Mercedes W154, German GP '38

[Bengalensis]

The ignition wiring tubes have been made, here dry fitted together with the water pipes.

 

 

I also started the 90° tube connections at the end of the cam covers, but this can't be finished until the new compressor setup is in place.

 

 

I cleaned up the exhaust pipes, their shape is quite good, but at Ø1,7-1,8 they appear just a little thin. I thought I'd make new ones about Ø2 mm. But also it's just not possible to tuck them in under the rear end as they should be, as they are pushed too low by the body.

 

 

The more I looked at photos from Nürburgring -38 the more it became clear some radical surgery is needed to fix this. The lower rear section of the body, starting in front of the cockpit, needs to lose a good deal of weight I think...

 

[Sabrejet]

Looking really nice: I like the look of these kits but keep finding other things I need more urgently!

[Vesa Jussila]

3 hours ago, Bengalensis said:

needs to lose a good deal of weight

Weight is race car's enemy number one.  But Nice work there. I really like to get this kit too. But have already quite many projects.

[Bengalensis]

1 hour ago, Sabrejet said:

Looking really nice: I like the look of these kits but keep finding other things I need more urgently!

 

46 minutes ago, Vesa Jussila said:

Weight is race car's enemy number one.  But Nice work there. I really like to get this kit too. But have already quite many projects.

 

Thanks a lot guys.

There's always so much one wants to buy, isn't it. And while buying only a fraction of it, one still find oneself with a huge stash, too many projects and too little time. It's all so very strange...

[Sabrejet]

1 hour ago, Bengalensis said:

 

 

Thanks a lot guys.

There's always so much one wants to buy, isn't it. And while buying only a fraction of it, one still find oneself with a huge stash, too many projects and too little time. It's all so very strange...

 

I think I'll be going for the Alfa P2 when the time comes

[Bengalensis]

1 hour ago, Sabrejet said:

 

I think I'll be going for the Alfa P2 when the time comes

A most excellent choice

[Bengalensis]

And here is the new slimmer rear bottom profile as I interpret it. The reshape actually started a bit behind the firewall, but the major work is from the centre of the cockpit and backwards. The floor piece also had to be modified to sit right and have a new higher rear section fitted. As I worked on the shape and looked at the result from different angles a few other things in the rear end I have scratched my head about also fell in place.

 

 

Now it was much easier, or at least much less difficult, to shape and fit new exhaust pipes from 2 mm soldering wire. I moved the bracket position down a bit to better match reference photos.

 

 

I think it will look OK when she comes up on her wheels with the right ground clearance. We'll see what further work will be needed on the rear floor section when work on the rear axle and suspension starts.

 

 

The routing seen from below. No doubt small adjustments will be needed later on.

 

 

The whole arrangement is rather fragile. In order to get some rigidity I'm cheating with small metal pins drilled into the pipes that fit into holes at the edge of the body in front of the rear axle. This way I think the pipes might actually survive some careful handling of the finished model.

 

 

The more I work in this model the more the shapes of the 1938 W154 is coming to me. It's such a sleek and beautiful machine...

[silver911]

Great craftsmanship...and neat solutions to tricky problems.

 

Ron

[Malc2]

Great stuff, there is nothing more satisfying than making big corrections to a resin model and seeing the finished result is much better than the original offering!

 

M.

[keefr22]

Excellent remedial work there Jörgen, your new exhausts look far more in keeping for such a powerful racing car!

 

Keith

[Bengalensis]

@silver911 @Malc2 @keefr22 Thanks a lot guys for the kind praise, you are most kind.

 

Today another tiny featherweight package arrived, this carrying the new, or rather older, compressor setup, or at least something giving that impression.

 

[Bengalensis]

While working on the Alfa Romeo I also did some careful surgery to remove the two stage compressor setup, and the twin setup could then be trial fitted. It seemed quite OK. I'm also cleaning up and filling the rear axle parts.

 

 

It will even fit the engine bay as I hoped.

 

[Sabrejet]

Lovely blend of old-school scratch-building and cutting-edge fettling going on here

[Vesa Jussila]

Nice piece of art there.

[Pete in Lincs]

And that is me caught up on another of your wonderful builds. I seem to have missed the start. 

As always, it's very impressive stuff, with accuracy in the forefront.

I love the new (old) compressor set up and could probably find uses for about ten of them in Sci Fi builds!

Those wheels are a thing of beauty too.

[Bengalensis]

21 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

Lovely blend of old-school scratch-building and cutting-edge fettling going on here

Thanks a lot.

Both can mix quite well together. I really enjoy working the old school resin parts, my best moments at the modelling work bench are spent with that, yet I happily resort to latest tech if it will help me with a quick additional part.

 

10 hours ago, Vesa Jussila said:

Nice piece of art there.

Thank a lot Vesa, glad you like it

 

9 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

And that is me caught up on another of your wonderful builds. I seem to have missed the start. 

As always, it's very impressive stuff, with accuracy in the forefront.

I love the new (old) compressor set up and could probably find uses for about ten of them in Sci Fi builds!

Those wheels are a thing of beauty too.

Thanks a lot Pete, you're most kind.

You're of course correct, that part has a certain Sci-Fi feeling, possibly even with a light touch of steam punk, to it. And why not, the Millennium Falcon was filled with parts like this

[Bengalensis]

 

As I had a batch of 2K surfacer mixed up for air brushing the Alfa Romeo bonnet parts I could just as well give all parts for the W154 I had made ready and that needed it a spraying session. With spraying done I spent some time using the left over mix and a small paint brush to manually fill a number of tiny casting pinholes in the seat, as happens now and then with small production resin castings, so it can be sanded ready for paint in one go.

 

 

The parts for the rear suspension and the wheels have been cleaned up and prepared so I can start some trial fitting.

 

[klubman01]

That's coming on nicely.  The new (old) compressors look very good, and combine with the existing engine parts nicely.

Trevor

[keefr22]

That seat looks more comfortable than the armchairs in our living room!

 

More good progress Jörgen, and I have to agree on how good the wheels look!

 

Keith

[Bengalensis]

11 hours ago, klubman01 said:

That's coming on nicely.  The new (old) compressors look very good, and combine with the existing engine parts nicely.

Thanks a lot Trevor. I think the different modelling technologies will blend together in the end.

 

8 hours ago, keefr22 said:

That seat looks more comfortable than the armchairs in our living room!

 

More good progress Jörgen, and I have to agree on how good the wheels look!

Thanks a lot Keith. The seat is indeed not looking very much race car, but perhaps it helped during long races.

[Bengalensis]

Test fitting of the rear axle parts revealed surprisingly few problems. Good for now.

 

 

 

Wind screen frame, mirrors and fuel cap are cleaned up and test fitted.

 

 

The work on the front axle parts have started, cutting, cleaning, filling, sanding...

 

[Vesa Jussila]

Are suspension spring rates also in scale?

[Bengalensis]

23 hours ago, Vesa Jussila said:

Are suspension spring rates also in scale?

 Haha, I'm relying on the calculations for the Nürburgring suspension setup that Pinto has made

[Kitkent]

That's a really impressive model,looking like a real racecar now as well. Chris.

[Bengalensis]

All the front axle parts are done. A little test fit of the springs.

 

 

Knock off wheel nuts also ready for paint.

 

 

There are three bonnet hooks on each side, and for each one there should be a small bulge in the bodywork. I glued some Evergreen 0,88 mm rods cut at a suitable angle and finished them off and drilled the holes when the glue had set.

 

 

On the underside of the nose there should be what looks like a tiny air scoop. I shaped it from a piece of 4x1 mm Evergreen strip and glued in place, with further sanding and blending after glue cured. Yes, I should have taken another photo, maybe later if I remember...

 

 

Here is another detail I have to fix. On the right side are two flanges, they look like small sight glasses into the rear tank, I'm not sure. They are quite faint in the casting so I want to improve, and I curse myself for not remembering to CAD them up and have them printed with the compressors... Flanges like this are always irritating, and quite often needed, and I miss a large set of quality universal photo etched flanges in various sizes and bolt patterns.