Revell 1/16th Scale Rolls Royce Phantom II Discussion

[Junkman]

This thread is to continue the discussion re. subject kit to no longer hijack Doug's post about his Jaguar SS100 in 'Under Glass' here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=33567&st=40

The idea is to collect the knowledge and experience various modellers have with this kit, so it can be used as reference for future builds.

It is this kit we are talking about:

The real car still exists, too:

Edited July 27, 2010 by Junkman

[vaughn]

I assume you found your kit some where !?!?! Cool pics. I have always seen this same type color. Ever seen another color ? Or have they always been pretty much..should I say....stately and boring ? Which is not to say, they dont look good. Just blandish....but stately. Heck....you are from England...you ought to know that !!!! Blue...Gold....Silver.. Metalic Marron...Pearl Sunset Orange...or maybe just flat black with white trim. Alrighty then....I am still waiting. Got beat out on a Vintage 1950 Revell Henry J Ford. Cool vehicle Got a feeling you will see it on the Forum...soon. Had to work late and my maximum bid of 20$ ran dry. Went for 35$ plus shipping. Opened box. Anyway....Great pics. thanks for sharing. soon

[Junkman]

This colour combo is waaaay too bland for my taste and I will certainly not use it on my model.

Gurney Nutting did quite a few very similar DHCs on the Phantom II Continental chassis, some of them in quite striking colour combinations. However, your observation is correct. 1930s England was anything but a classless society and colours needed to be 'appropriate' to underline one's social status. Too outrageous schemes would have been considered ostentatious or downright vulgar by many upper class people, hence the majority opted for subdued hues.

Still, these cars have been painted anything from mild:

to wild:

Edited July 28, 2010 by Junkman

[ZIL 111V]

Nice kit of a beautiful 30'S RR (J.Gurney Nutting coachwork was the best on 30's RR's) , first edition presented back in 1978, based on a real one (box top pic) owned by US Collector....as your 2nd pic shows the car is still in excellent condition today (Pebble Beach?)

Revell people back then were mostly in 1/16 Dragsters, Funnies, Chevy Vans/PU, & JEEP kits more appealing to kids in the

70's...so this "classic" beauty was quite a surprise in the Revell line.

As you will see the kit is pretty simple not a lot of parts (170 approx), basic one piece ladder type frame, front steerable axle & rear differential are OK...brake drums a bit "thin"...no Gas tank??? engine is simple but convincing when "wired" with vinyl tubing provided. Interior is pretty simple with mildly textured seat/door panels/top/floor. NO hinges for doors, hood panels, rear trunk...(a la Gakken!!!) really nice real rubber DUNLOP tires with those great looking "disc" wheels + wire/tubing for engine SP wires.

Assemblies of engine, frame, interior goes pretty well since not a complex kit, but the kit IMO)"rides" a bit to high: the 4 suspension leafs: front/rear must be "slightly bended in" to "lower" the height of this beauty... looks much better with a slightly lower look. The main body is a four pieces affair: front cowl, 2 door panels, rear panel: you may get a few misaligment problems (or warped parts!) when trying to assemble, you must decide if you want to glue in one piece body, or glue open, doors or hood panels...or if you dare get working "hinges" (always strange to see large scale kits with seperate panels & no hinges!!! ) proportions & design of the whole body is pretty good & accurate.

The first edition was surely the best, (these RR's look great with disc wheels) but Tan color not very appealing, the kit was not a best seller... so an "improved"???? version was presented....

A secound edition was made in 1979 molded in Brown! with really bad wire wheels ,sticky tissu, for top! fake sticky wood panels!!!... really corny gold plated parts & to top it a presenting "plaque" with

museum type fencing...the kit was no big hit....vanished in early 80's to never come back...Revell AG was supposed to reissue it a few years back, never seen it.

A very nice yet simple kit of a beautiful car when completed.

Nice kit

[Junkman]

Revell AG was supposed to reissue it a few years back, never seen it.

Considering how may are listed on the European Ebay sites, I have the impression that there must have been a re-run lately. Revell AG developed this weird habit of doing spot productions of selected kits, then sell them via department stores and supermarkets, not the toy and hobby trade. These never show up in their catalog either.

[Modelmartin]

The Black car looks to have upside down landau bars!! Ooops!

[sjordan2]

The cream-colored car shown above, on which the kit was based (now in the San Diego Collection) was previously owned by Raymond Gentile, who wrote the authoritative book on the Phantom II Continental. While he owned it, it seemed to have more contrast between the darker beige color on the hood and fenders vs. the rest of the coachwork. This appears to be the version that was originally kitted and shown on the box cover, since it has dual fog lights not currently on the car.

Personally, I like the all-black approach such as that shown above:

If you like it glitzier (and more American):

Most of these Continentals were based on an original design by H. R. Owen, followed by different coachbuilders to different degrees of similarity. I like this burgundy on Ranalah coachwork:

And, of course, there's always green, such as this one in green and black, which was the reference for Martin Swire's 1/16 build:

You can find other color ideas in the Pocher Sedanca gallery at:

http://modelmotorcars.com/museum/galleries/rollsroyce/finished/royce_finished_gallery.htm

Edited July 28, 2010 by sjordan2

[1955chevy]

Junkman,

I have one of those kits also.

When are you building your kit?

Will you post pics "In Progress"

Where would we get wire wheels?

[sjordan2]

Junkman,

I have one of those kits also.

When are you building your kit?

Will you post pics "In Progress"

Where would we get wire wheels?

Here's an older progress thread from the late Martin Swire, who did a superb job on this kit:

http://cs.scaleautomag.com/scacs/forums/t/45399.aspx?PageIndex=1

Finished model with comments:

http://cs.scaleautomag.com/scacs/forums/p/56621/614505.aspx#614505

Martin's web gallery on the finished model(and many other 1/16 stunners):

http://www.freewebs.com/martsmodels/1934rollsroycepii.htm

As for wire wheels, you'd have to bash them from other kits, depending on the type you want –

1/16 Mercedes 540K has good but somewhat thick wires, and the 1/16 Mercedes SS Sonder Kabriolet comes with wire wheels that you have to lace yourself and look amazing (see Martin Swire's gallery on this kit). Otherwise, you can create your own wire wheels. Here's Martin's tutorial:

http://www.freewebs.com/martsmodels/jagss100wheelconversion.htm

[Junkman]

I would actually start mine, if I could decide on a paint scheme. I think yellow/black, but it's soooo riff raff.

I will only lace the spare wheel, like Martin Swire did on his. For the road wheels, I'll use the disc wheels provided with the kit.

Once I get going, WIP pics will be posted.

One of the challenges I set myself is to coach paint it like it was done way back when.

[sjordan2]

I would actually start mine, if I could decide on a paint scheme. I think yellow/black, but it's soooo riff raff.

I will only lace the spare wheel, like Martin Swire did on his. For the road wheels, I'll use the disc wheels provided with the kit.

Once I get going, WIP pics will be posted.

One of the challenges I set myself is to coach paint it like it was done way back when.

Nothing wrong with black and yellow, and this doesn't look like riff-raff to me (it was the star of the movie, "The Yellow Rolls-Royce")

What would your coach paint technique be?

PS: I just found a very interesting article at the RREC site on historic color schemes, materials and finishes. Very fascinating.

http://www.rrec.org.uk/Cars/Coachwork/Colour_Schemes.php

Edited August 5, 2010 by sjordan2

[Junkman]

The article is very informative indeed. The first thing I learned is that coachpainting was obsolete in 1934 hence wrong for this project. My technique is applying enamel with a paintbrush, then sanding and polishing it. I can show you soon an example on a 1910 Model T I'm doing this way.

For the yellow, I would have rather chosen a primrose shade like on the Goldfinger Rolls-Royce, but after surfing the web and seeing a lot of Rollses in this combo I decided that I find it too tacky after all.

[Junkman]

Did I just say 'tacky'? Try this for size:

Gosh, one sure can't buy taste.

Edited August 5, 2010 by Junkman

[1955chevy]

Thanks Guys, for the imput.

I was thinking of Autumn Gold/Black a 1963 Chev color

Gold is luxury color

What do you think?

[sjordan2]

Thanks Guys, for the imput.

I was thinking of Autumn Gold/Black a 1963 Chev color

Gold is luxury color

What do you think?

This is the original car that was the basis for the 1/16 Gunze Sangyo/Revell/Anmark/Academy Phantom III. Personally, I don't think gold is very successful.

[The Creative Explorer]

I do like to paint mine something like this:

Edited August 6, 2010 by Erik Olijnsma

[sjordan2]

I do like to paint mine something like this:

That's the Rajkot "Star of India"; There are a couple of good kits out there (Italeri 1/24 and Pocher 1/8), but of all the builds of this car, I've only seen one that managed to pull off the reflective polished metal look. It's pretty impressive when done right, though I've never liked the pumpkin/saffron color.

[The Creative Explorer]

I've got the Testor's/Italeri layin around, I am trying to use AlcladII on the metalparts and hope to achieve the right finish.

For my 1/16 I want to use a similar color-scheme, but I want the orange a bit more deeper.

[sjordan2]

Here's the 1/8 Pocher Star of India by a modeler named Laurent Guy, as found in the Rolls gallery at modelmotorcars.com. Can't find any information on how he achieved this finish.

As for the gold/black combination, this '35 Saloon doesn't look too bad as long as it's a light gold. Bear in mind that the wheels/discs should be black, not the side panel color, to be authentic.

On another note for anyone who's interested, a Gunze Sangyo 1/16 Phantom III has just been listed on eBay:

http://bit.ly/bsRM3m

There are others available there, too.

Edited August 6, 2010 by sjordan2

[1955chevy]

Hey guys

I was surfin' and found a 1931 Ford color - Cigarette Cream with orange trim and a saddle interior

What do you think?

[sjordan2]

Hey guys

I was surfin' and found a 1931 Ford color - Cigarette Cream with orange trim and a saddle interior

What do you think?

This isn't exactly cigarette cream, but I think the combination sounds like it would work.

[Jim Gibbons]

Even though the year and model RR are different, here's an interesting (albeit flashy) color combination.

The Great Gatsby movie Rolls Royce

[sjordan2]

Even though the year and model RR are different, here's an interesting (albeit flashy) color combination.

The Great Gatsby movie Rolls Royce

That is ultra-cool and the muted orange trim seems to work much better than my example. And, from what I can see, the top of the bonnet is polished metal. That would look great, except for the green interior. (On the other hand, the Gatsby car is an older Phantom I, and I haven't seen polished metal bonnets on the later Phantom IIs.)

Edited August 13, 2010 by sjordan2

[Jim Gibbons]

Actually, I happen to like a muted yellow with green interior. I guess part of it was that I was smitten by a girl in high school who was a year ahead of me. She was a tall, beautiful, willowy blond, and had the coolest car of anyone; an MGTF in pale yellow with green leather. Sigh. I'm working on a '58 Edsel that will be Jonquil yellow/ black two tone with a green interior. Here's a pic of that very MGTF (unfortunately lacking a picture of Suzanne with it) that would flip my heart every time I saw her drive it. (Also notice it's RHD...made it even cooler!)

Edited August 13, 2010 by Jim Gibbons

[sjordan2]

Actually, I happen to like a muted yellow with green interior. I guess part of it was that I was smitten by a girl in high school who was a year ahead of me. She was a tall, beautiful, willowy blond, and had the coolest car of anyone; an MGTF in pale yellow with green leather. Sigh. I'm working on a '58 Edsel that will be Jonquil yellow/ black two tone with a green interior. Here's a pic of that very MGTF (unfortunately lacking a picture of Suzanne with it) that would flip my heart every time I saw her drive it. (Also notice it's RHD...made it even cooler!)

And her name was...Daisy?