I bought it for many months now.

It's so beautiful... I just don't know where I've stocked it !

This is another James Bond Goldfinger Rolls Royce Phantom III by Universal Hobbies. I was tinkering with the idea to make it a closed limousine, but that did not work out.


But to make it all an black formal limousine instead worked out just fine.


So here it is:







Join the club:

I restored this Lone Star 1/50 scale Rolls Royce Silver Cloud III and finished it today.


I particularly like these L.S. Rolls Royce models, they are very neat. However it is not easy to find one in a mint and unspoiled condition on account of the very brittle plastic parts (bumpers/grille/headlights) which get damaged ever so easy, or have vanished completely. If in mint condition then prices are pretty hefty sometimes.


This one was a similar victim of broken parts, having lost the left and right sides of the front bumper. But a spare Dinky bumper (modified) did the trick in a proper way.








There is another interesting detail concerning these L.S. Silver Clouds; the shape of the rear quarter window. The standard clouds have a square-ish quarter light, but only the coach built James Young Clouds have the rounded version, just like this model. James Young being one of the highly respected Rolls Royce and Bentley coach builders of the era. My personal favorite anyway.





The standard model





The James Young coach built variant. (In a horrible color scheme)





The Lone Star model.


There is a Silver Cloud II model by L.S. with only 2 headlights instead of four. That will follow soonest.

Another Lone Star Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II resto, this time with a Seerol radiator + front/rear bumber and Dinky wheels.

I want to post this here as a before picture. It is the 43rd scale Franklinm Mint "AX 201" that I have spare. it will be worked on and have steerable front wheels, working suspension and a host of other fine details.







It is a delayed project from many Years ago, but as I am currently building the 12th scale 'AIRFIX' Bentley 'Blower' kit for my Father, I do have some tools handy, so have decided to pick up this again and see how I get on.


Gerrit, if you want me to create my own running thread for this then I will, that way it means I won't be hijacking this thread...





Rollerman.

Here is the same model stripped down to virtually a bare chassis...







...the hardest part was filing and cutting away the front and rear springs as these were cast as part of the chassis frame and designed not to be removed, plus I don't have a miniature grinder, just small hand tools like needle files etc, and no work bench or any means to keep the model secure, all done in-hand and on my Knees!!


The idea of the wooden tressles came from a picture I have of the real Silver Ghost supported on axle stands during one of Her restorations and always wanted to emulate that scene.


The tressles have been made from an old ice lolly stick and matches, superglued with a metal pin at each end of the wide side pieces, just to stop the legs splaying apart if the glue fails.


This chassis will now have new separately made leaf springs, steerable front wheels and a fully detailed engine. Other details will be added including I hope, proper door hinges, not the method devised by Franklin.


I certainly have my work cut-out on this one, but Years ago I promised myself that One Day I would have the ultimate 43rd scale model of "AX 201" and this will be the first attempt to getting that model!


Rollerman.

This looks good and I will be following this thread with interest. Always amazes me that people can do this fine work with small models. I restore but I do not rebuild or make changes such as this.

very nice!
Keep us updatd with photos please

Oh yes please. Your work looks terrific. And very instructive.

Thank's Guys, did not think this would be that interesting...OK, here are a few more pictures.







The chassis has been cleaned-up a bit more, especially the Six (Three each side of the chassis), running board struts, which were much too thick, so with a couple of needle files and One larger (1 inch) file, I took the profile of each strut down to a slimmer profile.


The engine has had some painting and removal of some components and its sitting out of the chassis because Franklin had it a little bit too high, so the water pipe was level instead of rising up to the radiator, a distinctive feature of "AX 201".








The back of the chassis was of some concern as while I working on it to remove the transverse leaf spring, an important part of the casting broke away, so had to work out how to replace it. In the picture above you can see how I have achieved this, I drilled a tiny hole in both sides of what was left of the spring support and shaped a paper clip to fit and what you can see pocking out from beneath the rear chassis section is the result and once its been fine tuned and dressed with thin plastic card, it will look fine.







Going back to the front, I had to remove a lot of metal immediately in front of the grille, extend the bottom of the grille (still White in the picture), make a new cross member for the number plate and headlamps, make new headlamp supports, drill tiny little holes in the lamp air-vent units, thin-down the glazing so they sat further back, paint the inside White and they are now designed to be taken of the model for adjustment or repairs which is why they are temporarily fitted in the picture above. You can also see I have added the starting handle tube right under the bottom of the grille and will make a new one which when fitted will be able to revolve.







I have also made a proper radiator cap out of Three separate parts, the tube section is just a small piece of solder with White plastic card for the base and top ring. Later I will make a new 'AA' badge out of thin wire and stick it on top. This picture also shows the headlamps detail better.


Thank you for showing interest in this project, it is a model I promised myself many Years ago when I was making superdetailed models during the 1980's, but fortunes changed and I did not do any until this one, so this is a welcome return and pleased I have not lost my ability to do this type of modelling after all those Years.


Rollerman.

very delicate parts! and your work on it is great!

Hi Rollerman, you may have seen this before, I have had this for a while and have thought it may be used on a model. It's a permanent match and the lady is removable as the match.


I have shown it with a Franklin Mint Ghost to show the size.

Dinkydi, I think yours is 1/24 scaled. Rollerman's one is 1/43.

Thank you Dinkydi, That is something I do not have in my collection of Rolls-Royce artifacts, but as a Non-Smoker, I can be excused for not having it...!


"Corky" is correct in saying the model next to the R-R Grille Match holder, is 1/24th scale.


Rollerman.

A very friendly forum member (thank you Jim), sent me an email article about a specific Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost.






Made by a Mr George King of Weston, Florida, in c1/8th scale.



Hear is my version in 1/43rd scale, using the Corgi Toys model as my base.















Steering, swinging starting handle and a 'Spirit of Ecstacy' mascot made from a single strand of wire, soldered to a flattened shirt pin, placed through the radiator cap and secured but allowing her to be turned away from the bonnet panel!


Lots of other fine details have been added to give this model more realism over what Corgi did to it.


Rollerman.