Anglia105E Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gramps46 Posted April 15, 2020 Share Posted April 15, 2020 You put a lot of effort into the restoration but it paid off for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglia105E Posted April 15, 2020 Author Share Posted April 15, 2020 10 hours ago, Gramps46 said: You put a lot of effort into the restoration but it paid off for you. 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Macleod Posted April 15, 2020 Share Posted April 15, 2020 David, Your work continues to impress. I agree that while a great deal of effort was invested in this project, it made a tremendous difference. One would be hard pressed to know the before and after are the same model. Well done! Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglia105E Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 1 hour ago, Eric Macleod said: David, Your work continues to impress. I agree that while a great deal of effort was invested in this project, it made a tremendous difference. One would be hard pressed to know the before and after are the same model. Well done! Eric Many thanks for the compliment, Eric...... and generally I do feel pleased with the improvement in this model's overall appearance. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dann Tier Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 WOW!!, you really made this basic kit look nice!!! I used this kit to build my Beatles car, so i know what it took to build this. I need to get another one to build!...its a fun build that looks pretty decent when done.....I even think it might be bullet proof plastic!, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geetee66 Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 Stirling work! You really did a great job on this. When I apply Molotow chrome to tiny parts, I unscrew the pen and dip a fine brush in the ink and use that to apply it, instead of the nib. Still shines and you don't risk catching the part with the nib and breaking it. top work fella! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James2 Posted April 16, 2020 Share Posted April 16, 2020 I find myself enjoying rebuilding older models and restoring them much more than the kits these days. Your Rolls looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglia105E Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 20 hours ago, Dann Tier said: WOW!!, you really made this basic kit look nice!!! I used this kit to build my Beatles car, so i know what it took to build this. I need to get another one to build!...its a fun build that looks pretty decent when done.....I even think it might be bullet proof plastic!, lol 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglia105E Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 12 hours ago, geetee66 said: Stirling work! You really did a great job on this. When I apply Molotow chrome to tiny parts, I unscrew the pen and dip a fine brush in the ink and use that to apply it, instead of the nib. Still shines and you don't risk catching the part with the nib and breaking it. top work fella! 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglia105E Posted April 16, 2020 Author Share Posted April 16, 2020 12 hours ago, James2 said: I find myself enjoying rebuilding older models and restoring them much more than the kits these days. Your Rolls looks great! 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BVC500 Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 Nice work! I have this kit too, and while its simplistic, it's pretty neat and shows well with the right modeling skills like you have! I note they omitted the chrome running down the center of the hood in order to allow for both halves to open. I'll probably seal it shut and include the chrome strip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglia105E Posted April 17, 2020 Author Share Posted April 17, 2020 4 hours ago, BVC500 said: Nice work! I have this kit too, and while its simplistic, it's pretty neat and shows well with the right modeling skills like you have! I note they omitted the chrome running down the center of the hood in order to allow for both halves to open. I'll probably seal it shut and include the chrome strip. 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David G. Posted April 24, 2020 Share Posted April 24, 2020 Impressive work! Well worth the effort to save such a nice classic. David G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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