Rolls Royce Armoured Car/ Silver Ghost launched today

[Armortek]

We are very pleased to announce the launch of our latest Limited Edition 1/6th scale kits – that’s right .. plural .. not just one, but three kits:
• a 1914 Rolls-Royce Armoured Car,
• a 1914 Silver Ghost chassis complete with the 40/50 hp engine, and
• the 40/50 hp engine, sold with a presentation stand and working radiator fan.

In addition, for the first time, Armortek will be offering the Silver Ghost Chassis and the 40/50hp Engine as pre-built and painted kits.

Attention to detail

With detailed measurements taken from the Rolls-Royce Armoured Car at the Tank Museum in the UK and from several Silver Ghost chassis at AJ Glew, prestige Rolls-Royce restorers in the UK, as well as expert input from Pierce Reid (part of the team that identified Lawrence of Arabia’s Silver Ghost), Armortek’s model faithfully replicates the original and features:
• Iconic 1914 style spoked wheels, radiator grill and fish tail exhaust;
• Prototypical front and rear suspension with torsion tube;
• Detailed engine with working radiator fan;
• Options to add full radio control motion, turret rotation and gun movements as well as realistic high definition sound.
The kits have broken new ground and represent Armortek’s most detailed products ever - from the 0.8mm lettering on the stainless steel steering wheel controls, to the bronze cast engine and chassis details, to the special kit to build the impressive spoked wheels !

Specifications

The approximate specs are:
• Rolls-Royce Armoured Car: Weight 18kg (40lbs); 2300 components; Length 83cm (32”), Width 32cm (12”)
• Silver Ghost Chassis and Engine: Weight 10.5kg (23 lbs); 2200 components; Length 86cm (34”), Width 32cm (12”)
• 40/50 hp Engine: Weights 2.2kg (5 lbs); 420 components; Length 21cm (8”), Width 10cm (4”)
The models are Limited Editions and come with numbered chassis & engines and a certificate of authenticity.

Pricing and availability

The price of the Armoured Car kit is £2,950 plus tax and shipping.
The price of the Silver Ghost chassis and engine kit is £2,950 plus tax and shipping. The prebuilt version starts from £4,450 plus tax and shipping.
The price of the 40/50 hp engine kit is £650. The prebuilt version starts from £1,150 plus tax and shipping.

Reservations open today with shipping expected to commence from March 2018.

To reserve your kit, contact us at sales@armortek.co.uk

[Stephen White]

What an innovative, attractive and exceptional model choice. Wonderful. If this is diversity at work, Roll on...... Panzer free zone. I’m now allowed to add that it will be on public show for the first time at the SW Model Show,, Winter Edition, at the Tank Museum, 10/11th Feb.

Fear Naught.

Stephen

[Armortek]

Many thanks Stephen - not sure we will ever be going panzer free, but it has been a lot f fun getting to this point.

Kian

[Armortek]

Armortek pushing the envelope ..... and aiming for the classic car market as well ! Hope it hits all the targets.

A couple of questions, though:

1. What are the 'limited numbers' of each type ?

2. Will the Armoured Car be fully motorised (wheels and turret) and r/c'd ? Is there room in there for all the boxes (including sound but, personally, I wouldn't bother with a smoker) and a motor ?

An impressed,

Chris

To answer the questions:
1. Still to be determined.
2. Armoured car will have motion and sound option packs. Will look into the smoker in the next couple of weeks as it will need repackaging. Motion pack will enable steering, rear wheel drive and turret turn.
Initial estimates give us a run time of more than 5 hours with a 5Ah battery !!

Kian

[Robert Reid]

What an awesome release! Though I am biased... More on that later.

I don't think it gets more British... or better-armoured than an Admiralty-Pattern Rolls-Royce Armoured car! The vehicle that sort of kicked off the whole mechanized battlefield! And 100 years to the day (almost... Jan 22, 1918) since Lawrence of Arabia, Dawnay and the rest of the merry band started to put them to great use in the Hejaz? 100 years ago, they were ripping up railroads, blowing up bridges and making life otherwise miserable for the Central powers...

Not to the mention, they were in use until WW2... all over the World. And when the Ghost chassis were long in tooth, the Armour got pulled off and refitted to Ford chassis. Rolls-Royce armoured cars were part of the first 'combined operations' in WW1 and took part in one of the first real modern "Hostage Rescue's" when they saved the crew of HMS Tara. Served in France, West Africa (present-day Namibia), India, Iraq (where Kermit Roosevelt, son of Theodore Roosevelt served with a squadron)... they were the armoured rock stars of the Great War! Hard to get more iconic than this famous shape!

Can't wait to build this kit! Or should I say all three! It will be my first "big" Armortek kit (I have a 25 pdr, a limber and a PAK40). But this is going to be an amazing build! My order(s) are already in!

And as for Panzer-free? I bet that is the furthest thing from the minds of the folks at Armortek... Just think of this one as the Grobvater aller Panzers!

Cheers,

RPR

[laurent ROSSET]

"late Edwardian, early Georgian" as the people on the Antic Road show would say!

[Graham Hough]

Fantastic, what an excellent choice for the next model. I want one. I may have to sell one (or more) of my motorbikes to afford one.

[Dave Dibb (Armorpax)]

Wow!

[Robert Reid]

Wow!

E-Mail inbound, Dave!

Cheers,

RPR

[Steve Lewington]

What a fantastic choice of model i scratched built one of these in 1/32 scale in the seventies from the airfix roles Royce kit.
So in 1/6th it would be awesome ho i would love one of these

[Phil Woollard]

More info reference the detail please Armortek like the spoke wheels, they look totally to scale and must very delicate and a nightmare to lace up, this must be the most accurate model to date......super detailing may be the way forward. It looks like museum quality to me, love it.

[Robert Reid]

What a fantastic choice of model i scratched built one of these in 1/32 scale in the seventies from the airfix roles Royce kit.
So in 1/6th it would be awesome ho i would love one of these

They are just great models/kits, whether the Rodan's or any of the others. There's just never been one like this! It's a must!

I've built a whole bunch of different armoured cars... from tiny 1/72nd Britannia-metal kits to my latest, built last fall, a 1/32nd Scale-link. Another great company! And I did a replica tender on another 1/32nd kit.



I have not done any weathering... I'm still learning how to do that. And don't want to mess this up until I get better at it. But had a blast building it! First thing I built in my new model 'shop' last year after I remodeled the barn attic to include a real 'space' for modeling.

Already clearing the decks for the RR Armoured Car from Armortek!

Cheers,

RPR

[Armortek]

A few photographs of the prototype model. Production now underway - over 2,000 components per kit :

[Pete Mallett]

Those of you thinking of buying one of these should now be thinking of hitting the bay and getting hold of the DiD John Coleman Vickers MG before the sellers began to realise their desirability for these models and up the prices. The DiD Vickers is a wee work of art (if you can get past the badly assembled tripod - an easy fix though) so do grab them if you can!

Pete

BTW - absolutely lovely looking model and the engine kit is a lfantastic addition! Ever considered making a Rolls Royce Merlin Engine, or the RR Meteor Engine (a Merlin with the Supercharger removed). I'd love a working model of a Merlin Engine for my desk, with a big ol Wooden propeller attached. I probably wouldn't get much work done, I'd just sit there and spin up the engine all day long!

[Adrian Harris]

I love the way the front mudguards jigsaw together but is there a relief under them or are they solid ?

Is that needed to ensure there is enough weight over the front axle for steering ?

Adrian