Spirit of Extacy (Restoration thread)

Well, as I am about to finish three of my projects anytime soon, I thought about making a new one (and secondly make a thread about this, as I always like to see progress threads, I figure you guys might also like it.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/193241rolls1.jpg
Anyway, this is the "before" picture, it's the 1/24 th Minicraft kit, roiginally just a promotional model whith close to none real detail, but describing one of the most bulky , British and cool cars ever to be made IMO.

The car is the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, dating from the year 1958.
I don't have that lot of information about it, but I do have a lot of MB worth of reference pictures about this mastodont.

The model itself has very little detail , both in and out.
I built this car about 5 years ago, and did a pour job.
The glasses have been glued on with way too much glue and the interior has been sloppily painted, trying to make some kind of wood-paint :rolleyes: .
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/760744rolls2.jpg
The detail on teh underside is abominable, but this is understandable , it was only built as a promotional model and only to give an idea how the real car looks .

The Restoration.

I first have taken all the bits and pieces apart.
Many of those will be re-built using nicer, more detailed bits from the parts box.
As you might see, a lot of the parts (lights, taillights) have not even glass parts on them, so these parts will more then probably be hollowed out and there will be put some glass in front of them.

The body (the nicest thing about this sucky kit :rolleyes: ; is really :licker: . It has got nice proportions and looks like the real deal.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/499569rolls4.jpg
The grille will be de-chromed (how??? ) and re-chromed with alclad or testors, as will all of the chrome parts.
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/723519rolls3.jpg
Also, I will try to detail the underside, with poseable steering and exhaust system .http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/515106rolls6.jpg
The interior will be done in creamy white and I 'll try to make some kind of wood -like paint (maybe decals ? )
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/533082rolls5.jpg http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/164266rolls7.jpg

Hope I didn't bore you!

Olivier

Cool project! I have a site to send you about replicating wood, I'll have to do it later. :)

Good luck with the restoration :) :D
Take your time and it can be a masterpiece.

At first look, I missed the title.
You know, Extasy, Exta-no, ...
Cherrymoon, La Bush, Zillion, ... :D :jump: :D
You know what I mean ;)

Very cool keep us posted! you can strip the chrome off of the grill with castrol super clean degreaser.

Take your time, pay close attention to paint/bodywork/clean construction and detailing tricks and you will have a masterpiece.

Because even most Rolls Royces are basically just like the model, exquisite paint/bodywork/detailing on what is basically a very basic, ho-hum set of innards. It's all in the presentation, underneath it's just a car. Simple models like this are fun to detail out so that you forget the humble beginnings.:)

Maybe you can find a little jar of Grey Poupon mustard to sit in the back seat on a scratchbuilt picnic table...;)