1936 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Cabriolet B - The Old Italeri Kit After Some Improvements * * * Plus Tutorial: Better Treads for Styrene Tires (complete)

[Plastheniker]

Hi,

 

speaking of the Mercedes 540 K many people think that the spectacular Spezial-Roadster body was her typical bodywork. In fact quite the reverse is true.

Totally 419 (29 delivered chassis included) 540 K were made. Not more than 25 were Spezial-Roadsters. Most buyers by far (190) preferred the Cabriolet B, one of several less flamboyant works bodies.

 

To my knowledge Italeri released its Cabriolet B kit (later re-boxed by Testors) in 1981. Even by today's standards this kit offers good quality at a very reasonable price. Proportions are perfect, casting quality and fit are very good. Nevertheless a few issues require some effort:

 

• The two-part styrene tires have almost no tread. The two lateral spare wheels make this toylike appearance most salient. Giving the tires a new tread is indispensable.

• Another striking shortcoming of the kit are its rims. Mercedes wire wheels had very large hubs. Thereby corresponding plastic wires look particularly crude. Here even more than usual lacing realistic wires makes or breaks the model.

• All kits with classic Mercedes radiator masks, no matter which scale, have completely unconvincing grilles. Real Mercedes grilles were rather bright cast parts and neither painted nor chromed. Note the faint additional large grid pattern .

  

  In 1/24 kits such Mercedes grilles are always an integral, unperforated part of the chromed radiator mask. Leaving the grille chromed looks terrible, painting it dark with a brighter drybrush looks better but still unrealistic. On this model I replaced the grille by a piece from a matching generic PE fret - rather painstaking but for the very first time I found a classic Mercedes grille convincing.

• The 1:1 car has some exterior chrome mouldings that Italeri omitted, f. e. on the soft top, above the lateral bonnet air vents or below the side windows.

• The interior is correct but leaves much room for detailing, f. e. there aren't even instrument decals.

 

Fixing these issues plus a period-correct discreet paintwork and (IMO) the beautiful top closed can make an exceptionally realistic model. I would really recommend this kit to experienced and patient modelers.

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2017 by Plastheniker

[Draggon]

Very nice, that interior pic is amazing. Great work on the wires and carving the tread. That must have taken quite a lot of patience. Excellent job!

[Zoom Zoom]

Beautiful work, the base model is good but you took it exactly where it belongs!

[Richard Bartrop]

Very nice!  At first glance I thought it was a photo of the real thing.

[FabbricaP]

Stunning build. 

[bbowser]

Very nice, that interior pic is amazing. Great work on the wires and carving the tread. That must have taken quite a lot of patience. Excellent job!

I agree, those wheels are outstanding as is the entire model.  Another beauty from your bench.

[donb]

I agree, those wheels are outstanding as is the entire model.  Another beauty from your bench.

x2

[Foxer]

This build gives me such great pleasure just looking! I thought the first photo was of a 1:1 car.

[THarrison351]

It's hard to believe that has origins in any 1/24 scale model. You did an outstanding job.

[peekay]

Beautifully done and incredibly realistic. Were these fotos not on a model car forum I'm sure I would have been fooled.

The grille, wires, tread and your superb finishes and detailing take a plastic model to an entirely new level. 

[landman]

Beautifully done and incredibly realistic. Were these fotos not on a model car forum I'm sure I would have been fooled.

The grille, wires, tread and your superb finishes and detailing take a plastic model to an entirely new level. 

I agree totally. 

[PARTSMARTY]

Stunning build. 

X2

[BVC500]

Excellent job!

[Lovefordgalaxie]

The car is not my cup of tea, but my friend, what a incredible work!! 

The car looks absolutely real. 

[maltsr]

Amazing workmanship!

[Perspect Scale Modelworks]

As you stated, " ...an exceptionally realistic model." Outstanding! 

[Zoom]

Very very nice and nice photos!

[Plastheniker]

Thanks for the response!

 

I think modeling vehicles of the era before WWII is most appealing.

This is true particularly for European cars where technically everything was still in a state of flux, while in America there was early a certain technical standardization. IMO it is very sad to see that since say 1980 or 1990 the interest of most modelers and thus kit manufacturers in pre-WWII European cars is decreasing constantly.

[ChrisR]

Awesome!

[Gramps46]

Outstanding craftsmanship, congratulations on a very convincing model.

[Dodge Driver]

That is a genuine masterpiece. Phenomenal realism.

Thanks for posting your Mercedes!

[sjordan2]

Absolutely magnificent. How did you handle the thicker bar grid under the main radiator mesh?  I'd love to see what you would do with the 1/16 1928 SS and the 1/16 540K.

[waynehulsey]

Thanks for the response!

 

I think modeling vehicles of the era before WWII is most appealing.

This is true particularly for European cars where technically everything was still in a state of flux, while in America there was early a certain technical standardization. IMO it is very sad to see that since say 1980 or 1990 the interest of most modelers and thus kit manufacturers in pre-WWII European cars is decreasing constantly.

Unfortunately have to agree with you.

That said yours is a beautiful model. Was doing the wire wheels on mine and got sidetracked and have never got back to it.

[Plastheniker]

Thanks for the latest comments!

 

Absolutely magnificent. How did you handle the thicker bar grid under the main radiator mesh?  I'd love to see what you would do with the 1/16 1928 SS and the 1/16 540K.

Skip, on the 1:1 grille every tenth horizontal and every tenth vertical bar is slightly wider. This generates the effect of the larger grid pattern.

 

Each bar of my PE fret was only 0.2mm wide. All attempts of applying anything halfway evenly in order to make some bars wider failed.

 

Finally the solution was rather simple:

The etched fret had a rather flat light grey surface on one side. With a needle I scribed every tenth bar. These scribed bars reflect the light and give the impression of being wider than the non-scribed bars.

Because of the almost microscopic dimensions, however, it was not easy to hit all bars exactly, so I needed more than one fret segment.

[misterNNL]

I think it would be a great service to a lot of us if you would consider posting a tutorial on the forums sharing your method of creating that tire tread.