Jump to content

Mercedes W196 Scratch Build


Recommended Posts

Hello again

Well, this is the last in my planned trilogy of scratch built F1 cars from the 50's.   The other two were my Lancia D50 and the Maserati 250F.    To me these 3 were the best looking of that era but feel free to disagree.    For those who care about scale all three are about 1/18th (+ or -).

Again, the body is carved from Renshape and all other parts are made from found materials but it is 100% hand made.

In researching the car I quickly learned that it went through many changes from race to race over its 2 year life span and I couldn't find any "official" plans of any version.   In the end I drew my own plans and just arbitrarily chose which features I'd include or leave out ... at my age you can do that!   There were different exhaust lengths, a multitude of different holes appeared and disappeared all over the body, different shapes of scoops and even that iconic "nostril" wasn't on the earliest cars.   Those early cars had inboard brake drums too which lasted until they went on a weight saving campaign and moved them to the wheels.   So the bottom line is that my car is a smorgasborg of shapes and parts all of which did appear on the car but just maybe not at the same time!   So, if you're really anal about how the car should look ... feel free to drop me a comment but I'm not going to change it!   LOL.

 

I did make an effort to replicate that tartan they used on the seats in the fifties and found that Mercedes has recently reproduced the 3 varieties that were used.   I chose the closest pattern/colour combo and re-sized it to my scale then my wife (a quilter) showed me how to print it on fine fabric in my ink-jet printer ... worked a charm!

 

I haven't done a build log as this one is very similar in process to the other 50's cars.   I did take quite a few pictures and I could post some if anyone needs more info.

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Frank

 

48554015656_263979219f_c.jpg

 

48539251667_c036e27cc9_c.jpg

 

48554167027_fcb7579e1e_c.jpg

 

48554156087_a5fe338d54_c.jpg

 

Three from the Fifties ...

 

48539374811_c2b56701e7_c.jpg

 

Here's the fabric I printed for the seat ...

 

48554027581_7acff37e35_z.jpg

 

 

Edited by albergman
Duplicate picture
  • Like 18
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I'm being honest, I'd say the wheelbase appears a bit short. :chair:

 

Being further honest, that is a wonderful job of carving ren with a beautiful surface finish. Superb scratchbuilding. In all a great smorgasborg. :cheers:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Codger

I agree that the wheelbase looks a bit compressed but I think it's a trick of the camera (I just used my tablet).   You had me diving for my calipers and here's how it checks out.

In reality (according to F1technical.net) the car is 4025 mm long with 3 possible wheelbases ... 92, 87.5 and 85 inches or 2337, 2222 and 2159 mms.   I chose the longest.

My model is 231 mm long with a 133 mm w/b.

 

If we divide the real length by model length 4025/231 we get 17.4.

 

Dividing the real wheelbase by that scale (2337/17.4) we get 134 so I'm short by 1 mm!

 

To be honest, when I epoxied the front wheel module (wheels, suspension and a joining block) into the cavity of the body I just eyeballed it so I could easily be out a mm or more.

Thanks for the comment.

 

Frank

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fantastic work Frank.

 

Funnily enough It was only a couple of days ago that I was looking at plans of one of these and idly wondering if I should bash one together one day. 

 

A great collection you have made here, very inspiring.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
16 minutes ago, Cooper645 said:

Excellent work. 3 stunning pieces. I like the printing onto fabric idea to. Would never have thought about it, but definitely something to store away in the good ideas bank. 

Thanks Cooper.  Fabric printing is not hard to do after you massage the pattern on the computer down/up to the scale you want to print.    The secret that my wife showed me is to find a fine weave fabric (tighter weave will take better details) and use a steam iron to press it onto what is known here in Canada as "freezer paper".    This is a strong, waxy paper literally used to wrap foods prior to freezing.    Amazingly, the fabric will bond to it (I'm guessing that the wax melts under the heat).    Trim the bonded material down to an 8.5 x 11 (A4 size) and run it through your inkjet printer.   Job done.

On 8/27/2019 at 5:56 PM, caterhamnut said:

Beautiful models in the true traditional way of modelling! 

I am inspired to have a go someday...way too few models of the Silver Arrows...

Thanks too C'nut.   Love to see you have a go at it ... Bandsaw Steve has got his daughter scratchbuilding a steam engine so there's the gauntlet thrown down LOL!

  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your excellent models remind me of the late Rex Hays who carved many of his models from wood.  Nice era for interesting racing cars. Scratch building gives a lot of satisfaction having completed 2 models with a third on the go. Lovely to see old style craftsmanship is alive and well with your models

All the best Noel Smith

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...