Hybrid Build of a Classic

[Anglia105E]

Usually I post to an ongoing topic in the Dioramas section, so this is my first time posting to this section. When I say ' Hybrid ' I am referring to the fact that this is a coming together of diecast and plastic, with 70% of the build using plastic parts and 30% using diecast parts, plus a few scratch built parts also. I have wanted to do this for some time, as all my builds have been styrene or resin. The body parts are from the 1:24 Franklin Mint Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II - 1962, which include body shell, four doors, bonnet ( hood ) panels, boot lid and dashboard. All the remaining parts are from the 1:24 Minicraft Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II - 1962 kit. The real car was a 1960 motor car owned by Osmond Rivers in 1963 and while the Franklin Mint model is finished in Masons Black over Oyster Grey, this car has to be Masons Black over Sand, which is a subtle gold colour. I shall try to add text in between the photos to make this topic more interesting. There is one photo of the original 1:1 car and we begin with the body parts before masking with best blue masking tape, then applying Halfords grey primer ( rattle can ) and then Zero Paints Rolls-Royce Sand. This is to cover the lower part of the car, leaving the original Masons Black untouched.

David

[iBorg]

This is something I've thought of trying although I think I'd removed the grills and the lights.

[Anglia105E]

There follows a photo of three cars showing the Sand colour of the hybrid at the back, the Oyster Grey colour of the Silver Cloud in the middle, and the Gold colour of the Bentley at the front. All the component parts are gathered together, ready for assembly, including chassis, axles, road wheels and tyres, engine, bumpers, interior seating tub and the radiator grille is already fitted. The rear lamp clusters and headlamps were coated with vaseline rather than masking tape, and the process of scraping off the paint afterwards worked well. My previous builds were the Silver Cloud I which has a 4.9 litre inline 6-cylinder engine while this Silver Cloud II has the 6.2 litre V8 engine. The interior upholstery is cream leather and the steering column has been moved to the right hand drive position on the dashboard.

[Anglia105E]

Thanks Mike for the quick reply and I hope you find this topic interesting.

Moving on to the chassis..... the Minicraft styrene chassis is a good fit for the Franklin Mint diecast body shell, but I needed to cut out a few small areas to allow the front end of the chassis to fit properly. It is worth mentioning that I had to dismantle a Franklin Mint Rolls-Royce Phantom I - 1929 to provide the correct screws for assembling the door hinges, dashboard and boot lid on this Silver Cloud. You can see that part of the exhaust silencer has been cut away but once modified, this will be replaced and the exhaust sysyem will be painted aluminium, with a chrome tailpipe made from spare plastic kit sprue. Above the spare wheel that sits at the rear of the chassis I shall scratch build the boot floor section and fit the boot floor carpet material. The front bumper and registration number plates for both front and rear of the model will be added later, as will the roof aerial made from fuse wire and solder.

[Gramps46]

Very informative David and the Vaseline idea sounds like a good way to protect parts that are hard to remove and or mask.

[Anglia105E]

Thank you Gary, and it was just an experiment with the Vaseline, but it turned out surprisingly well. I need to point out an error which appears right at the beginning of this topic..... the Franklin Mint Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud is not a 1962 Silver Cloud II, but atually it is a 1955 Silver Cloud I...... must have been getting tired ( it's late ).

David

[Eric Macleod]

I like it. I never thought of vaseline as a mask but the idea makes good sense. I'll be watching this with great interest.  The little Franklin Mint Ghost skiff in the background is one of my Holy Grails. 

[Anglia105E]

Thanks Eric, and the Silver Ghost is a 1914 wooden boat tail version by Franklin Mint, which had a detached windscreen when I bought the model but that was easy to fix.

David

[Anglia105E]

This Silver Cloud build is generally coming together quite nicely, and these photos show the two saw cuts in the main silencer of the exhaust system having filler applied and the exhaust system getting a coat of Revell aluminium. The chrome tailpipe is in place, and this was a piece of chrome sprue taken from the Minicraft box. The interior seating tub is proving to be difficult and having cut the tub into two halves, front and rear seats, work continues to resolve the fit. Basically, the styrene Minicraft part does not fit the diecast Franklin Mint body shell. Also, I see the ' stance ' of a model car mentioned quite often on these forums and as you may have noticed, the stance of this Rolls-Royce is not yet correct. The car is too high at the front end, and too low at the rear end, so something needs to be done about this.

David

[ewetwo]

Learning quite a bit here. 

[Anglia105E]

Thanks David John..... and just as I am constantly learning as I go, it is nice to know that others like yourself can pick up small tips here and there. Only yesterday I suddenly realised why the interior seating tub does not fit...... the interior door panels are part of the sides of the styrene tub, and also the interior door panels are part of the diecast Franklin Mint doors. Stupidly, I am trying to make the interior door panels fit twice !!! Will try cutting away those sides of the interior tub and leave only the two seats.

David

[Anglia105E]

Work continues with the fitting of the seats and improving the fit of the chassis to the body. The exhaust system does look better now and the front bumper has been fitted. The engine is installed but needs further detailing.

David

[Anglia105E]

Having cut the interior seating tub in half, I am now cutting away the sides of each half tub, to leave only the actual seats themselves. From the photos that follow, you may be able to see the rear door hinge vertical parts that are getting in the way of the front seats. Still needs some clever tweaking to get the right fit.

The boot floor needs to be made from sheet polystyrene, with a carpet material added, then there is the roof aerial to make from fuse wire and solder, also the Spirit of Ecstasy bonnet ( hood ) mascot and both front and rear number plates ( license plates ) to do. Detailed painting of the hub caps on the wheels has to be done, and two front fog lamps have to be fitted from the Minicraft donor kit.

David