Posting pics, so I'm committed now.

I haven't done any modeling in a while. I wanted to get back to it, so I planned to finish a 1/35 RRAC project I started before Roden released their kit...but it's lost. It was built using drawings from the September 1989 Fine Scale Modeler. It used the 1/24 scale 4.5 liter "Blower" Bentley for a chassis donor. (My project had a scratchbuilt chassis) I found the same car in 1/12 scale on Craigslist, so that's what I'm going with.

So far, it's just the turret. I built a cowl section and upper pieces of the hood, but had trouble with the geometry, so they didn't make the cut.

First turret pic.



It's all Evergreen sheet styrene. Several layers of .030" laminated together around a 3" PVC pipe coupling to get the right diameter. The coupling was not really straight. It bulged out on both ends. I spent a couple of hours with files and sandpaper making it a straight cylinder. That resulted in a part that was just a short styrene cylinder. The bevels were cut with a slitting saw on a Sherline mill. The part is pretty big for this mill, and the saw arbor kept bumping into the turret and making small holes. The pencil lines are the general outlines for the machine gun port.

Tonight's progress:


The roof hatch is the second attempt. The first had both pieces attached with super glue. Some squished out and the attempt to clean that up resulted in shallow grooves going several directions. I ended up using a tiny chisel to get it off, then filling the holes with Bondo. Second attempt used solvent cement. Much better results.

2x plan size

Very Cool project, Thanks for sharing it with us. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your progress.

Looking forward to this, but those solid wheels won't be found on a WWI RRAC-- they weren't adopted until the 1920 postwar version came out.
VR, Russ

The tall turret from the Pattern Rolls-Royce Armoured Car was also not used on the 1914 Pattern Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars. But, there were three 1918 Interim Pattern Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars built in Glasgow at the end of WWI, that had wire wheels and the first tall turrets. At least one served in the Middle East, probably post war. The eight sided metal plate under the turret top hatch is not a standard feature. As far as is known, it is used only on Irish 1920 Pattern Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars, including the survivor, that the Bellona print was made from. It was possibly added to covered a large hole that was cut in the turret top to mount armoured cupolas from the Irish Ford Mk VI Armoured Cars. If you are interested in accuracy, thought you should know.

Ugh. I wish I had known about the 8-sided plate issue before I used MEK to glue it on. I plan to make this a 1920 pattern, BTW. Maybe I'll make it a mideast car with a made up name. Maybe call it HMAC Scheherazade...but I suspect I'll mill off that *#@% plate.

A little bit of progress tonight. Bolt heads and hatch hinges added tonight.

Bolt heads are 3 different sizes, make with a Hex punch and die set that I have had for ages. No manufacturer's name on it. Punched out of .015" and .020" Evergreen sheet styrene. It is not perfect, but I want the project to get done, not to sit unfinished forever due to AMS.



It has been ages since I sat down and worked on a model. I got some bad news a few weeks ago and I wanted something to occupy my time and my mind. I am really pleased with how it is coming along. With that coat of primer on, it's starting to look like model parts...although I couldn't help thinking of the Civil War iron clad "Monitor" when looking at it.

Looking good Lee. Keep the pics coming!

Thanks. I got out a putty knife with a thin blade and pried off the hatch after that pic was taken. It just got a thin coat of Bondo glazing putty.

A side note: the book I ordered from the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club arrived. There is a photo of a pair of tenders, one named "Relentless". They both have soft covers over the cargo area and a soft top over the cab. It has a gap between it and the windshield. Do you know of any other photos of tenders like this? I have only seen a few photos of tenders, all the others open topped. I'm wondering if this was improvised as a way to get a break from the sun.

I'll take a look in my files Lee. However, I don't think so as I don't have a lot of reference on the Tenders.

More bolt heads. I had trouble getting white bolt heads properly aligned on white sheet plastic, so I dug out some Evergreen black sheet for more bolt heads.

The way I line them up is drawing pencil lines on the part and getting the bolt centered on intersecting lines. I hold the bolt head with the tip of a #11 blade and get a tiny bit of MEK on it for a solvent glue. It lets me move the part around a tiny bit.

The opening for the machine gun is a piece of .040" sheet laid into a .035" recess milled into the turret with a Sherline mill and rotary table. That was done because of the thickness of the turret. I didn't want an opening that made the turret look like it was 5 scale inches thick.





The bolt heads look kind of large, but going over them with some super fine steel wool really helps. They seem to get a tiny bit of "flash" when they are punched out. The steel wool knocks that down.

Pretty much done with the turret.

The Turret looks really nice. I wish I could scratch-build like that.

Yep, it's looking great! It's going to be interesting to watch how you tackle the running gear and wheels -- keep up the great work!
VR, Russ

That is very nice work Lee, did you by any chance take some photos of the milling process for the bevels you mentioned?

Thanks for the compliments, guys.

I didn't get any photos of the part having bevels cut. The slitting saws I have are pretty small in diameter. I want to find something bigger around. You can see a couple of the holes made by the arbor touching the turret. Look on the lower right side of the part in the first post.

One odd note. I tried this almost 10 years ago in 1/35 and I don't remember how I made the turret. The FSM article has a template for a flat part that gets rolled into a turret with bevels cut. The model is lost, though.

Keep up the great work and thank You for a nice idea!

I just found this thread. I'm also a great fan of RRAC. I have five 1:35th scale Roden kits in various stages of completion. Unfortunately the FSM article is riddled with errors so I have been collecting other reference material. I strongly recommend you consider purchasing Rolls-Royce Armoured Car 1915-44 (all models) written by David Fletcher published by Haynes. 156 pages in all. I purchased my copy from https://www.bookdepository.com who offer free worldwide postage.
Hard to find but a very accurate set of plans for 1924 Mk 1 (the vertical sided turret) was published in Tankette MAFVA Magazine Vol 17 No 4. I hope this helps. I will be watching your build with interest.

Paul