Cars

Detailing the Eaglemoss collection Mercedes 300 SL 1/8 scale, photo array

by Mario Covalski © Modeler Site

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A phenomenon that started about 15 years ago was a new way for manufacturers to sell kits, the collections. It involves dividing a kit into assembly phases and delivering it with a magazine, which generally contains assembly instructions and some history related to the model.

 


These deliveries are called fascicles or in different ways depending on the language, and also "packs" when the 100 divided into 6 or 12 deliveries are offered. In my opinion, this way of selling kits has popularized the sale of high-cost models, and has made models that only reached collectors or modelers with high purchasing power, become popular. It really is a way of selling in “installments” so that those who can pay a few tens of dollars a month can access a model of thousands of dollars… but waiting between 2 and 2 and a half years to complete it.

 

If I remember correctly, in 2017 the Pocher firm promoted what would be its next 1/8 scale kit, after the Lamborghini Huracan, the Mercedes 300SL. A supercar from the 1950s, with unique features that it still maintains, and a very expensive collector's item for car collectors. If you search Youtube you will still find some promotional videos of Pocher promising the 300SL. At that time the owner of Pocher (Pocher had several since the creation of the brand) had problems, Pocher was sold and the model did not see the light under the Pocher brand. The real manufacturer, the Chinese firm IXO, apparently sold the project to Eaglemoss, a firm in the United Kingdom, which in 100 fascicles and in different languages ​​began to offer it around the world. Today Eaglemoss has disappeared and it is not yet known who will put his name to the collection, but IXO announced that as the owner of the molds it will continue to help customers who were left halfway. However, many collections in different countries were completed.

 

With this photo array (one picture says more than thousand words sometimes) I share with the reader my experience with the model (I put together two) adding many missing details, not all, painting parts and applying plastic modelling techniques to improve the appearance of this expensive model. Also solving some problems that the kit has and showing tips and tricks to improve or facilitate its assembly.
There are many videos and some web pages where the assembly is shown step by step, but they are only reproductions of what the instructions show, without adding anything, just the basics. It is good for many, since being an expensive kit that has become popular, it reached people who had never put together any model, and suddenly they find themselves with such a model weighing 7Kg and also complex, at most they can put it together and reach the end, Not to mention airbrushing or even brush painting, or looking up reference photos of the actual car. It's fine for that universe of buyers, but what about those who are modellers, with little experience but who are capable of reproducing what they see in images? Well, here is a little help, which will save them time, give them something of extra fun and will allow you to obtain a better finished model.

 

I did not follow the order of the stages. Having bought the 100 deliveries together (second-hand), I studied each stage and decided on a different assembly order than the one proposed. No one starts to build a model car for a wheel or the hood or the dashboard, those parts are delivered in that order only for advertising to excite present and future buyers.


I painted most of the parts

I used heat shrink tubing for the hoses

For the clamps, aluminium strips were used

I painted the wheel wells in gloss metallic silver grey

The steering wheel and well as the gear shift knob were repainted ivory white.

The blue interior was airbrushed with a mix of tamiya blue paints, plus some clear to get a color that looks like the one I saw in pictures.

Many details were added and showed in the pictures I offer here

 

I started with the tubular chassis, which is actually not tubular on the model. It is built in parts molded in Zamac, an alloy of zinc, aluminum, magnesium and copper, like all the metal parts of the model.
This is how I separated the fascicles of stages 14, 15, 16, 17, 29, 50
All machine screws (xM) are tapping, which means that they make the thread at the time of screwing. It is always advisable to submerge the tip in oil to facilitate the process, use less force and avoid damaging the screw or even decapitating it, which would be a serious problem that is difficult to solve. You always have to screw slowly by pressing with the screwdriver to avoid damaging the cross, since they are Philips type.
If a screw cannot be screwed in all the way, it is convenient to remove it and reduce its length by 1mm or less, then rounding off the tip. Task that I recommend doing with a Dremel or similar minitool and a round sandpaper for metal.
 


Next the motor

 

   


I built two, a 1955 as Eaglemoss offers and a 1954 with blue interior and wingnuts for the wheels instead the wheel hub cup

Below the 1955, red interior

 


The 1954 blue interior

 


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