Mercedes 4,5 L 1914 French GP

[Bengalensis]

Testing. Some old photo etch scrap bend to shape.

 

 

[Bengalensis]

Here we have a set of fuel lines finished. I think I can live with this. No glue at this point, so everything can be painted separately.

 

 

[harveyb258]

46 minutes ago, Bengalensis said:

I think I can live with this.

That'll do nicely.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Well done.

Do not overdo it or it will become a Borg-like car  🧟‍♂️ 

😄

[Bengalensis]

3 hours ago, harveyb258 said:

That'll do nicely.

12 minutes ago, Moa said:

Well done.

Thanks a lot gentlemen, you are most kind.

 

Having done the fuel lines all parts were pinned for primer and paint.

 

 

And now the first priming session is also over. Now trying to decide basic colours and group the parts for painting. Of course there is a good deal of fine sanding and minor cleaning up to do before and paint can be sprayed.

 

[Bengalensis]

After a bit of reorganizing and decision making I have a plan for the painting. I think. I will probably have to reconsider here and there as I go, as I just have B/W pictures in my head...

 

 

I will let the primer cure until tomorrow before sanding anything.

[Bengalensis]

I started sanding the parts in the morning and found it done fairly quickly, even though there were some smaller issues to take care of. So on to the first round of airbrushing. First the main white colour.

 

[Bengalensis]

First round of airbrushing over and done with.

 

[Bengalensis]

Detail painting progressing quite well. Some choices are a guess work as best can be done with +100 year old reference photos. More details will have to be painted during assembly.

 

 

 

Pots from good old days, still performing flawlessly. It was better back then.

 

 

The ever so boring but necessary work; masking...

 

 

At least it is rewarding to peel it off. Or it is mostly. Thankfully this was such an occasion. The wheels are referred to as black, but I mixed quite a bit of medium grey into the black to ease them up a bit. I think the choice of grey for the tyres might work. I plan a slightly darker was in the thread pattern, then the will be given an overspray of flat varnish when everything is dry.

 

 

There are no instrument decals on the sheet so I raid the scrap boxes for something useful.

 

 

These four seemed a descent match for what I needed, taking the photo etched rings to be fitted into the account.

 

 

Here is what I ended up with.

 

[Brandy]

That's a very organised painting session going on there. I wish I could say the same happened here...

 

Ian

[Bengalensis]

How complicated can a race number 28 be? Quite complicated is the answer. If you want to skip this long drivel and wait for the next posting it is OK...

 

I had not given the decals too much thought before yesterday, when I started cutting them out and checking them against the body and the reference photos I had found. The reference photos had one serious missing link. Yes, the usual one, photos clearly showing the rear end. That is with the exception of an old news paper photo from a bad angle and heavily blurred, so that it will not reveal any details. And I have spent quite a lot of time searching. But the photos did show that the numbers for the left and right top of the car where a bit too bold, and I couldn't line them up as well as I wanted. Also I need a mask for the radiator mesh instead of a decal.

 

Now this will get picky in details, and it's just because I can draw and print my own decals. If not I would probably never have started to analyze things...

 

However, as I needed to draw the front number in AutoCAD to get a mask done one way or another, I could just as well draw the top numbers, and reduce them in size for the rear end, which seemed a logical approach to how it would have been, and just print them out. After an hour or so I had my artwork done and did some test prints on paper. They looked good, but I could not line up the two top numbers with the edges of the body and the bonnet shut line. It took a while to figure out that those numbers were painted on the car with a slight slope to follow the increasing width of the body towards the cockpit. After some redrawing and the creation of left and right handed numbers for the top and a smaller neutral number for the rear I had these test prints that seemed to work very well.

 

 

This morning I loaded the decal printer and got a batch printed out. All went well so I started planning my approach to apply them. The rear end is tricky as the race number might be placed on a white background (on the white body), covering the D to some extent. This information could be drawn from photos of cars #14 of Max Sailer and #39 of Otto Salzer, which also showed the extra white backing. The problem though being that the D seemed to be on the right side on #14 and the left side on #39. There is an excellent rear view photo of car #40 of Louis Wagner in the pits, but that car was running open spare tyres without rear bodywork, so it is of no use here. I couldn't find any rear view of car #41 of Theodore Pilette, which was probably just as well as the confusion was already enough.

 

 

I couldn't let go of this and started doing searches specific for the other four Mercedes cars, instead of #28 or Christian Lautenschlager or the French GP in general. All the same photos coming up, been there, seen that, until suddenly it is there just in front of me. #28 with Christian Lautenschlager and mechanic Ernst Hemminger accelerating away from the photographer. 28 on white backing towards the left and D towards the right. It is in the Mercedes Benz archives that I have already searched, but it will not show up when I search directly. At last this is settled. Except that the rear number is not like the bonnet numbers, it is bolder... Actually very much like that on the decal sheet, which even fit in size...

 

So I end up with this choice of decals for the rear, both from the kit's decal sheet and an extra white backing.

 

 

Here is the right hand side and the front. Just to complicate things further I decided to use the front number as an excuse, and have now ordered me a digital cutting machine and masking sheets. If it works as planned I can just export the CAD-file to the cutter software and get the mask done. We'll see...

 

 

And here we have the left hand side. I will need to darken the bonnet hinges with some paint.

 

 

I have difficulties with that white background at the rear. Why was it like this, on white cars, with the other numbers painted directly on the white body, and a different style? Could it be a thin plate with the numbers on? That could also explain the different white shade, the covering of the D, and why it seems to dirty up differently from the rest of the rear end. I decided to try this and cut a square from 0,13 mm sheet styrene instead of white decal film.

 

 

I sprayed it with Tamiya white in the hope it would be a brighter white than the body, which luckily it turned out to be. I think this will be the approach.

 

 

Will it now be possible to just get those decals over and done with?

[Codger]

Jorgen - the highest compliment I can pay is that you should be hired by FPPM to build all of his prototype models. This is what he meant for them to look like - the real thing.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

It is to be expected that you will find reference photos of every angle but the one you need to clarify a point of.

As usual, you are adoing a veritable thorough job.

 

[Bengalensis]

@Moa @Codger Thanks for your kind words of encouragement. With an interesting subject and history it is easier to put in a little additional effort into things like this.

 

I masked off and dry brushed the bonnet hinges to darken them down a little.

 

 

Then the decals were applied. A ridiculously quick affair in comparison to the preparations leading up to this.

 

 

The rear number is of course not glued yet, that will have to wait until the body is fixed to the frame.

 

[JeroenS]

That's looking very smart. I always like the research part too, you can get lost for hours, too bad you can't always find what you wanted in the first place. 

[Pete in Lincs]

It's a lovely little thing. Those seats look very comfortable.

[Bengalensis]

15 hours ago, JeroenS said:

That's looking very smart. I always like the research part too, you can get lost for hours, too bad you can't always find what you wanted in the first place. 

Thanks Jeroen. The research is half the fun in these cases; it brings so much more to the build.

15 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

It's a lovely little thing. Those seats look very comfortable.

Thanks Pete. They were racing for over seven hours, so a little bit of comfort might have been a good thing.

 

In the time of the race the leaf springs were wrapped with thin rope or cord, probably sisal rope. First I thought a visit to sewing shop would be called for. Then I remembered I should have rigging thread from Amati for sail ship models that I bought some years ago, that could be just the type I was looking for. Sure enough, in the stash, in the 1/150 Heller Preussen kit, there were a number of different sizes added to the box.

 

 

I bought the thread from Cornwall Model Boats when I built Airfix Vasa: https://www.cornwallmodelboats.co.uk/acatalog/amati_rigging_thread.html

I thought this one would be worth a try.

 

 

First I cut a piece that was too short and had to start again, but after a bit of work I had this. I have to cut some 55-60 cm thread for half a leaf spring to be able to work it, and about half of that ends up on the spring. A surprising amount I think. I have to do a few tight turns, then secure on the backside with a tiny amount of CA before continuing. It would have been nice to do this on separate springs, but that is a luxury I don't have in this case.

 

 

Dry fitting to see how it looks. Good enough for my needs I think, so it's one half done and only seven more to go...

 

[JeroenS]

Indeed I've seen the wrapped springs before, did they do that to keep dirt out? 

[Bengalensis]

49 minutes ago, JeroenS said:

Indeed I've seen the wrapped springs before, did they do that to keep dirt out? 

The springs were often lubricated with grease between the blades and the wrapping indeed helped keeping grease in and dirt out. Back then almost the full course was made up from public dirt roads, albeit prepared for the race, so protection must have been a good idea.

 

Another reason for wrapping leaf springs tightly is to stiffen them up a bit, like you want to firm up your old Model T speedster a little more, using the springs already fitted.

[Bengalensis]

That's the rear end done. To my surprise I didn't break the thin resin parts anywhere. As a reward for my hard work I also fitted the shock absorbers and brakes.

 

 

[GerryW]

I've only just discovered this build and after reading through the posts I am in awe of the beautiful detailing that has taken place. A work of art. 

 

Gerry

[Bengalensis]

1 hour ago, GerryW said:

I've only just discovered this build and after reading through the posts I am in awe of the beautiful detailing that has taken place. A work of art.

Thank you very much Gerry, you are most kind.

 

Eventually it had to happen. My concentration slipped for a tiny moment, I lost my hold, which resulted in too much pressure on the opposite spring. It was however a nice clean break that was easy to glue. And to my surprise it held up fine while finishing the wrapping.

 

 

With the front springs wrapped I could glue the front axle in place. Then I jigged up the chassis so I could make two distance pieces to put between the leaf springs and the frame, forcing the front axle to the correct height at both sides. They would be there while the glue for the shock absorbers set, securing the whole assembly so the distance pieces could removed.

 

 

I have been somewhat suspicious of the steering link all the time. When time came for the final and precise fit it was no joy, and when it finally snapped off during my attempts to tweak it I felt it was just as well. I cut off and saved both ends, glued them in place, and then bent a new link from soldering wire that fitted as desired. Should have done that right away.

 

 

After touching everything up I have this finished front suspension. So far so good.

 

[PROPELLER]

A new challenge for a wizard with resin...

Gorgeous!

Dan.

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

I know you, you just break things when we are not looking to make them better!

😋

[Bengalensis]

2 hours ago, PROPELLER said:

A new challenge for a wizard with resin...

Gorgeous!

Thanks Dan, you are very kind.

1 hour ago, Moa said:

I know you, you just break things when we are not looking to make them better!

Have I been revealed? 😎

 

Assembly of the cockpit has started, and some other small parts. Soon the body will join the frame, but it will be for tomorrow. Now we will open a good bottle of wine or two, have some good food and see some good - old - film perhaps.