Yet another Gullwing Mercedes

[Neddy]

You're right, it's spot-on for that scale.  I can get away with flocking powder at 1/16 scale but it needs to be finer for 1/24-1/25 scale.  It's turned out beautifully, hasn't it? 

[JeroenS]

Yep, looks great. 

[Bengalensis]

Carpets are looking very good indeed 👍. One of the first time I have seen anything used in 1/24 scale that doesn't look far too much over scale. I'll have to take notes and make some tests...

[Spiny]

23 hours ago, Toftdale said:

The embossing powder looks spot on to me, I might even try it myself - Andy 

 

22 hours ago, Neddy said:

You're right, it's spot-on for that scale.  I can get away with flocking powder at 1/16 scale but it needs to be finer for 1/24-1/25 scale.  It's turned out beautifully, hasn't it? 

 

9 hours ago, Bengalensis said:

Carpets are looking very good indeed 👍. One of the first time I have seen anything used in 1/24 scale that doesn't look far too much over scale. I'll have to take notes and make some tests...

 

Thanks, I'm generally pleased with how it's turned out too. Could perhaps have got the gluing a bit better, but I'll get better as I do more of it.

 

The embossing powder I've used is the Fine/Ultra Fine version which doesn't seem to be available in as many colours as the standard version. I can't see much difference in coarseness between the fine and the normal powders when they're in their containers, but it might be difference when spread out - I guess I'll find out on a later model. This is the stuff I used - Red Fine from the dropdown list:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255027009591?var=554980665190

 

[Spiny]

Back to the bench this weekend, and since there are so many dashboard aficionados on here, this is the end product. I should say though that the steering wheel is on straight, it just looks off because I haven't taken the pic square on.

 

 

I'd not noticed the marks on the steering wheel rim until I uploaded this photo, so I will probably give that another go over to get rid of them.

 

The other bit you've seen most of was the interior. This weekend all I added to that was the rear wheel arches. Unfortunately, while adding them I learned a good lesson with the 'carpet' - make sure you're not holding the part by an area of carpetting or you'll leave a finger-sized thin patch. So the rear parcel shelf has had another going over with the embossing powder to correct that, I think I got away with it. At first glance, the wheel arches look as though they should place securely, but in reality it's quite easy to get them on wrong. Judging by the way this is sitting though, I think I've got it right.

 

 

What has been holding me up a bit was those seats I mentioned last time. I sanded these down yesterday, but had to build some of the hollows up a bit more it turned out. More sanding this morning and they were ready for a coat of white paint.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the white paint has highlighted a couple more small holes to be filled. I'm not concerned about the larger one towards the bottom of the fill as that will be invisible on the build, but would like to sort out the ones near the top. These have some white filler in now which will get the best part of a week before I sand them down again.

 

And why white? Well, my work on the dashboard showed that the read paint doesn't cover grey plastic very well, so I figured it was better to get a couple of coats of white on first to get a consistent appearance across the 'leather' in the interior.

 

That's all for this week, thanks for looking.

[Neddy]

That really is a lovely dash, it's one of the things that makes the gullwing Merc so special.  Beautifully executed and detailed!

[Stickframe]

"Hi, my name is Nick, and I am a dash board aficionado...."  😄   you seem to have the touch for getting it to look right on purpose, not by good luck!

 

Cheers

Nick 

[JeroenS]

Yep, that dash looks REALLY good. 

[Spiny]

20 hours ago, Stickframe said:

"Hi, my name is Nick, and I am a dash board aficionado...."  😄   you seem to have the touch for getting it to look right on purpose, not by good luck!

 

Cheers

Nick 

Looks about right apart from the large annoying piece of dust stuck in the silver paint

 

To tell the truth, it's not really a case of having a touch for dashboards, more a case of high magnification and spending too much time on them!

[Spiny]

This is going to look as though it's a week when I've not done much with only one photo to show for it. And only three parts added to the Gullwing - the handbrake, the gear lever and the bracket you can only just see on the right hand side of the pic.

 

 

The sticking point here is the seats, which I had another go at filling and sanding the back smooth (still not perfect, but the bits you'll be able to see are just about acceptable, not sure why I then went and only showed the fronts of the seats in the photo), then they were given another coat of white to get a reasonably consistent base. That's because the red is absolutely rubbish at covering the grey plastic and it would have taken even more paint if I'd gone straight over the plastic with the red. Still need another couple of coats I think, maybe three on the seat squabs, but the seats hopefully given an idea of whats coming. Trouble is, you need to assemble the interior in a set order to avoid cramping yourself for space, and not everything is waiting for the seats.

 

So that's it for now, not much but thanks for looking anyway.

[Toftdale]

23 hours ago, Spiny said:

So that's it for now, not much but thanks for looking anyway.

Progress is still progress however small and I'm fairly certain those seats would have already been passed my internal quality control department 😅 - Andy 

[Spiny]

Trust me when I say I don't think I could have got a more forgiving angle on those seats if I'd tried!

[Spiny]

I feel like when it comes to this project I've spent most of the weekend waiting for the paint on the seats to dry. But the good news is that after a couple more coats I've finally got a reasonable red on them so they were ready to install. To add to that, I also got the speakers fitted into the chassis as well as the seats so it's getting there. The speakers looked a bit rubbish just in chrome, so I put a black wash over them, then rubbed down with an old cloth so that the wash only remained in the holes in the speakers - it's made a huge improvement. So this is where I've crawled to this weekend.

 

 

I did also get the dashboard fitted, then when it came to getting the grab handles in at the sides of the dash it turned out there wasn't enough room for them. And trying to squeeze them in not only dislodged the dashboard, but also the top from the dashboard. That's glued back on (you can see it in the background of the shot above) but I'm going to give it until next time on the bench so it can dry solid before I try to get it installed again. The plan this time is that instead of letting the dash set solid I'll try to fit the handles while the glue is still soft so I can squeeze them in without breaking anything. Crossing my fingers that will work - the gap was literally the thickness of a coat of paint too narrow

 

While waiting for the paint to dry, I did get moved on to a couple of other jobs on the bench, one concerning the Alpine and the other being to make a start on the foiling of the window surrounds. At the risk of tempting fate, it seems to have gone well this time so I've either been lucky or I may be  starting to get the hang of this foiling lark. Hopefully the latter as I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out. Of course, there is the possibility that it just looks ok because there's not much contrast between chrome foil and the adjoining paint.

 

 

That's all for this week. Thanks for looking.

[Spiny]

Odd how things happen isn't it? That dash which absolutely did not want to leave space for the grab handles last weekend decided to behave itself this time. With just a quick sand of one side of the rear nib the grab handles went in with loads of room to spare, certainly more room was left than the layer of paint I just about sanded off. So the good news is that the dashboard is in place and the interior is complete.

 

 

Having finished that, I decided I had to have a "peace of mind" test fit of the interior to the body. The good news was that all seemed to fit well... until I looked at this photo just now:

 

 

It could be my imagination, or it could be just that this is only a quick test fit, but it looks to me as though there's a bit of a gap between the interior and bodyshell at the rear of the passenger (right hand side) door. Now that area had a lot of CA residue from where I fixed the frame way back in summer to allow me to spray the car - although I attacked it with the Dremel I think it still stands a bit proud and I'm wondered if that is stopping things fitting quite correctly. I foresee some carefull sanding to be done to get things a bit better then will hope for the best.

 

Now that the interior is finished, it's gone to sit on top of the chassis in its sandwich box to keep the dust off. Even though the interior is glued into the body rather than onto the chassis, I naturally had to see how it fitted there too. The good news is that it seems to be fitting quite well.

 

 

However, while this is the most visible progress I've made, most of my time has been spent adding BMF. You can see the windscreen in the second photo, but I also got the rear window surround done too. The silver paint makes the chrome less visible which is good in one respect (any errors are much less visible) but not so good in that all the foiling work makes less difference to the model. The rear window was surprisingly easy - I already had a similar curve on the sheet from foiling the windscreen of the MGB so it was a simple 4-piece bit of foiling.

 

 

Less easy was the side window in the doors, which have a couple of protuberances which seem especially designed to make foiling difficult. I've broadly managed to get an acceptable result on the first door despite the awkwardness, but it is a time-consuming process. Still need to do a fair bit doing at this door though before it's ready to fit to the body.

 

 

And that's this week's progress. A bit more to see than last week. Thanks for looking.

[Neddy]

"Acceptable" he says... blimey, I dream of being able to pull off chromework like that.  Dash, interior, doors, 'shell, they're all looking damn' good to me.  It's really coming together well!

[Windy37]

Excellent work , all of a sudden it’s coming together. 
Gary . 

[Toftdale]

On 22/01/2023 at 20:44, Spiny said:

Of course, there is the possibility that it just looks ok because there's not much contrast between chrome foil and the adjoining paint

My experience too is that foil is very unforgiving when applied badly regardless of paint contrast.   Therefore the only conclusion left is that you done a top job with it (like the rest of the build) - Andy 

[Spiny]

Very kind of you all, but I still have my patented end-of-build stuff up to come 😬

 

23 hours ago, Neddy said:

"Acceptable" he says... blimey, I dream of being able to pull off chromework like that.  ...

 

If you get to that stage where you fancy trying something new and can find some BMF (arguably the more difficult task at the moment), it's worth having a try at it. Foiling was a job I was concerned about trying as I've seen some incredible jobs and (not on here I should say) some which were incredible in a less good way. You will want some magnification, but when it goes right it's a very satisfying process and also surprisingly good at putting you into a sort of zen state. I only did my first foiling job on the Mustang in the latter half of 2021 so am still learning my craft a bit on there, but if you have patience you can get good results almost from the first attempt.

[Neddy]

I'll give it a try but not yet, I'm only just beginning to master the foibles of Molotow!  Re. end-of-build stuff-ups, you're talking to a master of that, to the point where I dread the final fitting of 'shell, interior tub and chassis - so many potential bear-traps... 

[Spiny]

More progress this week than the results suggest.

 

First job was to get the rest of the BMF on the door windows, I'll come back to those later but the foiling there was just as fiddly on the second door as it was on the first. Not really worth a photo just for that as it's looking pretty much the same as the photo in my last update.

 

While that was going on I was able to get some paint onto the bodyshell. I started by getting the headlining painted, then it was time to move onto the door and bonnet rubbers. These aren't particularly tricky to paint, but do need a steady hand and patience. The end result isn't perfect, but I suspect it will only really be visible to the camera and very close inspection so I'm going to live with it as it is. Still need to paint the door-strut supports and touch up where the black went over the interior, but I'm getting there.

 

 

Now back to the doors. With the foiling done, it was a case of adding buff paint for the headliner, then i noticed that the paint sprayed onto the inside of the doors was very thin and not providing a good coverage. It wouldn't stand up to scrutiny if next to the sprayed finish, but I think I got away with a coat of flat aluminium on the painted parts of the interior of the doors followed by a clear gloss coat. If you're wondering why there's only one hinge on each door at the moment, it's because I wanted to get those fixed before I cut the second from the sprue to make sure I didn't mix them up. More time-consuming, but safer.

 

Time-consumingness didn't really matter though as once again the red on the door cards didn't cover very well. There's four coats here and the finish still isn't even, but when all the accoutrements are added I don't think it will be noticeable. With those coats on, it was a case of picking out the rivets which hold the leather in place. Still some more bits to add to the door cards before I can fit them, but the windows have to go in first anyway so no harm done. Speaking of which...

 

The last thing I did here was to fit the windows. Again I used clear UV setting resin to hold them in place, a good job too as I had a smear on one of the windows where it had oozed out as I pressed the window in place but I was able to wipe that clean before shining the UV torch on it.

 

 

And that's it for this week. Thanks for looking.

[Neddy]

Foiling, rubber seals and door cards all look fine to me!

[Toftdale]

Very intricate work on the foil, she's starting to look fantastic - Andy 

[JeroenS]

I have accepted long ago that Spiny's definition of "not perfect" is about the same as my "I can't even do that". 

[Spiny]

14 hours ago, JeroenS said:

I have accepted long ago that Spiny's definition of "not perfect" is about the same as my "I can't even do that". 

You are being far too kind here. Although we started on this site at about the same time, I think it's fair to say that our build styles have diverged a bit since then. There is no way I could build a kit so well in a day as you achieve, and equally I couldn't get anywhere near the standard you manage when it comes to weathering - there's something in my brain which won't let me just attack things randomly and so any attempt at weathering comes out far too regular. So I just stick to the easy shiny stuff...

 

[Spiny]

Fingers crossed I'm right, but it feels as though I'm getting to the stage where things all come together in a rush (or all go wrong very quickly, but let's pretend that won't happen ). Looking through the rest of the instructions there's not too much painting which is what takes the time for me.

 

First job was to finish the door cards. While the instructions would have you paint the door handle and catch, as they're chrome I felt BMF would look better. Due to the shame (the handle is like a blade sticking up from the rest of hte mechanism, I used one piece of foil for the flat, cut along the top of the door handle so it could go either side, then applied a second bit for the handle itself. A bit fiddly, but I don't think a single piece would have worked properly. By contrast, the pull handles for closing the doors when you're sat in the car are just the standard chromed kit pieces glued in place.

 

 

Dry-fitting seems to confirm that the doors fit ok so hopefully nothing changes before the get installed properly.

 

Meanwhile, I touched over the edge of the doors where the black from the rubbers had bled over the buff headlining so it looks a bit neater now, and silver-painted the support for the door strut. The bonnet and side windows are meant to go in at the same time (only one window in so far) but first I had to foil the windows then apply some buff paint to the tabs which go over the headlining. The side grilles, which were painted up last summer, were also glued in place at this time. The second window is ready to install, but before any of that I cut out the kit mesh for the front grille and glued it in place. Not sure why Tamiya would have you put the bonnet in first as I found it much easier to approach part of the install of this through the bonnet hole. Once that was in, it was just a case of fitting the bonnet (you're meant to stick it down with tape at this stage, but mine held in place by friction from the tiny trailing edge pins alone). That seemed to go surprisingly easily.

 

 

Did I say say it went in surprisingly easily? Remind me not to say that again in future... The mesh for the grille was slightly oversized (to make sure there were no gaps around it) and once all the glue was dried it caught on the leading edge of the bonnet when I tried to open it preventing the bonnet from opening without trying to rip the grille off. And it's at this stage where I approached the fine line between bravery and stupidity - as I couldn't seem to cut through the mesh with a scalpel with any sort of success I opened the bonnet then added more glue to the top edge of the mesh. Then, when all was done it was time for the Dremel to remove that extra bit of mesh. The sanding cone was too large to get in there so I had to resort to the cutting disk... needless to say that using a Dremel in a confined space about 1mm from a painted and polished bonnet is not my idea of fun.

 

But somehow it worked:

 

 

Not something I want to do again, but I got away with it this time and the bonnet opens and closes without any issues. I think I'll take that as a result. So here we are, grille in and bonnet open:

 

 

Thanks for looking, nice to be able to show some visible progress for a change.