Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe: Revell, 1/24

[JamesPerrin]

It's moments like that that prove whether you're a modelling lion or modelling mouse....

You're mane is looking particularly fluffy tonight Matt

[mattbacon]

...and you know exactly how fluffy my "mane" ever gets... ta, James... I'm just glad it's over!
Here's the state of the workbench tonight. The main assemblies are coming together:




The cabin looks very bright and shiny, doesn't it..? It must have been eye-watering to cruise long distances in!

I thought I'd experiment with the fit, and I'm impressed:


It looks as though the three frame rods will need a minimum of fettling to get them into their sockets - this is just pressed together, with the floor of the tub clipped onto the locating studs on the chassis frame.



The eagle-eyed will notice that I've given the engine a wash to pop the detail a bit more... thanks to MidMazar, on another forum, for the suggestion.

With luck, I'll have the rolling chassis complete tomorrow, and can move on to finalising the bodywork -- there are some doors to build, and working hinges to, err... make work.

bestest,
M.

[mattbacon]

The chassis is finished, now, except for that fragile and easy to knock off mirror!




Irritatingly, a managed to crack an A-pillar when I lost my grip on the thing while polishing, so that's setting. The air intake screen is the kit part, washed and drybrushed. I wasn't sanguine about getting the decal to settle down over it, and it's a very fine mesh - definitely not a hole with some coffee filter in it. If you wanted to scratch one, it'd be a #-shaped frame with some tights stretched over it and painted silver...

Doors next...

bestest,
M.

[mattbacon]

Slow progress, but progress nevertheless... a milestone today, anyway:


Body and chassis ready to bring together. The glass is surrounded by a multilayered rubber and chrome seal, so I painted the edges black, then used a silver Gundam marker, and finally blackened the rim on the bodyshell. I was surprised by how well the glass fitted, generally, including the light fairings. Shame I couldn't say the same for the lights themselves.


Added a few more tubes/cables to the engine to busy it up a little

And finally...


It looks a bit like a mummy - I wanted to leave the tape on until the chassis was set, to avoid popping things out as I flexed the body. It actually fits remarkably well!

It'll be interesting to see if the bonnet and doors open properly now - they did when I test fitted, but only after a lot of paring down of the bonnet hinge...

bestest,
M.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Your work is just so impressive !!!

[JamesPerrin]

Look forward to seeing this one err... unwrapped!

[JohnRatzenberger]

Look forward to seeing this one err... unwrapped!

But my compliment, just above, WAS for the tape ...

[mattbacon]

Thanks, John and James... this is it, now!

Fit of the chassis and body is excellent; fit around the doors and bonnet is abysmal. Anyway, here she is...









And a couple with its "grandson"...


... the Uhlenhaut seems like a big car until you put it next to the SLS...

If I were doing another one, I'd fix all the parts of the doors together (inner, outer and window frame) very firmly, with plastic cement, before painting, and live with the masking that entails, because the door structure is very flexible and fragile. I'd also take a lot more care when fitting the glass to keep the glue where it needs to be and nowhere else, and be aware (and careful) of the thin and fragile A-pillars holding the roof. Rigging the spaceframe so that all the wheels are on the round is a challenge (which I didn't _quite_ meet). Follow the instructions strictly about which inner faces of the wheels are back and front. The four parts are NOT identical, though they look it at first glance - there are spacers on the back wheels and not the front. I found this out the hard way! So... if you strip the chrome, don't do it all in one batch - put the parts for each wheel in a separate bath of your chosen stripper...

All in all, this was a challenging build, and I'm now looking forward to something more straightforward - a Fujimi Aventador, maybe

bestest,
M.

[JamesPerrin]

Another excellent and interesting build Matt. I see what you mean about the fit of the doors. The passenger side is awful and so volunteers itself to be positioned open.

[bromo]

Your builds just get better Matt you must have quite a collection by now?

[Jagewa]

Matt, a lovely build, really enjoy your motor builds, the finishing skill is wonderful.

Cheers
Jim