Rolls-Royce No Chemicals, No Paint, No Harmful Glues

[Anglia105E]

[MarkJ]

Congrats, David. That last picture you posted is a definite winner. I can read the printing on the box next to the model. When that happens, you have reached your goal in the paint department. Bravo!

[johnyrotten]

You definitely have a great shine going on. That looks fantastic 👍👍

[Anglia105E]

11 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Congrats, David. That last picture you posted is a definite winner. I can read the printing on the box next to the model. When that happens, you have reached your goal in the paint department. Bravo!

Thanks Mark . . . I am trying to upload the text to go with these photos, but MCM website will not allow me to do that ( error message Oops that page can't be found

[Anglia105E]

10 hours ago, johnyrotten said:

You definitely have a great shine going on. That looks fantastic 👍👍

Thanks John . . . I am trying to upload the text that goes with these photos but MCM website will not allow me to do that ( error message is Oops that page can't be found )

[stitchdup]

37 minutes ago, Anglia105E said:

Thanks John . . . I am trying to upload the text that goes with these photos but MCM website will not allow me to do that ( error message is Oops that page can't be found )

some words cause posts to be rejected by the forum software. its usuall co mmand type words  from programming that do it. adding spaces to the word or spelling them wrong lets the post get through

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, stitchdup said:

some words cause posts to be rejected by the forum software. its usuall co mmand type words  from programming that do it. adding spaces to the word or spelling them wrong lets the post get through

Yes Les, I had a feeling that it must be something contained within my text that was triggering off some sort of rejection. The trouble is, my text is quite lengthy in this case . . . Tried everything, but not only does the text not get uploaded but I get locked out, and cannot even access the MCM website . . .

Used three different browsers, Opera, Edge and Chrome, but the problem continues ?

David

[stitchdup]

1 minute ago, Anglia105E said:

Yes Les, I had a feeling that it must be something contained within my text that was triggering off some sort of rejection. The trouble is, my text is quite lengthy in this case . . . Tried everything, but not only does the text not get uploaded but I get locked out, and cannot even access the MCM website . . .

Used three different browsers, Opera, Edge and Chrome, but the problem continues ?

David

do you want to email it me and i'll see if i can find the word?

[Anglia105E]

3 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

do you want to email it me and i'll see if i can find the word?

Okay Les, I will do thanks . . . I just removed a slash from between the two words " toothpaste " and " vinegar "

David

[Anglia105E]

Previously I did try to add text to explain what I was doing in the photos, but the text was rejected, for reasons unknown to me. Basically, those photos showed an experiment to remove a scratch from the test body shell . . . Today I made some good progress with this process, this time using the Entex body that will be the actual build. Here is the explanation, along with some further photos. Hopefully my text will not be rejected this time, as it was quite a lengthy post and valuable model building time was wasted.

First of all, a cross was drawn and cut out from a sheet of 2000 grit wet and dry paper. This cross was folded and placed onto the end of a length of square rod balsa, and held in place with double sided tape. Then I used this makeshift tool to sand the area of damage using some water. The scratch was removed and the roughness of the sanding process was polished out with baking soda toothpaste and distilled malt vinegar. I am surprised and very pleased with the result.

This step forward has given me renewed optimism, which I needed greatly at this early stage. I intend to use a new silver Sharpie marker pen, and also some narrow art tape to produce a chrome effect on the rear door window frame. The area of damage that has now been fixed, was immediately behind the door window frame, near to the top rear corner.

David

[johnyrotten]

That looks superb David. One tip I've picked up is just a touch of dawn dish soap in the water stops the paper from loading up,and let's it glide a bit easier. Something like one drop to a cup of water. 

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, johnyrotten said:

That looks superb David. One tip I've picked up is just a touch of dawn dish soap in the water stops the paper from loading up,and let's it glide a bit easier. Something like one drop to a cup of water. 

All tips are most welcome John . . . Thank you.

David

[Donny]

Sorry to hear about your really bad news David, I have a lung condition myself, COPD, so I have a good idea what you are going through. I'm a stubborn old bugger, so my attitude is it is what it is and I'll just keep on modelling until I drop. I've just started again after 60 years, so no stopping me now. Love my oxygen cylinder. Good luck mate.

Don   

[BERT100]

David Just caught up with your adventurers to date.  Well Done on the roof scratch removal.  The frustration of the errant Silver sharpe was evedent and made one feel your frustration. Good job for the WD40, that stuff is a miracle in a can.  Regardless keep on working through the problems as they pop up and someday you will be done.    😉

[Anglia105E]

9 hours ago, Donny said:

Sorry to hear about your really bad news David, I have a lung condition myself, COPD, so I have a good idea what you are going through. I'm a stubborn old bugger, so my attitude is it is what it is and I'll just keep on modelling until I drop. I've just started again after 60 years, so no stopping me now. Love my oxygen cylinder. Good luck mate.

Don   

Many thanks for your kind thoughts Don, and take it easy as you go . . . I think once you start building scale model cars you can't stop. No sooner is one car built and finished, then the next project is on the table. In my case the car models expanded to the world of dioramas, which I believe becomes even more addictive and obsessional, if that is possible . . . From the moment that you enter that smaller world, where you can lose yourself among the figures, the buildings, the streets, trees, railways, lighting and everything in miniature . . . there is no going back.

David

[Anglia105E]

4 hours ago, BERT100 said:

David Just caught up with your adventurers to date.  Well Done on the roof scratch removal.  The frustration of the errant Silver sharpe was evedent and made one feel your frustration. Good job for the WD40, that stuff is a miracle in a can.  Regardless keep on working through the problems as they pop up and someday you will be done.    😉

Thanks a lot Steve . . . The most annoying and irritating aspect of the spillage of excess Sharpie was that it was MY fault . . . I caused the damage myself. Yes, you can say that the Sharpie marker pen was faulty, and I did get a full refund, but the Entex Silver Cloud body was in perfect condition before I got my hands on it.

Anyway, all is not lost and I can move forward with a much more positive approach, which is the most important lesson to have learned . . .

David

[Big Messer]

6 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

... was in perfect condition before I got my hands on it.

(Sigh) I can relate...

[Anglia105E]

15 minutes ago, Big Messer said:

(Sigh) I can relate...

I guess we have all been there, Jose . . .

David

[Big Messer]

26 minutes ago, Anglia105E said:

I guess we have all been there, Jose . . .

David

Every modeler worth it's salt has a few fiascos hidden somewhere.

[Anglia105E]

After some light sanding of the door window frame, I decided to use the blue masking tape instead of the narrow orange tape used for the previous attempt. This time I masked off the surrounding area with the blue tape, leaving only the window frame and the door strip unmasked . . .

The new silver Sharpie marker pen seemed to be working fine on the frame itself, but when I began to apply the silver to the door strip the Sharpie was already behaving as though it was about to run dry. Leaving the pen for a short while, with the cap on and the pen vertical ( nib end downwards ), the silver started to flow again . . . I will say though, the coverage of the door strip is nowhere near as good as the door window frame.

Here are a few photos to show the process, and I shall remove the blue masking tape after overnight drying. Temperatures are lower than they have been recently.

David

[BERT100]

On 9/11/2025 at 12:51 PM, Anglia105E said:

...The new silver Sharpie marker pen seemed to be working fine on the frame itself, but when I began to apply the silver to the door strip the Sharpie was already behaving as though it was about to run dry. Leaving the pen for a short while, with the cap on and the pen vertical ( nib end downwards ), the silver started to flow again . . . I will say though, the coverage of the door strip is nowhere near as good as the door window frame...

 David

 

You may well look askance. That is most dishearting.    A quick search reminded me of the "reactivate sharpie" steps I have used :

" AI Overview; To reactivate a dried-out Sharpie, dip the marker tip into a small amount of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) for a few minutes until you see the ink start to run into the alcohol. Remove the marker, cap it, and let it sit tip-down for at least 15-20 minutes to allow the alcohol to rehydrate the ink and draw it down into the nib. For a more thorough fix, you can carefully disassemble the marker, add a few drops of rubbing alcohol directly to the ink pad, and then reassemble it to help rewet the ink."

I realize that alcohol is an issue but perhaps "someone" found nearby could be persuaded do the technique for you?  

p.s. I understand fresh flowers can be a boon in such situations 

[Anglia105E]

27 minutes ago, BERT100 said:

You may well look askance. That is most dishearting.    A quick search reminded me of the "reactivate sharpie" steps I have used :

" AI Overview; To reactivate a dried-out Sharpie, dip the marker tip into a small amount of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol) for a few minutes until you see the ink start to run into the alcohol. Remove the marker, cap it, and let it sit tip-down for at least 15-20 minutes to allow the alcohol to rehydrate the ink and draw it down into the nib. For a more thorough fix, you can carefully disassemble the marker, add a few drops of rubbing alcohol directly to the ink pad, and then reassemble it to help rewet the ink."

I realize that alcohol is an issue but perhaps "someone" found nearby could be persuaded do the technique for you?  

p.s. I understand fresh flowers can be a boon in such situations 

That information you have provided Steve, could be just what I need to get this Sharpie working properly . . . When you mentioned rubbing alcohol and isopropyl alcohol, my first thought was ' Oh no, that chemical again ', but only the other day I was told that hand sanitizer is actually rubbing alcohol. Hand sanitizer is something that I use every day, and in fact multiple times during each day . . . Anyway, what I could do is to use the Isopropyl Alcohol trick outside on my patio garden area. It would be great if that works . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

Moving on from the rear side window of the Silver Cloud body, it was time to mask off the front side window frame. This time the silver Sharpie was actually working, but only for about half of the window frame, and then it dried up again . . . I rummaged around in my loft space and found two old silver Sharpies that had run dry years ago. I tried them out, to see if there was any life in them . . . Both actually worked, if only for a short time, so I did manage to cover the front door window frame.

Following on from the excellent and timely advice from Steve (Bert100), I intend to have a go at getting the newest silver Sharpie to start working properly.

Meanwhile, here are a few photos of how things have gone so far . . .

David

[meechum68]

Excellent work .. this is an enjoyable build to watch, from how you fix mistakes to how you do things. Bravo man!!

[BERT100]

Good job on the front window.  Seems like your getting results you can use.