|
Post by Joel_W on Aug 24, 2023 9:30:32 GMT -8
Haven’t had much if any time at the bench for some time, and what time I did have, I just got bogged down in my McLaren M8B build as there’s more wrong with the kit details then right. So over the winter hopefully I can get it on the right track as it’s my all time favorite Can Am car. A few false starts and then I decided to pull down the Tamiya 1/24 scale 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL from my smallish stash. I’ve always have had a fondness for the 300 SL which started life out in 1952 as Mercedes entry back into post WWII sports car racing, and even winning LeMans in 1953. In 1954 at the New York Car show, Mercedes 1st showed their street car version with its Gull doors, and it was a hit from day one. So as my usual build sequence I started my build with the body shell: Priming, painting, clear coat, and trim work, then turning my attention to the chassis and kind of following the instruction sequence. I’m not a great fan of the Silver/Gray body with a Tan or Red interior. The car car was offered in Black, Red, White, and custom colors as per dealer. The interior as far as I could tell had a contrasting color to the exterior color. My color choice was Gravity’s Ferrari Rosso Corsa, a deep bright Red over my Mix of Tamiya White & Gray lacquer Primer. The following day I very lightly wet sanded the body and the other parts with Tamiya 3,000 Sponge. Next up was air brushing on the color coat with Gravity’s GC-107 Ferrari Rosso Corsa. When dry I was amazed that the paint was more then smooth enough for the gloss coat without the need for some lite wet sanding. So for the gloss paint session I used Tamiya lacquer LP9 thinned 1: 1.5 with Mr. Leveler #400 applied with two tack coats, two semi wet coats, and two wet coats with 10 min between each coat. The results are more then I expected. Next up is the complex tube chassis. joel
|
|
|
Post by 2whl on Aug 24, 2023 18:37:00 GMT -8
Very nice paint, Joel
|
|
|
Post by kyledehart5 on Aug 24, 2023 20:53:58 GMT -8
Rosso Corsa on a Mercedes? 🤯🤣 I love it. Looks awesome
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Aug 25, 2023 4:18:46 GMT -8
Paul, Thanks for the Thumbs up on the paint. While not up to your paint standards, it's about the best I've ever done. Can't wait to see how it all turns out with polishing and a few coats of wax. joel
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Aug 25, 2023 4:20:46 GMT -8
Kyle, Since this would have been a custom dealer paint rather then from the factory, I went with the brightest, deepest Red in my arsenal of paints. I'm positive that it would have turned even more heads back in the day.
joel
|
|
|
Post by kyledehart5 on Aug 25, 2023 12:57:14 GMT -8
Kyle, Since this would have been a custom dealer paint rather then from the factory, I went with the brightest, deepest Red in my arsenal of paints. I'm positive that it would have turned even more heads back in the day. joel I love it. Great color on this car.
|
|
|
Post by arcticwolf on Aug 26, 2023 9:44:09 GMT -8
Yup, that's red!!!!
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Aug 29, 2023 16:09:44 GMT -8
Time for the next body shell update as the tube chassis awaits for my attention. As I previously said, I felt that the Gloss finish was smooth enough not to need going through the wet sanding process from 4,000 to 12,000, so I opted for the Gravity polishing compounds. Course, then Fine, then Finish. The waxing will wait till I finish all of the painting. Here’s how the 300 SL looks after the polishing. Next up was chroming the side window frames, front windshield frame, and rear glass frame. My 1st choice was once again trying BMF, but I just struggled trying to get the BMF to stick in place as I worked it with a toothpick and Q tip. After way more then 1 hour the results were once again more then pretty poor, so off it came, and next up was hand painting with a detailing brush. I’ve seen two builds where this was the option taken and the results looked excellent. So out came The Model Aire Acrylic Silver and while I got it to cover OK, the paint was far from smooth, and just looked way to uneven. So out came a well worn piece of Tamiya 3,000 sponge wet and I very gently sanded the paint off. Fortunately, no damage to the surrounding paint. OK, it's 0-2. And now the pressure was really on. Decided to suck it up and follow my good friend Torsten led over on Aeroscale, and mask out all the frames. I used 1mm then 2 mm Tamiya tape carefully aligning it against the frames which was a feat for yours truly as I no longer see straight lines as straight. Then I used various sizes from 6, 10, 18, & 40mm to cover the body. A little liquid mask around the tight corners, and finally working my way to the back of the engine compartment I used a sandwich Ziplock bag and a little more tape. Now for the actual paint session. I wanted to go with a Chrome Silver or straight Silver and pulled 4 different shades from my Mr. Color section. All of the bottles have never been used but are going on two years old. And everyone showed evaporation issues, with two that were a complete loss. I’ve read some posts about others having these issues with lacquer paints, so Tamiya and I think Gunze came out with a Replenisher used with their LC to bring the paint back to what it originally was. How about not making us pay more for your super profitable paints and fix the bottle/lid issues that causes these problems. So I pulled out a bottle of Tamiya Chrome/Silver which was twice as old as the Mr. Color paint, as well being used all the time, and it was still at the consistency it usually is. I thinned it 2 -3 with Mr. Leveler #400, and using a .3mm Grex AB got down to work. The end results were way better then I honestly expected. Some touch up and clean up was needed but that’s it. Next up is hand painting the rubber gaskets for the engine hood, doors. Then a break from the body shell and start the tube chassis. joel
|
|
|
Post by kyledehart5 on Aug 29, 2023 19:46:35 GMT -8
Incredible! Well done
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Aug 30, 2023 4:31:20 GMT -8
Kyle, Thanks so much for your Thumbs up. I really appreciate it. joel
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Sept 9, 2023 5:53:37 GMT -8
Finally, I’ve got enough accomplished on the baby Benz 300 SL for a update. Painting all the rubber gaskets for the engine hood and doors were done by hand using a Micro fine brush and Model Color acrylic paints. Next up was dealing with all the body and doors sides as I made the dumb decision to tape them in place during painting to insure that the paint coverage was exactly the same. That goal was certainly achieved, but the issue of hand painting the sills, door jams, and insides of the frames that didn’t even have primer was a major effort. I painted them several times with the same Micro brush and Model Color Acrylic paint that over the white plastic came very close to the actual body color. And here’s the body, engine hood, and doors look. Tamiya did an excellent job of engineering the doors hinge assembly, so both doors and the hood will eventually open and close. Time for a break from the shell as there just seems to be a near endless number of detail parts to go, so I switched focus to the tube frame. Tamiya once again did a fantastic job of engineering this very complex tube frame in such a way that it just about falls together without any real issues. I found that the easiest way to accomplish this was to start at the rear mounting points and work my way forward. The tube frame, rear end, and all suspension parts were primed then painted with my mix of Tamiya Gray & White Primer. The drum brake assemblies certainly were a novelty after years of just working with disc brakes. I did have some issues figuring out how to align and correctly installing the rear drums and springs as they actually use the same mounting hole. Eventually I installed the springs but didn’t glue them but rather pushed the mounting post as far back as I could until the brake drum fit correctly. Great engineering once again, while poor eyesight prevented me from seeing the solution sooner. Next up is finally getting to the engine and drive train. joel
|
|
|
Post by arcticwolf on Sept 9, 2023 6:19:58 GMT -8
You know I have a thing for tube frames.
I really like that one. Nice work.
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Sept 9, 2023 16:23:51 GMT -8
Paul, Indeed I do. joel
|
|
|
Post by kyledehart5 on Sept 9, 2023 22:07:02 GMT -8
Joel, this is some really great stuff!! Fantastic work so far.
|
|
|
Post by Joel_W on Sept 18, 2023 8:21:05 GMT -8
Time for another update. This time it’s all about the engine and installing it in the tube chassis. Tamiya once again proved that they could mold a complex straight six Mecedes engine/transmission where all the parts are extremely well molded with sharp details on every piece, and fit like a glove. Once again, no putty or excess sanding was required. The hardest part was painting the engine/transmission where masking for Semi Gloss Black was needed for the block except where the exhaust manifolds and intake manifold attaches, and the transmission which I used one of the metallic shades of Mr. Color Aluminum. I did use the same shade of Aluminum for the fuel metering unit as well. I also used Mr. Color Semi Gloss Black for the valve cover and the block as well as for the drive shaft and the fuel tank that gets installed during these steps now. What I did have issues with is gluing up the exhausts which I painted with Tamiya Aluminum, then a dusting of Tamiya Smoke for a more dullish look to the headers. as you glue the two header pieces to the block, and then to the collector pipe. My issue is that no matter how I tried, the alignment looked wrong, so I needed to come up with a simple answer. I just popped off the front header pipe assembly and left it unglued, yet it stayed attached to the engine. After all the various pieces were detailed painted and glued to the block. came trying to shoe horn it into the chassis, which also proved to be a major issue as the hand drawn instructions just wasn’t clear enough for me to figure it out. So I checked a few Vids on you tube and one had two pics that turned on the bulb above my head. While still a challenge as I was trying to weave the collector pipe through the wrong chassis tube opening, when I got it right where it went, the engine snuggled down into place. Some Revell Contacta glue was used on the mounts to give me enough time to align the engine correctly and seat squaring on the motor mounts. A few hours later I installed the drive shaft which needs precise alignment or it doesn’t fit. There’s still a few more parts to deal with including the intake manifold, and then all the plumbing which Tamiya gives you all the major pipes. Here’s a few pictures of where I’m at. joel
|
|