Lanchester Armored car

[brosen1953]

Hi All
I thought I would share a mini diorama I made for a friend's 67th birthday. He loves the movie Lawrence of Arabia which we saw as kids back in the sixties and has seen it many times since.

In the movie, there is a great scene where General Allenby tells Lawrence that he wants hims to be part of his big push on Damascus. An exhausted Lawrence replies "I don't want to be part of your big push!"

The diorama I created is supposed to evoke that scene even though what I made is not actually accurate. The movie scene took place in a room, not outside and the armored car actually shown in another scene in the movie was a Rolls Royce, not a Lanchester.

However, this Fiddlers Green model is very effective in portraying the spirit of the object and the situation as opposed to a very accurate replication. Thats why I like them. I used the figures that came with the model and added the quote, putting everything in a small acrylic case. I hope my friend likes it.

[Vinalssergio155]

Your friend will be very happy for your gift, beautiful gesture of friendship. And very beautiful your diorama.A greeting

[brosen1953]

Thanks so much! That was very kind of you

[Burning Beard]

The Fiddlers Green Lanchester is a nice little kit, you did a wonderful job on it. Use of the Fiddlers Green characters was a good call, their figures usually have a wonderful portrayal of whimsy that take the edge off of a serious subject.

Mike

[Kevin WS]

Nice model. And as Mike has indicated, the Fiddlers Green models have that certain charm that is idea for a gift. l

[Don Boose]

Beautiful work on this WWI classic. I have built the FG Lanchester, and it went together very well, although my craftsmanship was not as good as yours.

Don

[brosen1953]

Thanks Don, Having played around with FG models for a while, I thought I would offer 3 tips that helped me in construction:

1. I think the models go together better if you cut off the tabs and glue a separate connection strip between joints and sections of the model.

2. FG models have no interior framing. This makes it hard to keep things aligned and straight. I find that adding some simple formers/bracing inside helps a great deal.

3. I have been trying to get away from wet glues like PVA as I don't like the mess, squeeze out, wrinkling and difficulty of re positioning.

What I've been doing lately that seems to work is using a good quality glue stick, double sided tape or Elmer's craft bond rubber cement to secure the pieces together . The pieces can be re-positioned if you don't press down hard till things are aligned properly.

Then to secure things, I run a super thin line of glue along the joint like a weld line, usually using Roket Card glue from a needle tip dispenser or fine syringe. The glue is fairly thin. If there is any glue evident afterwards I touch up with acrylic paint/ or oil pastels.

I've picked up many tips from this board and hope these are useful
Best
Barry

[Don Boose]

All good advice, although in the past I have found that rubber cement turns paper brown with age. That was true at least in the 1950s. Modern formulations may not have that problem.

Don

[brosen1953]

The stuff I mentioned, Elmer’s craft bond is acid free and is supposed to not cause browning. I’ll confirm that with you in ten years