1:16 Gunze Sangyo 1937 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Sports Saloon

[David G.]

A great color choice for the interior. It just feels... "British"  

If I may David, I'd like to share a pointer on the tool kit.

If I were to paint that, I would start with a base of silver lacquer. Once that had dried, I would spray a suitable flat green acrylic over the silver lacquer.

I would then use some of those Tamiya cotton buds, the small pointed ones.  Moisten them with whatever acrylic thinner is designed to work with the flat green paint and carefully remove the paint from the tools revealing the silver undercoat.

The other colors for the tool handles, springs, etc. could then be dabbed in with more acrylic paint. 

I hope you find this bit of unsolicited advice helpful.

Regards,

David G.

[Anglia105E]

3 hours ago, David G. said:

A great color choice for the interior. It just feels... "British"  

If I may David, I'd like to share a pointer on the tool kit.

If I were to paint that, I would start with a base of silver lacquer. Once that had dried, I would spray a suitable flat green acrylic over the silver lacquer.

I would then use some of those Tamiya cotton buds, the small pointed ones.  Moisten them with whatever acrylic thinner is designed to work with the flat green paint and carefully remove the paint from the tools revealing the silver undercoat.

The other colors for the tool handles, springs, etc. could then be dabbed in with more acrylic paint. 

I hope you find this bit of unsolicited advice helpful.

Regards,

David G.

Your advice regarding the painting of the tool kit is most welcome, and I would say there are probably half a dozen methods that different model builders might use for this task . . . The method that I did use seems to have worked quite well, and the paint had dried overnight, so that was before I received your comment. Unfortunately, the outside temperature here is 6°C and down to zero, so I cannot spray any paints at the moment . . . I only have normal cotton buds, so not those wonderful Tamiya pointed ones, which I must get soon. Also, I find that the Vallejo airbrush cleaner that I use for cleaning anything with Vallejo acrylic paints does not seem to work very well for me. This means that I generally use Isopropyl Alcohol instead.

The following photos show the matt brown applied to many of the interior parts, and this is being allowed to dry overnight. I do like the colour as well.

I have applied the brown Humbrol enamel as a thin coat, because the texture of the carpet flooring and also the leather seats has been nicely manufactured by Gunze Sangyo . . . The wood finish that I shall aim for later will probably be burr walnut rather than mahogany.

David W.

 

[David G.]

Indeed the tool kit did turn out quite well and the interior colors are looking very sharp.

David G.

[Anglia105E]

As I became fascinated by the design and functionality of the tools tray that is located within the recess of the luggage compartment lid, my plan today was to dry fit the parts that make up this assembly . . . The tool tray itself will be glued into the inside of the boot lid, and there are two hinged panels that are held in place by the tool tray. One of these two panels serves to cover the set of tools when lowered, and the other larger panel covers the whole boot lid area. This larger panel then becomes the boot floor or decking, and also lays flush with the floor decking deeper into the luggage compartment.

The boot lid, and the two hinged panels have plastic hinges, as opposed to the metal hinges supplied in the kit for the doors and bonnet panels.

I shall need to paint the smaller of the two panels flat green acrylic, where it covers the tools. You can see four sink marks on the panel that must be filled and sanded before painting.

During the time that I spent examining these component parts, I was reminded that Rolls-Royce have always presented us with some brilliant design concepts, and of course their exceptional engineering can be observed throughout the entire construction of the motor car.

Somehow I took over 90 photographs of just the process of test fitting the boot lid and tools tray, but here is only a small sample of those photos !

David

[David G.]

That double hinge setup is a clever bit of engineering. It will be quite an interesting feature in the finished build.

David G.

[dino246gt]

I just found this one in my basement, after decades, a real barn find. LOL

It needs a total restoration, so thank you for the guide!

Yours is looking great!

[Anglia105E]

2 hours ago, dino246gt said:

I just found this one in my basement, after decades, a real barn find. LOL

It needs a total restoration, so thank you for the guide!

Yours is looking great!

Thank you Dennis . . . Your ' barn find ' restoration project looks really good, and I can see the model as it might appear when fully completed.

I like the colour scheme of red and cream, which corresponds to my chosen colour scheme of black and cream . . . Your version has white wall tyres, which is what you would expect to find in the United States of course, whereas my version will have the standard tyres more typical in England.

I reckon you can restore that Rolls-Royce Phantom III without too much difficulty. and this will turn out very nicely I am sure.

The Entex kit, the Revell version, also the Anmark and Gunze Sangyo versions of the kit are basically all the same, with just some slight differences with the instruction sheet and the colour of the plastic parts on the sprues. These 1:16 scale kits are now getting quite rare, and they do go for high prices, usually from Ebay sellers in France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USA . . . I like the level of detail, and the quality of the parts, as well as finding the assembly process more like building a real car than say in 1:24 scale.

There seems to be a large amount of reference material out there on the Internet for this car. which I am using to good effect. Not many of these have been built, or at least not many model builders have posted their builds on forums as far as I can see.

David

[dino246gt]

4 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

Thank you Dennis . . . Your ' barn find ' restoration project looks really good, and I can see the model as it might appear when fully completed.

I like the colour scheme of red and cream, which corresponds to my chosen colour scheme of black and cream . . . Your version has white wall tyres, which is what you would expect to find in the United States of course, whereas my version will have the standard tyres more typical in England.

I reckon you can restore that Rolls-Royce Phantom III without too much difficulty. and this will turn out very nicely I am sure.

The Entex kit, the Revell version, also the Anmark and Gunze Sangyo versions of the kit are basically all the same, with just some slight differences with the instruction sheet and the colour of the plastic parts on the sprues. These 1:16 scale kits are now getting quite rare, and they do go for high prices, usually from Ebay sellers in France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USA . . . I like the level of detail, and the quality of the parts, as well as finding the assembly process more like building a real car than say in 1:24 scale.

There seems to be a large amount of reference material out there on the Internet for this car. which I am using to good effect. Not many of these have been built, or at least not many model builders have posted their builds on forums as far as I can see.

David

Thanks David, I also have this one and I'm thinking of the full wheel covers for the 4 door without the whitewalls,  could be cool?

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, dino246gt said:

Thanks David, I also have this one and I'm thinking of the full wheel covers for the 4 door without the whitewalls,  could be cool?

That is interesting that you should mention the wheel covers Dennis, because I fully intended to fit the wheel covers using micro magnets, so that I could remove the covers to reveal the black wire spoked wheels foe some photographs. Then I realised that there are no wheel covers included in the Gunze Sangyo kit . . . Does your Entex kit have the wheel covers in the box?  Usually, I do fit the wheel covers to the Phantom II cars that I have built previously, and also to the Phantom I cars.

The Phantom II and Phantom I models that I have built were 1:24 scale and also 1:32 scale, so not the 1:16 scale kit that you have there.

I reckon the micro magnets could be fitted into the hubs, and also into the wheel covers, so the idea could work in theory ?  My micro magnets that I have will probably be used for the four doors of this Phantom III . . .

David

[Bainford]

It's coming along nicely, David. It looks like a very nice kit. Nice work on the tool tray, and I'm digging the tool kit of the 1:1. Is that spare valve springs in there?

[Anglia105E]

8 hours ago, Bainford said:

It's coming along nicely, David. It looks like a very nice kit. Nice work on the tool tray, and I'm digging the tool kit of the 1:1. Is that spare valve springs in there?

Thanks Trevor . . . Yes, you are right about the tool kit, it does indeed contain a pair of spare valve springs ! There are several specialised tools in there which are exclusive to Rolls-Royce motor cars . . . I found it to be a particularly fascinating aspect of the Phantom III ( there are many others ).

David

[dino246gt]

15 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

That is interesting that you should mention the wheel covers Dennis, because I fully intended to fit the wheel covers using micro magnets, so that I could remove the covers to reveal the black wire spoked wheels foe some photographs. Then I realised that there are no wheel covers included in the Gunze Sangyo kit . . . Does your Entex kit have the wheel covers in the box?  Usually, I do fit the wheel covers to the Phantom II cars that I have built previously, and also to the Phantom I cars.

The Phantom II and Phantom I models that I have built were 1:24 scale and also 1:32 scale, so not the 1:16 scale kit that you have there.

I reckon the micro magnets could be fitted into the hubs, and also into the wheel covers, so the idea could work in theory ?  My micro magnets that I have will probably be used for the four doors of this Phantom III . . .

David

No wheel covers in this kit. My thinking is that they make the more formal 4 door look more classy. The exposed wires might suit the sportier coupe, so why not make the switch! Neither model is in my near future though. Keep in touch, if I die soon you can have both kits!  LOL

[Anglia105E]

19 minutes ago, dino246gt said:

No wheel covers in this kit. My thinking is that they make the more formal 4 door look more classy. The exposed wires might suit the sportier coupe, so why not make the switch! Neither model is in my near future though. Keep in touch, if I die soon you can have both kits!  LOL

As regards the wheel covers Dennis . . . This is what I discovered during my extensive research. The owners of the real full size Rolls-Royce Phantom III motor cars, between 1936 and 1939 liked to keep their wire spoked wheels clean, but the tedious job of cleaning those wheels was a headache for the chauffeur / mechanic . . . So, they fitted the wheel covers to not only look stylish but primarily to keep the maintenance of the wire spoked wheels down to an absolute minimum.

I was hoping to photograph my completed model both with and without wheel covers, until I realised they were not in the kit box from Gunze Sangyo . . . To be fair to Gunze Sangyo, this is probably because the Freestone and Webb coachbuilders version did not necessarily have wheel covers, unless the owner buyer specifically requested them to be fitted.

Just one question for you Dennis, do you have any more photos of your Entex Phantom III kit please ?  The photo that you posted is high resolution and very good, thanks . . .

David

[dino246gt]

23 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

As regards the wheel covers Dennis . . . This is what I discovered during my extensive research. The owners of the real full size Rolls-Royce Phantom III motor cars, between 1936 and 1939 liked to keep their wire spoked wheels clean, but the tedious job of cleaning those wheels was a headache for the chauffeur / mechanic . . . So, they fitted the wheel covers to not only look stylish but primarily to keep the maintenance of the wire spoked wheels down to an absolute minimum.

I was hoping to photograph my completed model both with and without wheel covers, until I realised they were not in the kit box from Gunze Sangyo . . . To be fair to Gunze Sangyo, this is probably because the Freestone and Webb coachbuilders version did not necessarily have wheel covers, unless the owner buyer specifically requested them to be fitted.

Just one question for you Dennis, do you have any more photos of your Entex Phantom III kit please ?  The photo that you posted is high resolution and very good, thanks . . .

David

Thanks for that about the wheel covers.

I do have that kit in my basement, and I can take pictures of anything you want, just let me know.

 

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, dino246gt said:

Thanks for that about the wheel covers.

I do have that kit in my basement, and I can take pictures of anything you want, just let me know.

 

Well, at the moment Dennis my immediate concern is the door posts for this model car. I have studied the instruction sheet, and examined the relevant parts, but the way they seem to suggest fitting those parts doesn't look too strong to me . . . The base of the door posts puzzles me a bit, and the method of attaching the outer door pillars also. I want to get this part of the build right because this is critical to the fitting of the door hinges. The door posts don't seem to reach the underside of the roof, where there are two square sockets. Don't worry if you can't see what I mean.

Maybe if you could take a couple of close up photos of the doors to door post fitting, from slightly different angles?

Please don't disrupt your daily schedule for this Dennis, but this would help me figure out the issue . . .

David

[dino246gt]

Hey James, I just took these pics, I haven't actually started working on it again after 40 some years, but I did manage to pull it apart and place it back together, no glue.

Hope you see something that can help, or ask me for more. Cheers!

[Anglia105E]

2 hours ago, dino246gt said:

Hey James, I just took these pics, I haven't actually started working on it again after 40 some years, but I did manage to pull it apart and place it back together, no glue.

Hope you see something that can help, or ask me for more. Cheers!

Thank you Dennis, and this is beginning to make sense to me now . . . Excellent photos of yours, and they were just what I needed, so thanks again for taking the time, cheers !

David

[Anglia105E]

While waiting for various parts and assemblies of the Phantom III to dry, I wanted to do something with the figure that will go with this car . . .

I would like to think that if Gunze Sangyo had included a figure with this kit back in the day, then this would have been a typical subject to find inside the box. He is an Edwardian gentleman in 1:16 scale, and this figure was 3D printed for garden railways and tramways. One thing I did not like about the figure was his HAT, which I regarded as rather comical and made him look like a garden gnome !

So I set about converting his hat to a Top Hat, which I have done by cutting an oval out of thin card and super glued it to the top of the silly hat . . . Then I cut out a strip of thin card, which was wrapped around the existing hat and glued on below the upper rim of the new hat. The gaps were filled with Mr Wite Putty R filler and Humbrol grey primer applied over the white card areas. Today I applied a thin coat of Vallejo flat flesh acrylic paint to the face of the man.

Once this figure is painted Vallejo beige brown for his hat, coat and trousers, darker brown for his leather gloves and leather shoes, with a white shirt, crimson waistcoat and a grey beard he will look much better I feel . . . This man will be Mr A. J. Webb, who was Arthur Webb of the partnership that was the founder of Freestone and Webb, the famous coachbuilders from North London . . . From 1923 to 1958 the partnership of V. E. Freestone and A. J. Webb produced some of the finest designs for Rolls-Royce and Bentley bodies, although Mr Webb died in 1955 . . .

David

[David G.]

Nice work on the top hat conversion David. 

David G.

[Anglia105E]

26 minutes ago, David G. said:

Nice work on the top hat conversion David. 

David G.

Yes, I am rather pleased with how the figure is transformimg . . . One interesting fact, apparently Freestone and Webb were recognised as having two distinctive body styles, one was ' Top Hat ' and the other was ' Razor Edge ' . . . so this Phantom III that I am building has a Freestone and Webb body.

David

[sjordan2]

The kit was based on this 1937 Freestone and Webb PIII currently in the hands of the Toyota museum in Japan.

Edited March 5, 2024 by sjordan2

[Anglia105E]

25 minutes ago, sjordan2 said:

The kit was based on this 1937 Freestone and Webb PIII currently in the hands of the Toyota museum in Japan.

Many thanks Skip for that important piece of information . . . I had not realised that particular car was the one that Gunze Sangyo based their PIII kit upon.

Do you have any idea where the registration plate ' FV 8910 ' came from ?

I see the box art on the Entex version of this kit does look almost exactly like the photos that you have posted, which is great thanks !

David

[stitchdup]

5 minutes ago, Anglia105E said:

Do you have any idea where the registration plate ' FV 8910 ' came from ?

fv would be preston, lancashire i believe. my local plate was bs but the dvla say its aberdeen but its not, it is only orkney

[Anglia105E]

12 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

fv would be preston, lancashire i believe. my local plate was bs but the dvla say its aberdeen but its not, it is only orkney

That is a possibility Les, because I don't suppose they had ' personal ' registration numbers in the late 1930's, although F V 8 9 10 is a sequential number (8, 9, 10) . . . interesting !

David

[stitchdup]

10 minutes ago, Anglia105E said:

That is a possibility Les, because I don't suppose they had ' personal ' registration numbers in the late 1930's, although F V 8 9 10 is a sequential number (8, 9, 10) . . . interesting !

David

given how few cars were in my area at that time, any number over 1000 is a more recent plate. its also one of the last you can still get new andpreviously  unused from the dvla. bs1 through 6 were all owned by billy smarts circus at one time. I did a bit of research on the bs numbers for the local vintage club when they did a display of original orkney cars.