Great posting DDenis and many thanks, that must have taken quite a while to put together {[] Lists of Code3s are always good but it's fascinating to see them put together by movie or book like that.
Thanks to everyone for the encouragement on the Skyfall Landy project. Here's another pic from a while back with the bonnet corrected, the skylights filled and the damaged areas starting to take shape (It's very strange altering a model carefully at the same time as 'wrecking' it!!)
I'm currently experimenting with different materials to create the roof rack assembly. Watch this space as they say.
Great work in progress. Will be looking to see how you recreate the curved rear corner windows!
Thank you! For me the back of the cab was a vital turning point, if I couldn't get it to work the whole thing would be a lost cause. However, after many 'heart in mouth' moments I think I managed to get a reasonable rendition of it. Here is another pic of the model with the back end in place, just prior to re-spraying:
Once I've got the model finished, I'll post a full account of how it was done - just to bore everyone rigid!
Thunderbird 2East of Cardiff, Wales.Posts: 2,817MI6 Agent
Things have been busy in here! Where do I start...
Tony - Thanks also for clarifying the 8 degrees lift on the end boards, but a big Thank you for your Photoshop tutorial. I have been offline this week and dabbling with my first custom background, and I am relieved to see that some of the things I have been trying are on similar lines to your own approach, if a bit ad-hoc! (I used your Ice Palace for DAD as an initial template to help me).
I can't post the background yet, because I need to pin down the car which will be a task in itself, and make sure I can make the whole thing work overall. Since I am only off the starting blocks with my first two Code 1 cars, its a bit cart before the horse. I use Paint Shop Pro rather than Photoshop as I have used it for years, but the principles are (Thankfully) the same!
Another question has sprung up - Which Font is used for the Car type / Film name labels?
DDenis - Impressive layout of all the existing car images posted before. Do we know who did the really detailed displays with the figures? The Little Nelly and Sub mode Boatus are particularly inspirational, and the moon buggy from DAF conveys the madcap action of the scene its from. I also agree with Tony, your Fugeo from TND is nicely done and the corner column adds a nice subtle touch of 3D to this Code 3! :007)
Movie Cr F - You were right, once I have my "default" cars in place, that won't be the end. The car background I am being cryptic about in my Thanks to Tony above is proof of that, and I really want to do justice to the other vehicles that I want to do as my own Code 2s, as well as a couple of Code 3s. I am thinking of one "specialist" vehicle per Bond actor in addition to their key car as I see it, but so far that idea only works for three of the six 007 actors.
Re your Land Rover project, I am all ears / eyes. My Father has kindly given me a spare Land Rover that is a similar make to the one you are working on. I am hopeful that it in time, I may follow in your tyre tracks!
I have a question for everyone.
Where do I get spare cases? - Long term, I will need at least two of the long ones, as well as a few standard ones. I spotted a couple of second hand cars at a trade fair recently, but the cases were all scratched. I'd want them pristine?
This is Thunderbird 2, how can I be of assistance?
Re your Land Rover project, I am all ears / eyes. My Father has kindly given me a spare Land Rover that is a similar make to the one you are working on. I am hopeful that it in time, I may follow in your tyre tracks!
I hope others will have a go at this one, but anybody considering it will need a truckload of modelling metal files - filing seems to take up the bulk of the time spent on it!
Where do I get spare cases? - Long term, I will need at least two of the long ones, as well as a few standard ones. I spotted a couple of second hand cars at a trade fair recently, but the cases were all scratched. I'd want them pristine?
Light scratches on the cases can be polished out using T-Cut for cars. However if the case is cracked and a new one is needed, the answer is painful unfortunately - buying fresh models with mint cases. If you're making Code3s then the problem isn't such a big deal because you generally need several models to make just one (the Landy has needed 4 different JBCC models so far) so you usually end up with a few decent spare boxes. Failing that, I've occasionally bought small sets of models with decent cases, swapped the cases for unwanted cracked ones then re-sold the set on eBay (advising of the cracks obviously) that way you at least get some money back.
Hy,
I try also to see all through this forum how many cars we did … so I made a list.
Sorry if I forgot someone and some cars, but it is a huge list. So now we are at :
78 new cars and 58 modified cars from the collection.
Most represented : books cars then Goldfinger (11), Casino Royal (9), QoS (7)…
Please do not hesitate to tell me what I missed. I will try to have the list update.
Very soon, the code 3 collection will become bigger than the ‘official’ original collection…
Denis.
Cheers.
Phenomenal listing of all our Code 3's, Denis! I Love It. I feel so proud to have 10 of mine included, and the only one excluded was from "Skyfall" (which might be tough to fit into your "picture montage", but if possible it is found on Post #6494) and contains a cool image of Silva's helicopter, plus an awesome backdrop of the Skyfall Mansion by our resident artist, Tony !!!!!
Tim
Live Long and Prosper (Sept. 15, 1967 - Feb. 27, 2015)
A total genius in my opinion. From what I understand, he creates his figures from scratch and they are the most amazingly accurate I've ever seen - the figures of Halle Berry and Olga Kurylenko for instance are nothing short of stunning. As far as I'm aware he hasn't introduced any new additions to the JBCC and concentrates on improving the existing models, but apart from the fantastic figures, his extra detailing to the vehicles and dioramas is extraordinary. 'We are not worthy' is the expression that comes to mind (!)
Thunderbird 2East of Cardiff, Wales.Posts: 2,817MI6 Agent
edited July 2013
Thanks MCF,
no apology necessary. I am Gobsmacked by the detail, the figures look like the actors. I don;t know if I could emulate that, but there are other aspects of his work I do want to try to copy, such as building details and vegrtation if I can. However that will wait till I get my Code 1s, work out which ones I want to Code 2. Then I can really focus on my Code 3s.
This is Thunderbird 2, how can I be of assistance?
Great work in progress. Will be looking to see how you recreate the curved rear corner windows!
Thank you! For me the back of the cab was a vital turning point, if I couldn't get it to work the whole thing would be a lost cause. However, after many 'heart in mouth' moments I think I managed to get a reasonable rendition of it. Here is another pic of the model with the back end in place, just prior to re-spraying:
Once I've got the model finished, I'll post a full account of how it was done - just to bore everyone rigid!
That's impressive! If this model had actually been released in the series, as it should have been, I would certainly cherry-pick it!
Great work in progress. Will be looking to see how you recreate the curved rear corner windows!
Thank you! For me the back of the cab was a vital turning point, if I couldn't get it to work the whole thing would be a lost cause. However, after many 'heart in mouth' moments I think I managed to get a reasonable rendition of it. Here is another pic of the model with the back end in place, just prior to re-spraying:
Once I've got the model finished, I'll post a full account of how it was done - just to bore everyone rigid!
That's impressive! If this model had actually been released in the series, as it should have been, I would certainly cherry-pick it!
Once again, many thanks! The latest update is that I've managed to make up a roof rack from scratch using plastic rods (nothing much to hard bitten model-makers but a totally new experience for me)(!) and it's now fitted onto the model with four of the nine support struts (so far) as seen in the movie. So it's going well and hopefully I'll be posting photos of the finished model before too long.
Hi all
This is just an aside, but I was out and about the other day for a (spirited drive in the country) and I ended up somewhere that should be quite familiar to most of you. Its called Whitely Common, (just off the A3, near Thursley) and was the location for Skyfall Manor. I have dropped in an image of where the house would have stood. My son also found a number of spent rifle shells and is dinning out on owning bullets fired at James Bond. My wife, however, was confused over the lack of mountains Does she even know what I do in Photoshop???
to think of all the photos of Glencoe I downloaded for the backgrounds before I learned the real location was 16 miles from my house
They seem to be a lot more detailed than their JB counterparts (even down to lettering detail on the tyres), hopefully the quality control is a bit more stringent too. Still looking forward to a new 'Belvedere' version of the Savoy appearing in this range.
Here's something for anybody interested in the Octopussy Range Rover drophead - a more up to date example of it:
Hi all
This is just an aside, but I was out and about the other day for a (spirited drive in the country) and I ended up somewhere that should be quite familiar to most of you. Its called Whitely Common, (just off the A3, near Thursley) and was the location for Skyfall Manor. I have dropped in an image of where the house would have stood. My son also found a number of spent rifle shells and is dinning out on owning bullets fired at James Bond. My wife, however, was confused over the lack of mountains Does she even know what I do in Photoshop???
to think of all the photos of Glencoe I downloaded for the backgrounds before I learned the real location was 16 miles from my house
All credit to you, I don't think my wife would have fallen for 'a day out in the country' ruse like that!
Hi all
This is just an aside, but I was out and about the other day for a (spirited drive in the country) and I ended up somewhere that should be quite familiar to most of you. Its called Whitely Common, (just off the A3, near Thursley) and was the location for Skyfall Manor. I have dropped in an image of where the house would have stood. My son also found a number of spent rifle shells and is dinning out on owning bullets fired at James Bond. My wife, however, was confused over the lack of mountains Does she even know what I do in Photoshop???
to think of all the photos of Glencoe I downloaded for the backgrounds before I learned the real location was 16 miles from my house
All credit to you, I don't think my wife would have fallen for 'a day out in the country' ruse like that!
Were they shotgun shells or brass casings?
Hahaha, yeah, like I didn't know exactly where we were going to end up! ) . Not a word to M though please. They were brass casings. The army use the common for training and the ground is littered with spent casings. Oh and my mistake, the place is called Hankley Common.
Shame they screwed up the trim on the '73 Bel Air's green version! The '73 Bel Air taxi, however, is something you actually see in the film, albeit only as a background car. Unfortunately, we don't see any of the Ist Models that were released in the films.
Also found out the 1959 Plymouth that will eventually see the light of day will be released as a Savoy, not a Belvedere. Also, it seems it will be in two-tone blue and white instead of two-tone red and white.
Any tips how to paint a vinyl roof? "Sheriff Pepper's Impala" is now sprayed in Volkswagen Topasgrün (Dupli-Color 30-0390) which I think is an excellent match. I have looked for 1973 Chevrolet colours but the scanned metallic paints don't look right on an RGB screen, so I wasn't sure if Light Green or Medium Green would be the correct colour. The VW Topasgrün could use a tad more blue maybe but is very close.
Where I have been unsuccessful is the vinyl roof. I thought that painting the roof with a brush and semigloss paint would result in a nice texture but it was awful (and the reason I have chosen not to show a photo ;% ).
Interior is painted dark green (RAL 6005) which is a bit lighter than the dark green interior in the film. But once inside the car in the shadow a darker green would look black so this is a better choice. Still not sure about the text on the doors, so I have not started drawing the decals (and the weather is much too nice). I think it reads PORTVIEW PARISH? (Which of course is not a real Louisiana parish.)
The Pepper figure will come from the AMC Hornet, he even is wearing a hat and short-sleeved shirt. Just needs a bit of repainting.
Any tips how to paint a vinyl roof? "Sheriff Pepper's Impala" is now sprayed in Volkswagen Topasgrün (Dupli-Color 30-0390) which I think is an excellent match. I have looked for 1973 Chevrolet colours but the scanned metallic paints don't look right on an RGB screen, so I wasn't sure if Light Green or Medium Green would be the correct colour. The VW Topasgrün could use a tad more blue maybe but is very close.
Where I have been unsuccessful is the vinyl roof. I thought that painting the roof with a brush and semigloss paint would result in a nice texture but it was awful (and the reason I have chosen not to show a photo ;% ).
Interior is painted dark green (RAL 6005) which is a bit lighter than the dark green interior in the film. But once inside the car in the shadow a darker green would look black so this is a better choice. Still not sure about the text on the doors, so I have not started drawing the decals (and the weather is much too nice). I think it reads PORTVIEW PARISH? (Which of course is not a real Louisiana parish.)
The Pepper figure will come from the AMC Hornet, he even is wearing a hat and short-sleeved shirt. Just needs a bit of repainting.
Without checking the colors you reference and making note, as you say, of the weather being much too nice, here's a suggestion:
If you can secure the correct color in a gloss enamel and either an airbrush or a disposable aerosol unit, by spraying from a distance on a warm day the paint will hydrolyze, creating a grainy texture. Flat paints don't do this but the affect on gloss is a sort of satin finish.
Also found out the 1959 Plymouth that will eventually see the light of day will be released as a Savoy, not a Belvedere. Also, it seems it will be in two-tone blue and white instead of two-tone red and white.
If you can secure the correct color in a gloss enamel and either an airbrush or a disposable aerosol unit, by spraying from a distance on a warm day the paint will hydrolyze, creating a grainy texture. Flat paints don't do this but the affect on gloss is a sort of satin finish.
Hy MovieCarFan,
What can we say ??? Perfect car !! Well done.. Lot of work. One other great model that Eaglesmoss have missed..
One day, I will try the same one... Thanks for the different steps.
Cheers.
MCF, that looks awesome! A brilliant project and a truly missed opportunity for the JBCC to have ended on a high note. You have added the level of care and detail that was a staple of the early official run but was so sadly missing in many of the latter issues. The only visible fault that I can see is actually my doing. It appears that the stalls along the background are a little too large in scale for the car. I have dropped the height and extended along the top. This will hopefully scale the model up. For something this good, I want to get my bit right. Please let me know if this fixes the scale issue. Once again. Great job Sir. Thanks for sharing it with us
Excellent work there, MCF - as others have already said, that one is a real missed opportunity on Eaglemoss's part. Nice use of the Tuk Tuk diorama base as well
Thunderbird 2East of Cardiff, Wales.Posts: 2,817MI6 Agent
MovieCF,
it seems the Car customs are like figures - the best ones really are those you wait for! Absolutely brilliant work. I love the detail of the bullet holes and broken glass. Reminds me of Mini G's QoS Astons from a couple of years ago. The cab looks natural, the metal racking is a good fit and the figure used for MPenny is a nice match in too. It does seem odd that Eaglemoss went for the easy option of yet another Aston DB5 release. The MPenny Landy is Excellent stuff, - Well done!
I have secured my next cars, the Cougar from OHMSS, and the Car mode version of the Botus from TSWLM.
The cougar is a funny one because the scale of the model means the bents and bumps look much smoother than they should do. I am debating the idea of adding score marks to indicate cracking paintwork but I'm not certain. The figures are realy good for the scale, conveying the madcap nature of the scene, and Tracy's determination to get through while Bond hangs on in there.
The road version of the Botus benefits slightly more from the "turning the corner" pose with the helicopter in the background. Maybe this is because its a scene minted into my memory! The figures are again a nice replication of Sir Roger's Bond and Maj Amasova and the clean yet sharp lines of the Lotus and its white finish are a contrast to the other cars.
My only criticism (aimed at myself) is I bought opened cars, rather than ones still in the sealed bubble packs, so the plastic cases are a little worn looking. That's me being fussy though. Both are nicely done, and I'm very pleased with them.
This is Thunderbird 2, how can I be of assistance?
DDenis, Tony, Fact, TB2 - thank you very much for the kind comments, I'm really pleased the model's gone down well. Like many others here, I really wish Eaglemoss had incorporated this particular vehicle into the JBCC, and since UH already make the Defender Double Cab in 1:18 scale, it probably wouldn't have been such a big deal for them to have made it in 1:43.
Tony - thanks for the revised background I'll print it off and post a new pic soon.
Here's the write-up on making the Defender Double Cab I threatened everyone with earlier:
The first thing was to select a suitable Land Rover Defender model as a basis for the Double Cab. I looked at the Cararama offering but decided against it for a number of reasons: Most importantly it’s very flimsy with lots of plastic and very thin metal so I thought it wouldn’t take much punishment, large roof rivets are visible through the windscreen, the windscreen wipers are incorrectly placed for the Skyfall Landy and the rear mudflaps are placed too far back. None of these problems are evident on the JB Casino version and of course, it’s a JBCC model so it seemed right to use it. I have to say I didn’t look particularly closely at Corgi versions or any other alternatives having pretty much decided on the UH offering.
I could only find the Double Cab’s distinctive curved back window panel on Cararama’s 110 pick-ups so bought a fire service example. At first I thought I could use the plain white steel wheels too but didn’t do so for reasons I’ll get round to later. The Cararama pick-up was easy to pull apart, but the red paint on the back panel was a pain because it ‘travels’ through the clear plastic like a fibre-optic and glows red in the windows even when painted over in another colour. The Cararama white topped farmer’s 110 pick up would have been better but I couldn’t get hold of one of these despite waiting weeks for an example to turn up on eBay.
So here’s a warning: I decided to strip the red paint off the pick-up panel using T-Cut, which is fine on most plastics. Unfortunately Cararama use cellulose which reacted badly with the T-Cut by softening and going opaque. Luckily I managed to wash it off in time with water and 90% saved it, but it could have been an expensive mistake. The rest of the paint I had to scrape off using a scalpel.
After taking the Casino Defender apart, I cut off the wing mirrors and tow hook, took off the rear licence plate and the spare wheel (it’s glued onto a moulded metal lug and has to be prised off). I put some masking tape over the roof in line with the back edge of the rear doors as a guideline, then cut away the bodywork using a junior type hacksaw leaving about 2mm of metalwork to be filed back to the desired lines (any decent photo comparison of a regular Defender and a Double Cab will show exactly where)
The baseplate of the Casino Defender attaches to the body by two screws. The rear one connects into a large ‘cylinder’ which is on the rear door and becomes very visible once the pick-up bed is created, so I sawed that off too and sanded it flat. The whole assembly still holds together well using just the one screw that’s left in place.
At this point I also cut the ‘roof’ area away from the Cararama rear screen panel.
This panel almost fits the chopped Casino Landy, but not quite, it’s slightly too wide. My answer was to cut it in two, file down the middle edges until it was the right width, and glue it back together with superglue. I also created the bullet damage to the glass as seen in the movie stills at this point using drills to get the general ‘shot-out’ shape, then scratching lines on the inside of the glass with a pin to give a shattered effect. This I did before gluing the two halves back together.
Notches were filed into the lower corners of the panel to allow it to sit on the Double Cab’s pick-up sides and to get the roof guttering to line up as well as possible. This was a turning point, I thought if I could get the rear of the cab right, then I had myself a workable model and could carry on rather than throwing the whole project in the bin (!)
The interior of the Casino Defender very conveniently has back seats in the correct arrangement for a Double Cab and also a believable pick-up bed once the ‘sideways’ seats are prised off. (It also has a box load as per the movie which comes away easily) I made a T shaped piece of sheet plastic to glue into place into the bed, thus making up the lower half of the new rear panel. I also removed the step-up rails from the baseplate, which aren’t on the Skyfall Land Rover.
So to all the filling and filing. The shape of the Casino Defender bonnet/hood is completely wrong for the Skyfall Double Cab (it was also wrong for the Quantum Carabinieri Land Rover too). I masked off the recess on the bonnet/hood top and filled it with resin car filler after scratching deep lines into the paintwork to help it grip. Once that was sanded flat, I taped a piece of thick card with a square hole cut in it over the newly filled area and filled that in too, like a mould. With the card removed, a fresh block of filler was left on top of the bonnet to sand and shape into the power bulge.
Despite there being lots of Land Rovers used in the car chase sequence, and all having slightly different damage in the photos available online, there is some consistency to the dents and marks. Both sills are damaged, there are two long deep dents on the passenger rear wing, significant denting to the passenger doors and a mashing to the front of the passenger front wing plus a deep dent behind the front wheel. Damage on the driver’s side is quite limited in comparison. All of this I created as best I could by using a set of different shaped small metal files made for modelling. All very time consuming and tedious. I also created the half shot-out windscreen at this point – drilling out the shape of the missing glass, then drilling tiny ‘pock marks’ on the outside of the remaining glass to simulate bullet holes, then scratching round areas behind the marks to give the fine shatter effect, and scratching long lines with a pin behind the glass for the ‘cracks’. Half of the driver’s windscreen wiper needed cutting off too, leaving part of the arm in place.
The grille had some damage added and the passenger headlight was smashed using a drill (I thought this might have been a solid lens but it’s actually a tiny thin clear plastic ‘bowl’)
Next, I filed down the metal edges around the Land Rover’s skylights on the roof and filled them in. Then I made up the back edge of the Double Cab roof with filler and sanded that to shape too. Sounds simple but it all took several hours.
I removed as much of the remaining green paint as possible by VERY careful use of paint stripper avoiding the plastic front grille and windscreen wipers (which are glued to the body and cannot be removed) and any filled areas. I didn’t use this before now because the paint allowed me to see the damage work more clearly, but in hindsight I guess it could have been done a lot earlier. The grille, windscreen and other glass areas were masked off and the whole thing primered and re-sprayed using Tamiya paints. Finding the correct colour was very tricky since the real vehicle is darker than it looks on screen mostly because of strong sunlight on it – so what do you choose, the actual darker colour or how it looks in bright sunshine? I opted for ‘aluminium gloss’, probably a bit too light but the next nearest choice ‘light gunmetal’ was far too dark IMHO.
A hole in the interior’s new pick-up bed was filled in and the bed was sprayed in body colour too.
I took the wheels off a JBCC Quantum Carabinieri Land Rover and transposed them onto the new Double Cab baseplate including little black end of axle spacers which are fully inter-changeable. I might have been able to use the Cararama pick-up’s wheels which outwardly look the same but I thought those appeared cheap and nasty in comparison, having rubber ‘inner discs’ instead of tyres. Because the Land Rover sits so high off the ground, the insides of the wheels are easily seen, so quality counts IMHO. Besides, I wanted a tall case for the model too, which the Quantum Land Rover also provided.
Painting in the details came next (black grille, rear lights, vents etc) and creating the new diorama base. For this I used the ‘market’ base from the JBCC Tuk-Tuk which I thought was ‘near as dammit’ with all the spilled oranges. All I did here was to fill in the Tuk-Tuk’s tyre tracks, reposition the crate and basket of oranges, then repaint the whole thing.
The roof rack: Originally I had a go at making this using 1.5mm brass rods, which bent to shape very well but refused to stick together using superglue. A quick check online seemed to suggest soldering was the best option but no good for me. I tried again using 1.5mm plastic rods (which I never knew existed until I did a random check on eBay) These worked a lot better with superglue, basically bending one long piece to form the outer frame, tempering the corners over a candle flame, then making 3 cross rails to fit. (There is a very useful video on YouTube on bending/heating plastic rods)
I made 9 slightly tapering plates of varying length out of 0.5mm plasticard and put them to one side. Then I taped the Land Rover’s roof rack onto a thick card which acted as a‘spacer’ and taped the card onto the model’s roof. Once I’d glued the four corner plates onto the roof rack and the roof’s guttering, I was able to slide out the spacer card leaving the roof rack suspended by the plates.
The remaining 5 plates were glued in place and the four support poles were added after cutting and shaping, the rear ones locating into holes drilled into the pick-up bed. I didn’t glue them in the holes because I wanted to keep the option open of being able to take the model apart.
Finally the figure, which is Xenia Onatopp from the Goldeneye Ferrari. This figure is dressed in almost the same outfit as Eve in Skyfall but still needed a bit of work to make her fit the short-reach driving position of the Land Rover, which involved cutting and repositioning her arms. I also re-shaped her hair and cut away her neck scarf before re-painting.
The background was of course, supplied by our Tony (thanks again!) which has been posted separately.
And there you have it, not a perfect model (I couldn’t do much about the proper pick-up tailgate, and a slightly darker silver grey spray paint would have helped) but it was the best I could manage allowing for the limited time and money I had to spend on it.
Thunderbird 2East of Cardiff, Wales.Posts: 2,817MI6 Agent
"It was the best I could do" he says! MCF, the amount of effort and attention to detail is phenomenal!
The only offputting thing to me is the need to cherry pick pieces from three other vehicles to make it, and I may have to do something else with the long cab Landy my Dad gave me on that basis. However, that is beside the point.
The detailing, hard work and effort is all there and your explanation gives a clear idea of the little odyssey this project has been for you. Using the plastic piping for the roof was inspired as metal ones would prob have made the model too heavy. In addition you made the right call on the paintwork, since the car is a reflection on the scenes its in. Just as the doorless Aston in QoS has score and dirt marks all over it, or the sub mode Boatus should really have a very fine "dulled" finish because its underwater.
I'm also pleased you referenced the "if this bit didn't work its bin time" point in the process. I have found the best pieces of model work all have that moment, its good to see it referenced, as its crushing when it does go wrong. Equally, it makes a success like this all the more enjoyable and a relief when it works, and this works!
This is Thunderbird 2, how can I be of assistance?
Brilliant work, MCF, you have every reason to be very proud of your work! I also especially like that you do not just create a new model (which in this case is amazing enough) but also succeed in making the dioramas with figures look like they were official JBCC releases.
Thank you also for your "building instructions" although I don't have the skills to replicate this. Can you estimate how long it took you to complete the model?
Comments
Thanks to everyone for the encouragement on the Skyfall Landy project. Here's another pic from a while back with the bonnet corrected, the skylights filled and the damaged areas starting to take shape (It's very strange altering a model carefully at the same time as 'wrecking' it!!)
I'm currently experimenting with different materials to create the roof rack assembly. Watch this space as they say.
Thank you! For me the back of the cab was a vital turning point, if I couldn't get it to work the whole thing would be a lost cause. However, after many 'heart in mouth' moments I think I managed to get a reasonable rendition of it. Here is another pic of the model with the back end in place, just prior to re-spraying:
Once I've got the model finished, I'll post a full account of how it was done - just to bore everyone rigid!
Tony - Thanks also for clarifying the 8 degrees lift on the end boards, but a big Thank you for your Photoshop tutorial. I have been offline this week and dabbling with my first custom background, and I am relieved to see that some of the things I have been trying are on similar lines to your own approach, if a bit ad-hoc! (I used your Ice Palace for DAD as an initial template to help me).
I can't post the background yet, because I need to pin down the car which will be a task in itself, and make sure I can make the whole thing work overall. Since I am only off the starting blocks with my first two Code 1 cars, its a bit cart before the horse. I use Paint Shop Pro rather than Photoshop as I have used it for years, but the principles are (Thankfully) the same!
Another question has sprung up - Which Font is used for the Car type / Film name labels?
DDenis - Impressive layout of all the existing car images posted before. Do we know who did the really detailed displays with the figures? The Little Nelly and Sub mode Boatus are particularly inspirational, and the moon buggy from DAF conveys the madcap action of the scene its from. I also agree with Tony, your Fugeo from TND is nicely done and the corner column adds a nice subtle touch of 3D to this Code 3! :007)
Movie Cr F - You were right, once I have my "default" cars in place, that won't be the end. The car background I am being cryptic about in my Thanks to Tony above is proof of that, and I really want to do justice to the other vehicles that I want to do as my own Code 2s, as well as a couple of Code 3s. I am thinking of one "specialist" vehicle per Bond actor in addition to their key car as I see it, but so far that idea only works for three of the six 007 actors.
Re your Land Rover project, I am all ears / eyes. My Father has kindly given me a spare Land Rover that is a similar make to the one you are working on. I am hopeful that it in time, I may follow in your tyre tracks!
I have a question for everyone.
Where do I get spare cases? - Long term, I will need at least two of the long ones, as well as a few standard ones. I spotted a couple of second hand cars at a trade fair recently, but the cases were all scratched. I'd want them pristine?
Eurostile Black DTC - free download here:
http://www.fontpalace.com/font-details/Eurostile-Black-DTC/
I hope others will have a go at this one, but anybody considering it will need a truckload of modelling metal files - filing seems to take up the bulk of the time spent on it!
Light scratches on the cases can be polished out using T-Cut for cars. However if the case is cracked and a new one is needed, the answer is painful unfortunately - buying fresh models with mint cases. If you're making Code3s then the problem isn't such a big deal because you generally need several models to make just one (the Landy has needed 4 different JBCC models so far) so you usually end up with a few decent spare boxes. Failing that, I've occasionally bought small sets of models with decent cases, swapped the cases for unwanted cracked ones then re-sold the set on eBay (advising of the cracks obviously) that way you at least get some money back.
Phenomenal listing of all our Code 3's, Denis! I Love It. I feel so proud to have 10 of mine included, and the only one excluded was from "Skyfall" (which might be tough to fit into your "picture montage", but if possible it is found on Post #6494) and contains a cool image of Silva's helicopter, plus an awesome backdrop of the Skyfall Mansion by our resident artist, Tony !!!!!
Tim
Sorry, I overlooked this one in my last posting. The guy you are asking about is 'Dleyvraz':
http://s615.photobucket.com/user/dleyvraz/library/?sort=6&page=1
A total genius in my opinion. From what I understand, he creates his figures from scratch and they are the most amazingly accurate I've ever seen - the figures of Halle Berry and Olga Kurylenko for instance are nothing short of stunning. As far as I'm aware he hasn't introduced any new additions to the JBCC and concentrates on improving the existing models, but apart from the fantastic figures, his extra detailing to the vehicles and dioramas is extraordinary. 'We are not worthy' is the expression that comes to mind (!)
no apology necessary. I am Gobsmacked by the detail, the figures look like the actors. I don;t know if I could emulate that, but there are other aspects of his work I do want to try to copy, such as building details and vegrtation if I can. However that will wait till I get my Code 1s, work out which ones I want to Code 2. Then I can really focus on my Code 3s.
That's impressive! If this model had actually been released in the series, as it should have been, I would certainly cherry-pick it!
Once again, many thanks! The latest update is that I've managed to make up a roof rack from scratch using plastic rods (nothing much to hard bitten model-makers but a totally new experience for me)(!) and it's now fitted onto the model with four of the nine support struts (so far) as seen in the movie. So it's going well and hopefully I'll be posting photos of the finished model before too long.
This is just an aside, but I was out and about the other day for a (spirited drive in the country) and I ended up somewhere that should be quite familiar to most of you. Its called Whitely Common, (just off the A3, near Thursley) and was the location for Skyfall Manor. I have dropped in an image of where the house would have stood. My son also found a number of spent rifle shells and is dinning out on owning bullets fired at James Bond. My wife, however, was confused over the lack of mountains
to think of all the photos of Glencoe I downloaded for the backgrounds before I learned the real location was 16 miles from my house
They seem to be a lot more detailed than their JB counterparts (even down to lettering detail on the tyres), hopefully the quality control is a bit more stringent too. Still looking forward to a new 'Belvedere' version of the Savoy appearing in this range.
Here's something for anybody interested in the Octopussy Range Rover drophead - a more up to date example of it:
http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/Behold-a-convertible-Range-Rover-2013-07-19
.....A possible future Bond villain's car?
All credit to you, I don't think my wife would have fallen for 'a day out in the country' ruse like that!
Were they shotgun shells or brass casings?
Shame they screwed up the trim on the '73 Bel Air's green version! The '73 Bel Air taxi, however, is something you actually see in the film, albeit only as a background car. Unfortunately, we don't see any of the Ist Models that were released in the films.
Also found out the 1959 Plymouth that will eventually see the light of day will be released as a Savoy, not a Belvedere. Also, it seems it will be in two-tone blue and white instead of two-tone red and white.
Where I have been unsuccessful is the vinyl roof. I thought that painting the roof with a brush and semigloss paint would result in a nice texture but it was awful (and the reason I have chosen not to show a photo ;% ).
Interior is painted dark green (RAL 6005) which is a bit lighter than the dark green interior in the film. But once inside the car in the shadow a darker green would look black so this is a better choice. Still not sure about the text on the doors, so I have not started drawing the decals (and the weather is much too nice). I think it reads PORTVIEW PARISH? (Which of course is not a real Louisiana parish.)
The Pepper figure will come from the AMC Hornet, he even is wearing a hat and short-sleeved shirt. Just needs a bit of repainting.
Without checking the colors you reference and making note, as you say, of the weather being much too nice, here's a suggestion:
If you can secure the correct color in a gloss enamel and either an airbrush or a disposable aerosol unit, by spraying from a distance on a warm day the paint will hydrolyze, creating a grainy texture. Flat paints don't do this but the affect on gloss is a sort of satin finish.
A blue and white Savoy will do for me {[]
Hope you guys like the result.
Click on the photos to enlarge:
I've written an account of how it was done for anybody interested and will post it in the next day or two.
Thanks for the background, Tony {[]
What can we say ??? Perfect car !! Well done.. Lot of work. One other great model that Eaglesmoss have missed..
One day, I will try the same one... Thanks for the different steps.
Cheers.
Original size
Shorter version
it seems the Car customs are like figures - the best ones really are those you wait for! Absolutely brilliant work. I love the detail of the bullet holes and broken glass. Reminds me of Mini G's QoS Astons from a couple of years ago. The cab looks natural, the metal racking is a good fit and the figure used for MPenny is a nice match in too. It does seem odd that Eaglemoss went for the easy option of yet another Aston DB5 release. The MPenny Landy is Excellent stuff, - Well done!
I have secured my next cars, the Cougar from OHMSS, and the Car mode version of the Botus from TSWLM.
The cougar is a funny one because the scale of the model means the bents and bumps look much smoother than they should do. I am debating the idea of adding score marks to indicate cracking paintwork but I'm not certain. The figures are realy good for the scale, conveying the madcap nature of the scene, and Tracy's determination to get through while Bond hangs on in there.
The road version of the Botus benefits slightly more from the "turning the corner" pose with the helicopter in the background. Maybe this is because its a scene minted into my memory! The figures are again a nice replication of Sir Roger's Bond and Maj Amasova and the clean yet sharp lines of the Lotus and its white finish are a contrast to the other cars.
My only criticism (aimed at myself) is I bought opened cars, rather than ones still in the sealed bubble packs, so the plastic cases are a little worn looking. That's me being fussy though. Both are nicely done, and I'm very pleased with them.
Tony - thanks for the revised background I'll print it off and post a new pic soon.
The first thing was to select a suitable Land Rover Defender model as a basis for the Double Cab. I looked at the Cararama offering but decided against it for a number of reasons: Most importantly it’s very flimsy with lots of plastic and very thin metal so I thought it wouldn’t take much punishment, large roof rivets are visible through the windscreen, the windscreen wipers are incorrectly placed for the Skyfall Landy and the rear mudflaps are placed too far back. None of these problems are evident on the JB Casino version and of course, it’s a JBCC model so it seemed right to use it. I have to say I didn’t look particularly closely at Corgi versions or any other alternatives having pretty much decided on the UH offering.
I could only find the Double Cab’s distinctive curved back window panel on Cararama’s 110 pick-ups so bought a fire service example. At first I thought I could use the plain white steel wheels too but didn’t do so for reasons I’ll get round to later. The Cararama pick-up was easy to pull apart, but the red paint on the back panel was a pain because it ‘travels’ through the clear plastic like a fibre-optic and glows red in the windows even when painted over in another colour. The Cararama white topped farmer’s 110 pick up would have been better but I couldn’t get hold of one of these despite waiting weeks for an example to turn up on eBay.
So here’s a warning: I decided to strip the red paint off the pick-up panel using T-Cut, which is fine on most plastics. Unfortunately Cararama use cellulose which reacted badly with the T-Cut by softening and going opaque. Luckily I managed to wash it off in time with water and 90% saved it, but it could have been an expensive mistake. The rest of the paint I had to scrape off using a scalpel.
After taking the Casino Defender apart, I cut off the wing mirrors and tow hook, took off the rear licence plate and the spare wheel (it’s glued onto a moulded metal lug and has to be prised off). I put some masking tape over the roof in line with the back edge of the rear doors as a guideline, then cut away the bodywork using a junior type hacksaw leaving about 2mm of metalwork to be filed back to the desired lines (any decent photo comparison of a regular Defender and a Double Cab will show exactly where)
The baseplate of the Casino Defender attaches to the body by two screws. The rear one connects into a large ‘cylinder’ which is on the rear door and becomes very visible once the pick-up bed is created, so I sawed that off too and sanded it flat. The whole assembly still holds together well using just the one screw that’s left in place.
At this point I also cut the ‘roof’ area away from the Cararama rear screen panel.
This panel almost fits the chopped Casino Landy, but not quite, it’s slightly too wide. My answer was to cut it in two, file down the middle edges until it was the right width, and glue it back together with superglue. I also created the bullet damage to the glass as seen in the movie stills at this point using drills to get the general ‘shot-out’ shape, then scratching lines on the inside of the glass with a pin to give a shattered effect. This I did before gluing the two halves back together.
Notches were filed into the lower corners of the panel to allow it to sit on the Double Cab’s pick-up sides and to get the roof guttering to line up as well as possible. This was a turning point, I thought if I could get the rear of the cab right, then I had myself a workable model and could carry on rather than throwing the whole project in the bin (!)
The interior of the Casino Defender very conveniently has back seats in the correct arrangement for a Double Cab and also a believable pick-up bed once the ‘sideways’ seats are prised off. (It also has a box load as per the movie which comes away easily) I made a T shaped piece of sheet plastic to glue into place into the bed, thus making up the lower half of the new rear panel. I also removed the step-up rails from the baseplate, which aren’t on the Skyfall Land Rover.
So to all the filling and filing. The shape of the Casino Defender bonnet/hood is completely wrong for the Skyfall Double Cab (it was also wrong for the Quantum Carabinieri Land Rover too). I masked off the recess on the bonnet/hood top and filled it with resin car filler after scratching deep lines into the paintwork to help it grip. Once that was sanded flat, I taped a piece of thick card with a square hole cut in it over the newly filled area and filled that in too, like a mould. With the card removed, a fresh block of filler was left on top of the bonnet to sand and shape into the power bulge.
Despite there being lots of Land Rovers used in the car chase sequence, and all having slightly different damage in the photos available online, there is some consistency to the dents and marks. Both sills are damaged, there are two long deep dents on the passenger rear wing, significant denting to the passenger doors and a mashing to the front of the passenger front wing plus a deep dent behind the front wheel. Damage on the driver’s side is quite limited in comparison. All of this I created as best I could by using a set of different shaped small metal files made for modelling. All very time consuming and tedious. I also created the half shot-out windscreen at this point – drilling out the shape of the missing glass, then drilling tiny ‘pock marks’ on the outside of the remaining glass to simulate bullet holes, then scratching round areas behind the marks to give the fine shatter effect, and scratching long lines with a pin behind the glass for the ‘cracks’. Half of the driver’s windscreen wiper needed cutting off too, leaving part of the arm in place.
The grille had some damage added and the passenger headlight was smashed using a drill (I thought this might have been a solid lens but it’s actually a tiny thin clear plastic ‘bowl’)
Next, I filed down the metal edges around the Land Rover’s skylights on the roof and filled them in. Then I made up the back edge of the Double Cab roof with filler and sanded that to shape too. Sounds simple but it all took several hours.
I removed as much of the remaining green paint as possible by VERY careful use of paint stripper avoiding the plastic front grille and windscreen wipers (which are glued to the body and cannot be removed) and any filled areas. I didn’t use this before now because the paint allowed me to see the damage work more clearly, but in hindsight I guess it could have been done a lot earlier. The grille, windscreen and other glass areas were masked off and the whole thing primered and re-sprayed using Tamiya paints. Finding the correct colour was very tricky since the real vehicle is darker than it looks on screen mostly because of strong sunlight on it – so what do you choose, the actual darker colour or how it looks in bright sunshine? I opted for ‘aluminium gloss’, probably a bit too light but the next nearest choice ‘light gunmetal’ was far too dark IMHO.
A hole in the interior’s new pick-up bed was filled in and the bed was sprayed in body colour too.
I took the wheels off a JBCC Quantum Carabinieri Land Rover and transposed them onto the new Double Cab baseplate including little black end of axle spacers which are fully inter-changeable. I might have been able to use the Cararama pick-up’s wheels which outwardly look the same but I thought those appeared cheap and nasty in comparison, having rubber ‘inner discs’ instead of tyres. Because the Land Rover sits so high off the ground, the insides of the wheels are easily seen, so quality counts IMHO. Besides, I wanted a tall case for the model too, which the Quantum Land Rover also provided.
Painting in the details came next (black grille, rear lights, vents etc) and creating the new diorama base. For this I used the ‘market’ base from the JBCC Tuk-Tuk which I thought was ‘near as dammit’ with all the spilled oranges. All I did here was to fill in the Tuk-Tuk’s tyre tracks, reposition the crate and basket of oranges, then repaint the whole thing.
The roof rack: Originally I had a go at making this using 1.5mm brass rods, which bent to shape very well but refused to stick together using superglue. A quick check online seemed to suggest soldering was the best option but no good for me. I tried again using 1.5mm plastic rods (which I never knew existed until I did a random check on eBay) These worked a lot better with superglue, basically bending one long piece to form the outer frame, tempering the corners over a candle flame, then making 3 cross rails to fit. (There is a very useful video on YouTube on bending/heating plastic rods)
I made 9 slightly tapering plates of varying length out of 0.5mm plasticard and put them to one side. Then I taped the Land Rover’s roof rack onto a thick card which acted as a‘spacer’ and taped the card onto the model’s roof. Once I’d glued the four corner plates onto the roof rack and the roof’s guttering, I was able to slide out the spacer card leaving the roof rack suspended by the plates.
The remaining 5 plates were glued in place and the four support poles were added after cutting and shaping, the rear ones locating into holes drilled into the pick-up bed. I didn’t glue them in the holes because I wanted to keep the option open of being able to take the model apart.
Finally the figure, which is Xenia Onatopp from the Goldeneye Ferrari. This figure is dressed in almost the same outfit as Eve in Skyfall but still needed a bit of work to make her fit the short-reach driving position of the Land Rover, which involved cutting and repositioning her arms. I also re-shaped her hair and cut away her neck scarf before re-painting.
The background was of course, supplied by our Tony (thanks again!) which has been posted separately.
And there you have it, not a perfect model (I couldn’t do much about the proper pick-up tailgate, and a slightly darker silver grey spray paint would have helped) but it was the best I could manage allowing for the limited time and money I had to spend on it.
The only offputting thing to me is the need to cherry pick pieces from three other vehicles to make it, and I may have to do something else with the long cab Landy my Dad gave me on that basis. However, that is beside the point.
The detailing, hard work and effort is all there and your explanation gives a clear idea of the little odyssey this project has been for you. Using the plastic piping for the roof was inspired as metal ones would prob have made the model too heavy. In addition you made the right call on the paintwork, since the car is a reflection on the scenes its in. Just as the doorless Aston in QoS has score and dirt marks all over it, or the sub mode Boatus should really have a very fine "dulled" finish because its underwater.
I'm also pleased you referenced the "if this bit didn't work its bin time" point in the process. I have found the best pieces of model work all have that moment, its good to see it referenced, as its crushing when it does go wrong. Equally, it makes a success like this all the more enjoyable and a relief when it works, and this works!
Thank you also for your "building instructions" although I don't have the skills to replicate this. Can you estimate how long it took you to complete the model?