British Rolls Royce Armoured Car Pattern 1914/1920 1:35

The etched-brass spokes.

These are the components for the front wheel assembly. The etch-brass spokes are delicate and care must be taken in there construction. I found the best way to construct was to glue the brass spokes to the central hubs with plastic liquid cement. After 10 to 15mins drying time, the spokes can be very carefully bent inwards to each other. It doesn’t need to be perfect as the closure and entrapment between the wheel half’s will locate them correctly.

The fit of the poly caps in the front hubs was a little problematic in that the caps were a little too long and had to be cut to size. By the way folks, this is a posed photo; never use a scalpel/sharp knife in this way as it may lead to tears and blood loss. I’m constantly amazed at the amount of time I see my fellow modellers using knifes in this fashion!

Clamps are used to secure the wheel construction until the glue has cured.

I had a real problem with the construction of the rear double wheels in that they would not join together if following the instructions as printed. It became apparent that the problem was the reversed spoke construction of the inner-wheel. The two spokes have a slightly different diameter of 0.5mm. The simple reversal of the spokes sorted the problem!

The finished wheels ready for paint.

All the main component construction finished including running boards and front mud guards.

Meng suggest a colour from their own range in this case mc-239 Blue Grey. A quick test showed this to be far too blue and so I decided to add AK FS 16473 Adc Grey which I’d used on the radome of my Kinetic F104G build. After some experimentation I found that a roughly 50:50 mix to my eye, gave a good approximation of the colour required.

This was applied in light coats over the NATO black primer with emphasis on the centre of the panels

A touch of white is added and is applied to the same mixture and applied in a mottled fashion again mainly in the centre of the panels.

To unify the colours I’ve simply taken the Adc Grey and thinned it to about 90:10 mix of thinner to paint and misted over the entire vehicle at a low pressure setting.

Read on…