Rolls Royce Armoured Car

[Andy Moore]

Rolls Royce Armoured Car

1914/1920 Pattern

 

 

 

Meng's new RR armoured car, a kit that I've been looking forward to since it was first announced. I'm hoping to get the build underway later tonight but, in the meantime, I'll post some sprue shots so you can get an idea of what's in the (rather small) box. It's by no means a complex kit, with only four main sprues, two of which are duplicates, a small clear sprue for the light lenses and a couple of separate mouldings for the body and turret. You do get photo-etch but only for the wheel spokes on the 1914 pattern wheels. Everything looks clean and well detailed so I'm not foreseeing any major issues with the build.

 

Sprue A

Chassis parts, mudguards, exhaust etc. This is a non-interior kit, so no engine as such, but you get the bottom of the sump moulded onto the chassis along with a basic transmission.

 

 

Sprue B

Turret parts, including the armament. Also, the wooden tool boxes and decking for the back of the body, none of which feature any moulded grain texture, which is fine by me as I'd rather create my own if needed.

 

 

Sprue C (x2)

Wheels for the 1920 pattern and tyres for the 1914 pattern, along with various other bits and pieces.

 

 

For some reason, Meng have moulded some of the 1914 tyres as a single piece and some in two halves. I can't see any other difference between them. The single piece tyres go on the back while the two-part ones are for the front and the spares.

 

 

Sprue T

Clear sprue for the lights

 

 

Main body moulding

 

 

 

Turret part

 

 

1920 pattern tyres and poly-caps. No sidewall detail on the tyres, but the tread looks to be well done, and only a very slight seam line to clean up.

 

 

PE for the 1914 pattern spoked wheels. There's no plastic option for these, and they'll need to be dished slightly but you don't get any kind of jig for that.

 

 

The decals are okay, but not spectacular. The edges of the roundels are a little ragged, but they'd probably look better sprayed anyway, so not a huge problem. The remaining codes and other lettering look fine.

 

 

Which leads us on to the marking options. You get two schemes for each version which offer a nice range of finishes. The Admiralty Grey option for the 1914 pattern would make a good companion to the CSM Lanchester, but I think I'll be going with the Caunter on the 1920 pattern.

 

 

 

So that's what's in the box. The build should get underway very soon.

 

Andy

 

[Stary]

Soooooo looking forward to watching you work your magic on this handsome AC..

[Bullbasket]

I have to say Andy, that that kit looks very interesting, especially when compared to the Roden version. Even though I've already built the 1914 version from Roden, having seen what's in Meng's box, I could be tempted to build another one (or two). Good luck with this build, and I'll be following along.

 

John.

[malpaso]

Looks a nice kit.  One little bit of trivia, by the time of the desert tyres and Caunter scheme many (most? All?) had been rechassised  with Fordson lorry chassis and engine.  So there wasn’t much RR left as RR only built the chassis and running gear in those days.  Still, who would boast of driving round in a Fordson armoured car!

Cheers

Will

[beefy66]

Now this will be interesting to see

 

Hope you don't mind Andy but we saw this at last years classic car show at the NEC

it might help with some extra details that I, am sure will find their way into this build  

 

 

 

 

 

beefy

[colin]

Looking forward to this, are these available in th UK yet

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Dang ... Late to the party again. Im a huge fan of these and think i will take a seat in the back row. 

[Plasto]

Good choice of subject Andy... how do you think you’ll paint The Caunter scheme running boards on or off?? Also who’s colours do you think you’ll use??

[vaoinas]

This is definitely an interesting subject. 

Which pattern will you go with this one?

[Andy Moore]

Thanks guys,

 

19 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Even though I've already built the 1914 version from Roden, having seen what's in Meng's box, I could be tempted to build another one (or two)

I doubt this will be the last one I do either. I'd like to do a 1914 at some point. I suspect we'll see some conversion sets for the kit too, most likely for the open turret.

 

16 hours ago, beefy66 said:

Hope you don't mind Andy but we saw this at last years classic car show at the NEC

it might help with some extra details that I, am sure will find their way into this build  

The more ref the better Beefy. Thanks for the photos. They'll definitely be useful.

 

16 hours ago, colin said:

Looking forward to this, are these available in th UK yet

Not sure if they're out here yet. I got this one direct from China at a very reasonable price with no hit from HMRC either. Turned up within a week too which was a surprise.

 

6 hours ago, Plasto said:

how do you think you’ll paint The Caunter scheme running boards on or off?? Also who’s colours do you think you’ll use??

I've been mulling over how I'll approach the painting. I think I'll get it part assembled and see how accessible everything is, then leave off anything that looks like it will hamper the masking. As for paint, I'll probably try the AK Real Color Caunter shades. Not sure how accurate they are, but I like working with that paint range and I can make adjustments to the colours if required.

 

So, work got underway last night. The chassis is the first step, which is made up from two side rails and a centre frame with the fuel tank slotting between the rails at the back...

 

 

...all of which looks like this when stuck together. The ejector pin marks on the insides of the rails won't be seen at the end, so no real need to deal with them. There were mould separation lines running all around the side rails, including the leaf springs and the thin tubular frames on the bottom, which all needed to be cleaned up. A bit of a tedious job, but it didn't take too long.

 

 

 

The next thing to add is the exhaust pipe. This comes as a single piece, apart from the mufflers, which need separate half-sections added to complete them.

 

 

The only problem with the pipe is the flattened, flared tip which has no opening. Mine also ended up a little lopsided due to some overzealous sanding to remove the seam lines that run along the top and bottom of the pipe.

 

 

I felt that that was worth remedying, so I cut a scoop out from the end of the pipe, leaving the two corners in place. I cut a couple of plasicard plates which would form a new top and bottom for the end of the pipe.

 

 

The plates were glued in place and a little dissolved styrene run around the edges to help blend them in. When all this is dry, they'll be sanded until the edges of the plasticard are seamless with the rest of the pipe, which will probably involve several rounds of sanding, filling and blending. Hopefully, it should look okay in the end.

 

 

I've also been looking at the front axle, which will require some work as I want to have the wheels offset. The part comes with the wheel mounts fixed in place, but it shouldn't be too hard to remove them and re-attach with some turn. That will also mean some modification to the tie rod and steering linkage but again, nothing too difficult.

 

 

 

 

 

While we're on the subject of chassis, does anyone know what's parked behind the RR in the photo below?

 

 

Andy

[Bullbasket]

5 minutes ago, AndyRM101 said:

I felt that that was worth remedying, so I cut a scoop out from the end of the pipe, leaving the two corners in place. I cut a couple of plasicard plates which would form a new top and bottom for the end of the pipe.

I expect that it's too late now, but an easier and possibly more realistic looking method would have been to use pewter foil. You can get nice thin edges on the outlet.

 

John.

[Heather Kay]

20 minutes ago, AndyRM101 said:

does anyone know what's parked behind the RR in the photo below?

There were tenders based on the same R-R chassis as the armoured car. Based on the front mudguard pattern, I’d hazard a guess as one of those with an updated cab and roof. Behind that might well be a Morris Commercial.

[Andy Moore]

23 minutes ago, Bullbasket said:

I expect that it's too late now, but an easier and possibly more realistic looking method would have been to use pewter foil. You can get nice thin edges on the outlet.

Thanks John. Yes, that would have been a better option, especially as I could have wrapped the foil around the whole exhaust tip to get one continuous edge. I haven't got any to hand at the moment though, although I do need to order some. The plasticard I used is .25mm, so pretty thin. Hopefully, it should look okay when it's blended in.

 

14 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

There were tenders based on the same R-R chassis as the armoured car. Based on the front mudguard pattern, I’d hazard a guess as one of those with an updated cab and roof. Behind that might well be a Morris Commercial.

 

Thanks for that Heather. It was the fact that it appeared to be on the same chassis that intrigued me.

 

Andy

[Andy Moore]

Just done a quick search (now I know what I'm looking for, thanks to @Heather Kay), and found another picture of the RR tender and AC's, presumably taken at around the same time, since the bloke leaning against the tender is the same one in the previous photo. Listed as Palestine circa '38. Wonder if Meng will give us one of these now that they've got the chassis?

 

 

Andy

[Bullbasket]

Seeing as the chassis is the same, if I could lay my hands on some decent 1/35th scale plans, I'd have a go a scratch building one.

 

John.

[Brett Barrow]

Nice!  I started in on mine a couple days ago, will be following with much interest!  Might have to steal that exhaust trick! 

On 3/6/2019 at 1:03 PM, malpaso said:

Looks a nice kit.  One little bit of trivia, by the time of the desert tyres and Caunter scheme many (most? All?) had been rechassised  with Fordson lorry chassis and engine.  So there wasn’t much RR left as RR only built the chassis and running gear in those days.  Still, who would boast of driving round in a Fordson armoured car!

Cheers

Will

There were at least two left on Rolls chassis, the box art subject with the ring-mount Lewis and extra Boys anti-tank rifle (seen here with Rommel near Tobruk)

 

and this one, HMAC Tigris.  No sure exactly where or when this one was taken. 

 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by Brett Barrow
pic links

[colin]

Definitely got to get one now to go with the IBG Scammel tank transporter I have.

Just wonder in the photo what Rommel was gesturing and saying about looking at the RR

[malpaso]

“I really wanted one of these when I was a kid!”

[viper-30]

Following this mine was delivered a few weeks ago ..got the Roden ones too

[ejboyd5]

In a more modern style:

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1987-rolls-royce-silver-spur-2/

[Plasto]

7 hours ago, colin said:

 

Just wonder in the photo what Rommel was gesturing and saying about looking at the RR

‘Those AK real colours I have look nothing like the real thing’

[BKirwan]

Andy,

Interesting project and the kit looks nice. I do wonder though why Meng are advertising this as a 1920 pattern, the second option in the kit is not 1920. The wheels are all wrong and the changes to the turret are all from a later period. As a cursory glance at the picture of the Tom Keogh what a 1920 should look like though if memory serves me right the TK is a reproduction. 

Looking forward to seeing how this builds up. It's Meng so it will be good. 

Regards 

Brian 

[Andy Moore]

The modification to the front axle has been done, which was simply a case of chopping off the wheel mounts and re-attaching them at an angle. Despite being a simple job, I think I've managed to get the angle of the mounts slightly out with each other, but probably not enough to be noticeable on the finished build.

 

 

 

The exhaust has also been finished off which, in the end, didn't require as much filling and sanding as I'd expected. I don't think it's going to be all that noticeable on the finished thing, but I think it was worthwhile doing all the same.

 

 

 

After that, the rest of the chassis could be finished, which was mainly a case of adding the rear axle and drivetrain.

 

 

 

The final bits to add were the steering linkage and tie rod, both of which also needed to be cut and repositioned to line up with the modified front axle.

 

 

 

After which the rear deck and base for the main body were attached to the top of the chassis.

 

 

The grooves between the planks on the rear deck were deepened with a razor saw and some grain texture added with a coarse sanding stick.

 

 

More later

 

Andy

 

 

[colin]

2 hours ago, AndyRM101 said:

The modification to the front axle has been done, which was simply a case of chopping off the wheel mounts and re-attaching them at an angle. Despite being a simple job, I think I've managed to get the angle of the mounts slightly out with each other, but probably not enough to be noticeable on the finished build.

 

Andy

 

 

I wouldn't worry too much about that Andy, if you look at pictures of old vehicles with the wheels turned they seldom look to be at the same exact angle to each other

[Andy Moore]

2 hours ago, colin said:

I wouldn't worry too much about that Andy, if you look at pictures of old vehicles with the wheels turned they seldom look to be at the same exact angle to each other

Thanks Colin,

Yes, it shouldn't be a problem. It looks more exaggerated in the photo than it is, due to the perspective from the wide angle lens.

 

I've been working on the body a little. There's not much to do in truth, as it's essentially a single piece moulding, but the rear doors, radiator and driver's armoured screen have been added.

 

 

The radiator is quite nicely done and it should show up well with the armoured doors in the open position.

 

 

The driver's screen was thinned down a little on the edges as it would look quite thick otherwise.

 

 

The rear doors are only designed to be in the closed position, as there's no interior with the kit. It wouldn't be too much work to modify them to be open though, if you wanted to scratch build an interior.

 

 

I've also put the wheels together, mainly to check that it would sit straight after the front axle surgery, but also so I could have a sneak peek of how it would look at the end.

 

 

 

I like the hotrod look without the fenders and turret. Almost makes me want to do steampunk conversion. In fact, I think that may have to happen in the future

 

 

And, finally, one sitting next to the Lanchester

 

 

Andy