very happy ! David