Rolls Royce "balloon car"

[cobraman]

Always glad to see one of your updates. Good luck with your treatments. Stay strong !

[Zoom]

Very nice wheels and I will say the rest also!!

[peteski]

Wow! Scoring this kit for $41 is the steal of the century. I paid over $100 for mine and thought I had a good deal!

Oh cool!  I guess I did get really lucky!  http://www.ebay.com/itm/262669983929  There is another one currently on eBay with BiN price of $99 (I guess that is closer to the going price then).

[Harry P.]

The body features inset panels of  woven "cane." The kit parts are molded incorrectly... the "holes" in the pattern of woven cane are actually molded as raised dimples. But that's actually a good thing, because it makes detailing the panels easy. First I painted them a "cane" color, then carefully sanded the paint off the raised areas to reveal the black plastic. These panels would have looked much better as decals, but oh well...

[Harry P.]

Here are those panels installed. Painting the body was a nightmare. I first sprayed everything with Tamiya Bright Red, then masked off the recessed red panels and brush painted the exposed raised areas with gloss black acrylic. I had a real hard time masking off the recessed red panels with all those curves and tight radiuses. I did the best I could, but when I removed the tape there were a ton of spots where the color break lines were... um... "less than satisfactory." I tried my best to fix the rough areas with a tiny brush and red and black paint, but even so the color breaks are pretty bad in too many areas. Definitely not my best work, but once the body is in place and all the accessories like the spare tire, battery box, horn bulb, etc. are installed, your eye won't be drawn directly to the lousy job I did with the color breaks. The red panels should have been individual pieces, like the cane inserts. That way you could paint the body black, paint the inset panels red, glue them in place, and have perfect color separation lines. That's how the kit should have been engineered...

[Harry P.]

I stained the running boards, trimmed the edges with BMF, then gave them a black wash to tone them down a little...

[sjordan2]

I had no idea how detailed this kit is.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Wonderful update. I think you are being too tough on yourself on the black paintwork. The pictures look pretty good.

[CrazyCrank]

Absolutely amazing, Harry . Love all all your work on this kit !

[GeeBee]

Wonderful update. I think you are being too tough on yourself on the black paintwork. The pictures look pretty good.

I'll second that, stunning work as usual Harry ...

[Harry P.]

It's coming together. Here is the interior. The panel below the seat was scratchbuild of basswood, stained and varnished. The drawer pulls are straight pins. I drilled out the molded-in fasteners on the wooden trim piece that runs along the top of the body side from firewall to seat and added real brass pins.

[Cato]

Looks like a 100 point restoration in full size.

When you feel better, you gonna do even better work than this??

 

[Harry P.]

When you feel better, you gonna do even better work than this??

I hope so. I am cutting corners a bit due to fatigue and general crappy feeling overall... sort of feels like I have the flu.

[Cato]

I hope so. I am cutting corners a bit due to fatigue and general crappy feeling overall... sort of feels like I have the flu.

 

Geeze, I hope you don't really have the flu too !!

[Harry P.]

I don't. I was just trying to describe how I feel in terms you guys can relate to.

[peteski]

I'm enjoying every new posts Harry - you really have the knack to build this large-scale kits well. They look like fine models, not like large toys (which often is the case with large scale kits).

Edited October 24, 2016 by peteski

[peekay]

Looking fabulous! Totally realistic finishes throughout.

[Harry P.]

I decided to go with red wheels instead of black. I think they give the car a sportier look...

[Harry P.]

Front end details finished. The RR logo on the grille shell was a decal that disintegrated into a million tiny pieces once it hit the water, so I googled "RR logo" and printed one out at several sizes... picked the size that I needed, cut it out and glued it on. The license plates are also decals, but rather than risk them disintegrating too, I just cut them out of the decal sheet dry, and glued them to the backing plate.

[Harry P.]

The first step in detailing the top was to drill out the molded-in brass snaps. They will be replaced by real brass tacks with round heads...

I will not be using the kit's plastic molded "leather" top hold down straps up front... I will scratchbuild those using heavy paper. So I needed to add the mounting loops for the straps on the top. I used thin bead stringing wire that I found at HL... it's soft enough so that I could bend very tight radiuses into it, yet stiff enough to hold its shape. The wire is red (remember, it's decorative bead stringing wire)... the loops will ultimately be painted black.

 

[Harry P.]

To give the top more of the look of canvas and take away that "plastic-y" model car look, first I painted it with oil-based wood stain...

Then I wiped off most of it, leaving slightly more in the "recessed" areas and less on the raised areas, just to give the top some depth and try to make it look more like fabric than molded plastic.

Compare the stained top to the unstained in the previous photos.

[blunc]

painting the wheels red was a great choice, in addition to the "sportier look", it draws the eyes to the excellent work you put into these wheels.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Looks like a 100 point restoration in full size.

Yup.  

[sjordan2]

Red wires are definitely the best choice. Did you primer them?

[Harry P.]

Red wires are definitely the best choice. Did you primer them?

No.