Landships II

Howdy Tim,

Many, many thx for your reply pard'.....27 'views' and only 1 response...., I guess I worded my Topic title wrong.....but mighty glad to have had your response...as usual they are both helpful and informative

I think I've got the wheels figured out, but I would like to know where you found your set of "plastic ones".....

Now as far as posting pics of your build......PLEASE DO!!

Tread.

Phil R wrote:

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i found plenty of pictures of ancient Rolls Royces from the period 1910 to, say, 1925, and they don't seem to change very much. there were probably many improvements under the bonnet, and perhaps the wheelbase changed a little, but really, not so much that one would notice. so i don't think there would be any appreciable difference between a 1911 Roller and a 1916 Roller. incidentally there are plenty of pictures of Rolls Royce armoured cars in use in palestine etc posted on the Australian War Memorial site. Personally, i have always fancied recreating the RNAS pilots/fly boys/daredevils very early 'home made' cars that they used to chase the enemy when they were bored. Scalelink make quite a selection of cars from that period; a sports car among them

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I'm not a Rolls Royce car expert but when I finally realised I'd have to leave university and actually earn my keep I joined the firm. At this stage the Car and Aerospace divisions both belonged to the same company and I used to sink the odd pint with a guy from the historical section who used to track down old (and often unusual) models. I did learn that the original Silver Ghost chassis was in use until well after WW1 with many variations on the body work and yes the engine was improved (insofar as it was possible to improve on perfection)). However the company did do 'specials' for customers with enough brass so for example I believe at least one Indian potentate had lengthed wheel base models and one or more variants on the 'Doctor's special' had shortended ones (so they cornered better). In general you should be ok if you're modelling a standard RR armoured car but be careful if its an improvised one - worth some research to find what its improvised on. BTW I have seen a photo of the 1911 Laundau model (as per the Airfix kit) bearing a couple of corpulent generals, French I think but I guess any allied general would be possible (its definitely the sort of car General Mellchit of Black Adder fame would use)

Treadhead wrote:

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]to Centurion: So.....are you telling me you actually work for Rolls Royce??....? Your included information was very helpful, and like the Red Bull commercial, gave my idea "wings"... Also, about your mention of " Black Adder".....you are indeed a man of taste Centurion Tread.

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No I used to work for Rolls Royce long ago - they were my first employer and trained me in IT as related to engineering

Phil R wrote:

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 As they were pilots and playboys I would have thought their cars would have been sports cars etc

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Most (if not all) of them were fairly serious career officers who had learnt to fly some time after joining the Navy. Some had private income and hence their own cars in a time when you had to be well off to own any kind of car. The cars that were converted were what was known at the time as tourers. Fairly substantial but usually open 4/6 seaters. A lot of well to do officers of all services favoured these to take on campaign. They were usually relable and fairly rugged with big engines and could carry all those luggage items that on (what was expected to be) a mobile campaign that would make life more comfortable and were thus able to cope with the extra weight of armour, machine gun(s) ammo, crew etc. The first Belgian armoured cars were also converted oficers tourers for much the same reason. Such cars (like the Vauxhall prince Henry could have engines over 7 litres. The 'Flashart' types with small fast two seaters came later, mainly when airbases were fairly static and they wanted something fast to go into town with and impress les madamoselles Something like the Hispano Siza 3.5 litre two seater if one was rich or a Model T souped up by ones air mechanics if one wasn't

I thought I'd weigh in on the conversation ...

I'd suggest finding the 1/32 Pyro or Lifelike Rolls Silver Ghost kit.  The chassis is much better, there is an engine and it's just a much better kit overall.

Even so, you'll still have to make up a front and rear set of springs, but that's the least of the work.

Spoke wheels are another story, and I haven't found what I think represent a cost-effective solution there either.

A LONG time ago, Glencoe Models was considering bringing out a Rolls Armoured Car, but due to finances was never able to get the molds cut (I made the masters for it).  I'd love to see someone bring one out .. it represents perhaps the "classiest" war machine ever made ..

 

 

 

Military Modelling Vol.34, No.13 (Nov. 2004), has an article about building the 1:35 resin kit of the Rolls-Royce 1914 Pattern by I&E Miniatures. This kit is said to be out of production, perhaps no loss since the author states it would have been easier to scratch build than to clean up this kit. The article also refers to a 1:35 kit by KMR from Spain, and the 1:32 Scale Link kit.

A great book about the subject is Samson's "Flights and Fights", which was reprinted by Battery Press.

About the only changes to the 40/50 Silver Ghost chassis was heavier rear springs.  Otherwise, the chassis was about the same.

One of my "goals" is taking the old Bandai 1/16th scale kit of the "Balloon Car" and building it as a 1914 Pattern.  It wouldn't be that bad a conversion, with only having to make up the rear springs to complete the chassis. 

Too many plans and life is too short!

 

 

Hi,

I found this picture on a Russian site but am not sure which book its from so all credit to the original Author. It shows both a Minerva and an early R/R .

  Hope this is of interest to you.

Paul

Centurion wrote:

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Phil R wrote:

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i found plenty of pictures of ancient Rolls Royces from the period 1910 to, say, 1925, and they don't seem to change very much. there were probably many improvements under the bonnet, and perhaps the wheelbase changed a little, but really, not so much that one would notice. so i don't think there would be any appreciable difference between a 1911 Roller and a 1916 Roller. incidentally there are plenty of pictures of Rolls Royce armoured cars in use in palestine etc posted on the Australian War Memorial site. Personally, i have always fancied recreating the RNAS pilots/fly boys/daredevils very early 'home made' cars that they used to chase the enemy when they were bored. Scalelink make quite a selection of cars from that period; a sports car among them

---

I'm not a Rolls Royce car expert but when I finally realised I'd have to leave university and actually earn my keep I joined the firm. At this stage the Car and Aerospace divisions both belonged to the same company and I used to sink the odd pint with a guy from the historical section who used to track down old (and often unusual) models. I did learn that the original Silver Ghost chassis was in use until well after WW1 with many variations on the body work and yes the engine was improved (insofar as it was possible to improve on perfection)). However the company did do 'specials' for customers with enough brass so for example I believe at least one Indian potentate had lengthed wheel base models and one or more variants on the 'Doctor's special' had shortended ones (so they cornered better). In general you should be ok if you're modelling a standard RR armoured car but be careful if its an improvised one - worth some research to find what its improvised on. BTW I have seen a photo of the 1911 Laundau model (as per the Airfix kit) bearing a couple of corpulent generals, French I think but I guess any allied general would be possible (its definitely the sort of car General Mellchit of Black Adder fame would use)

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This question piqued my curiosity as well, because manufacturers do sometime make small changes to a model throughout its liftime. It turns out that the Alpine model Ghost, which according to some references Ive seen is the basis for the armoured car, not only has slightly larger brake drums, but there's a truss atttached to the bottom of the frame. It can be seen in this worm's eye view of a Rolls Armoured Car http://groups.msn.com/RAFArmdCarCompanies/othterstuff.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=283

It's an easy enough structure to duplicate with some styrene rod.