1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II, Sedanca Coupe ++ Finished ++

[CliffB]

Hi all,

When it comes to British cars, they don't come much bigger than a Roller - so that's exactly what I'm going to build .

 

More particularly, I'll be building a 1934 Rolls Royce Phantom II Sedanca Coupe, using a 1/32 scale Pyro kit from 1967. 

Unfortunately, my second-hand example came without a box, but here's what it would have looked like (thanks to Scalemates).

 

Pretty much all of the parts have been removed from their sprues by a previous owner, but thankfully they're all present and undamaged.  They include some plated parts and rubber tyres.

 

 

 

Just to reinforce this 7.7 litre beast's claim to 'bigness', here's a picture of its major parts arranged alongside my last car build (a Matchbox MG TC).  If you compare the seats, you'll see that both cars are to the same scale .

 

 

I'm looking forward to making a prompt start on the 5th!

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

[Adam Poultney]

3 minutes ago, CliffB said:

Just to reinforce this 7.7 litre beast's claim to 'bigness', here's a picture of its major parts arranged alongside my last car build (a Matchbox MG TD).  If you compare the seats, you'll see that both cars are to the same scale .

 

Yeah I think that might just about qualify, that's enormous!

[johnlambert]

I nearly bought one of these off the back of the Matchbox group build, so I'm looking forward to seeing this built.

[CliffB]

Thanks @Adam Poultney and @johnlambert

I've had some experience of these Pyro kits.  They're generally nicely moulded and fit together well, but can have a few shape issues.  I've already identified one area that I'd like to improve (to be explained shortly)!

 

Cheers

 

[Mike N]

This will be a classy addition to the GB  

 

Mike 

[CliffB]

On 2/28/2022 at 7:38 PM, Mike N said:

This will be a classy addition to the GB  

 

 

I do hope so Mike!

 

I've been doing a bit background reading on the subject and now know what 'Sedanca' means.  Apparently, the name was first coined by a Spanish Rolls Royce dealer and was used to describe the style of bodywork whereby the passengers sit in a separate compartment to the driver/chauffeur.  In the States, this style of bodywork is also called a Towne Car, as illustrated by another of Pyro's kits.

 

 

The 'Sedanca Coupe' is a derivative of the standard Sedanca, having only two doors and a soft top.

 

Back in the early '30s, Rolls Royce only produced the chassis, engine and running gear (the 'Phantom II' bit).  It was left to the customer to get their own bodywork fitted, using a coach builder and style of their choice.  Having looked at many photos on the web, I've concluded that my Pyro kit is supposed to represent the 1933/34 Sedanca Coupe produced by the British coach builder, Gurney Nutting.  The distinctive 'cool box' shaped luggage compartment is the giveaway.

 

 

I've decided to base my model on this preserved example.  The photo comes from this auction house's website.

 

 

This example is typical of the Gurney Nutting Sedanca Coupe, and is almost identical to the Pyro kit.  There are two discrepancies however.

• the real car has just one spare wheel, carried at the rear, whereas the kit has two carried on the front wings.
• the real car has wheel covers, whereas the kit has exposed wire wheels.

I shall try to address both of these issues in my build.

 

Interestingly, the kit is correct for a Towne Car (which really does have two spares and exposed wire wheels).  Pyro use identical parts for both their RR Towne Car and RR Sedanca Coupe kits (apart from the bodywork of course), so I'm guessing that's how the discrepancy has arisen.  Shared components were a feature of other Pyro car kits too, which were often produced in similar pairs.  This is not the first time that I've seen the accuracy of one of the pair being compromised by this approach .

 

Cheers

 

 

 

 

[johnlambert]

Hi Cliff,

 

I suspect you are correct and it was production expediency that led to the Sedanca coupe having wing-mounted spare wheels and wheel disks.  However, given the bespoke nature of these cars, it could be that a customer asked for a Sedanca with wing-mounted spare wheels.  As for the wheels themselves, I believe the fashion when the cars were new was for covers to hide the wire wheels, but it is possible that these could later have been removed by an owner who preferred the appearance of the bare wire wheels.

 

Anyway, just conjecture on my part.  It's always nice to see model builds that are based on observations of an actual prototype.  That Gurney Nutting Sedanca is an absolute beauty.

[CliffB]

Thanks @johnlambert .   I've got Pyro's two Bentley kits and the Le Mans version incorrectly has the same body as the Speed Six, so definitely a case of cost saving in that case!

 

Meantime, I've had a go at removing the wheel wells from the front wings.

Here's the original on the left, along with one that's been attacked by a Dremel saw blade.

 

 

Next, the holes were tidied up using a router and sanding sticks, and then backed using a piece of 10 thou.  The card will stay in place, as it won't be visible - unless you look really hard .

 

 

Finally, the holes were filled using a two-part epoxy putty, which was then sanded back when cured.

 

 

Overall, the mod was surprisingly simple and will hopefully be invisible under a couple of coats of primer.

 

Cheers 

[Mike N]

Nice work, Cliff. That looks a really good solution, I must try it myself!

 

Mike 

[CliffB]

Another problem with Pyro's Sedanca Coupe kit is that it lacks any interior detail aft of the front seats.  There's no floor, there's no rear seat, there's nothing .

 

 

To be fair, this void will be largely concealed if you build with the roof up, but it's still not good.  It's also not a problem that afflicts Pyro's similar Towne Car kit.

Luckily, I've got a few car parts in my spares box including a back seat from an Airfix Lotus Cortina (the white thing in the photo above).  It's obviously not a perfect match with the Roller's fronts seat, but hopefully will look OK when painted up and hidden under the roof.  It's certainly better than nothing 

 

Here it is trimmed to fit and standing on a new plasticard floor.

 

 

Cheers

[johnlambert]

Great work Cliff.  If anything I think the rear seat looks better than the front one.  It looks like you've done a good job on the front wings too.

[CliffB]

19 hours ago, johnlambert said:

Great work Cliff.  If anything I think the rear seat looks better than the front one.  It looks like you've done a good job on the front wings too.

 

Thanks John.  It's surprising that nothing's provided in the kit, especially as they've done quite a nice job on the door cards (which I know you'll appreciate )  

 

Cheers

[CliffB]

Morning all, it's time for another update.  There's not much to report, mainly because I've been away.  I have however managed to get the underpinnings put together.

 

 

You'll notice that there are three support brackets moulded underneath each running board.  Unfortunately, these create sink marks on the tops of the boards.

 

 

I'm currently struggling to see how to repair these - particularly as they should be painted gloss with chromed strakes.  I may need to fudge things and paint everything matt 'rubber black' as a disguise .

 

Cheers

 

 

[JeroenS]

12 hours ago, CliffB said:

I may need to fudge things and paint everything matt 'rubber black' as a disguise .

Ouch. You could cut off the strips, fill the sink marks and glue on some new strips. I think it would be worth the work. 

[Thom216]

Sanding it flat and replacing with strip sounds like the better option.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Thom216

[CliffB]

10 hours ago, JeroenS said:

Ouch. You could cut off the strips, fill the sink marks and glue on some new strips. I think it would be worth the work. 

 

5 hours ago, Thom216 said:

Sanding it flat and replacing with strip sounds like the better option.

 

Thanks very much for the suggestion guys.  I'll have a go a laying down some strips on a piece of card first, to see how I get on.

I've also recently ordered some Warbird Decals 'Chrome Strip' decals (as recommended by @rs2man in his Matchbox Healey build), which could be another solution.  Less 3D, but possibly neater.  I'll see how I get on with the strip.

 

Cheers

[Thom216]

On 3/21/2022 at 3:00 AM, CliffB said:

 

 

Thanks very much for the suggestion guys.  I'll have a go a laying down some strips on a piece of card first, to see how I get on.

I've also recently ordered some Warbird Decals 'Chrome Strip' decals (as recommended by @rs2man in his Matchbox Healey build), which could be another solution.  Less 3D, but possibly neater.  I'll see how I get on with the strip.

 

Cheers

But possibly more in scale too.

[CliffB]

On 3/23/2022 at 2:11 AM, Thom216 said:

But possibly more in scale too.

 

The shallowest plastic strip I've got is 10 thou, which equates to 8mm in 1/32.  So maybe not too far off for strakes that were designed to be trodden on by big boots!

Regardless though, I have decided to go with the chrome decal strip (which has now arrived).  Thankfully, the spacing between the decal strips will allow me to apply a group of four strips as a single piece, thereby giving me perfect spacing and alignment 

 

Here's the decal sheet alongside the running boards (which have now been sanded smooth).

 

 

I've also been experimenting with making conical wheel covers using paper and a compass cutter.  They came out better than I had feared, but not really as good as I would like.  I've seen one of these kits made up with wheels taken from a Duesenberg kit (which has suitably covered wheels), so I'll keep a look out for one of these as a cheap 'spares or repair'.  In the meantime, I'll go with my kit's spoked wheels (but just tacked on using PVA).

 

Cheers

[JeroenS]

So, Cliff, how's this one coming along? Any progress to report?

[CliffB]

10 hours ago, JeroenS said:

So, Cliff, how's this one coming along? Any progress to report?

 

Hi Jeroen.  Unfortunately there's been no progress since last time, as I've managed to get distracted by a couple of other builds.  

I've just got a Matchbox warship left to finish now and then I'll be back onto this Roller 

 

Cheers

[CliffB]

Hi all

I'm moving forward again now with the big Roller, with all prep work finished and painting under way 

 

 

Cheers

 

 

[CliffB]

Hi all, 

Here's the latest progress.  As usual, everything's still sitting loose at the moment.

 

 

To be honest, I've chosen a rather dreary scheme.  I'm hoping that a bit of chrome will pep it up!

 

Cheers

 

Cheers

[Colin W]

For an era when you could' have any colour as long as it's black ', this scheme is quite racy. I saw something very similar at the weekend which was black but the chrome, red seating and leather bonnet straps gave it a splash of colour 

[CliffB]

9 hours ago, Colin W said:

For an era when you could' have any colour as long as it's black ', this scheme is quite racy. I saw something very similar at the weekend which was black but the chrome, red seating and leather bonnet straps gave it a splash of colour 

 

Thanks Colin.  There are some very exotic schemes currently driving around in the States (based on online photos), but I'm not sure if these are genuine '30s.  They could be (Hollywood and all that ).

 

Mine's looking a bit brighter, now there's some chrome appearing.  The chassis is pretty much finished.

The chrome strakes on the running boards are decals (which I mentioned earlier in this thread).  It's the first time that I've used them and I'm impressed!

 

 

Just the bodywork to complete now.  I should be finished by the weekend .

 

[CliffB]

Here we are, finished at last 

 

 

This Pyro kit has a few shape issues and the wheels are poor, but it still looks like a big Roller when built 🇬🇧.

 

Thanks to Adam for running this GB and to all of you who supported this thread