1924 India Pattern Rolls Royce Armored Car

ACTION FIGURES AT WAR

1924 Pattern Rolls Royce Armored Car

Research material on this vehicle is difficult at best to find. I have seen something like two pictures of it, all distant desert shots and this picture above of a 1/72nd scale model is pretty good actually. There are also about a couple dozen pictures of the other models built on this same chassis. Fortunately George Bradford makes plans in 1/35th scale for this model which are quite good and this vehicle looks to be fairly easy to do. This version was used early in the African desert by the British forces.

I have been doing some research and have decided after I finish this vehicle I might do another version, the tender. That will be a perfect vehicle for my 1920/30's adventurers!

Here is a link to George Bradford's 1/35th scale plans. They are quite a value at $2 each and I highly recommend them. Mr. Bradford also makes plans in 1/48, 1/72 and 1/76 as well.

George Bradford 1/35 scale plans

Here is a link to very good detail pictures of an earlier model of the Rolls Royce Armored Car. This is the type used by Lawrence of Arabia.

Rolls Royce Armored Car November 2000 review

PICTURES TO FOLLOW AS WORK PROGRESSES

6/2/2002

I started with a one page sheet of plans in 1/35th scale purchased from George Bradford by JD Finney. I am building this vehicle for JD in a trade we have worked out. My first step was to enlarge the plans on a copier to 1/6 scale and print out as many reference pictures as I could.

Unlike the Vickers Tanks, I will not be making one of these for my collection so all my pictures will be leading up to the end of the building process. Hopefully after that I will be including a web link to JD Finney's site for final painting pictures. JD Finney will be doing the final painting and customizing of this vehicle.

6/4/02

Second day at work. I have already cut out the bottom of the Armored Car and started installing panels for the back and front. It's starting to take shape, but what shape isn't very clear yet. I already am considering problems that were not apparent at first like how deep the cargo bed is in back! I'll probably have to wing it on that one. The cool thing about this project is how fast it is going and how much detail I can put on it. More to follow.

6/5/02

Major problem. With pictures of the real thing, it is obvious I am going to have to make some changes to my work to date. Fortunately the pictures have come early enough to control the damage. I think I can get by without redoing the front end, but I will definately have to do some chopping on the rear end. I will put this off though until I get the center section done so the model is strong enough to take all the cutting. At this time I have started working on the radiator and put up the other side of the engine compartment.

6/8-6/11/02

Did some checking with another picture and discovered that Bradford's plans are not that inaccurate at all. Great news! I don' t have a big chopping project in the works. The work is coming along nicely at the moment. I have the engine compartment done now and am getting ready to build the crew's compartment next. It's starting to look like a soap box derby car.

6/12/02

Started working on the storage bed in the back of the vehicle. I am building this part out of wood as I believe they did in the real vehicle. Most of this vehicle was armored but much of the back appears to have been done from wood.