1990 Mercedes Benz 190E 2.3-16v

[echoxrayniner]

This was a little passion project of mine that got ruined over the span of a year due to the utter **** that is known as the Fujimi 190E kit, luckily somewhere down the line I came across the Revell kit which I'm pretty sure of has its roots in the very same mold but just... better. I wanted to re-create my fathers 190E 2.3-16v that he owned for several years in the late nineties, he was a man that owned cars for give or take 2 months at a time before trading it in second hand for another fun car, but cheap and half broken of course. He slowed down a ton when he came across the 190E and actually held onto it for years, he bought it for 900 guilders(the ol' Dutch currency of yesteryear...decade...something) at the time, a friggin' bargain if anything - came with all the factory parts(including a set of four original wheels), but the guy had it equipped with four 19 inch OZ wheels that my dad was quite fond of.

Never found 'em in kit form, sadly, so ran with a set of somewhat similar Yokohama wheels instead. Anyway, the car needed some routine maintenance some day and he had a Mercedes specialist come and retrieve it, as it got pulled up the flatbed of the tow truck and being tied down, the cable snapped causing the car to roll off the back end but not before the hook flailed through the windshield of the car and smashing the dash to a thousand pieces. And of course, the whole tail end got bend at a 45 degree angle... Totaled in a matter of two seconds.

So I wanted to do a little model for my dad, got the right paint(proper Smoke Silver Mercedes paint), colored bumpers was something he always wanted on his like the AMG 190E, somewhat similar wheels as I said and just gave up right away when I realized the Fujimi kit was one of those RC cars that got fisted into a shoddy-ass model car kit. With the help of the Revell kit that I luckily found a year or so later(took the chassis, the guts, engine, interior and body detail from the Revell kit and used the Fujimi 190E 2.3 body, head and tail lights and body kit), I was finally capable of finishing it. It looks crooked, the wheels don't align and the interior is nowhere near what I wanted it to be but honestly, it made my dad happy and I'm happy that it's done.

Edited September 18, 2017 by echoxrayniner

[Funkychiken]

Well certainly the story behind the kit is brilliant, and if it made the ol' man happy, why not.

Good job of trying to mix these old kits tool.

I'm working on a cheap fujimi kit, and it is probably more pain than it's worth... 

[Davewilly]

Nice looking Benz!

[bbowser]

A proverbial silk purse from a sow's ear.  Looks good on the shelf and dad's happy, nice job!

[Phildaupho]

Great story and pretty nice model of a car I always thought was very appealing and still check out whenever I see one.

[Dann Tier]

Pretty sweet!!!!!! -love it!!!!

[donb]

Fine looking car and build. 

[XJ6]

Nice Shelf Model and Build.

[espo]

Very nice looking build. The story and your father's connection makes it even better. Much like the tow truck driver in your story I remember a YouTube video some time ago. The video was shot in a mountains area with a very sharp turn. In this case someone in a 3 series BMW had lost control in the corner and landed on it's side. The tow truck shows up and hooks onto the BMW. The operator forgets to set the hand brake on the BMW before he rights the car and when it is upright the hook comes off and the BMW makes a hard left turn over the edge and goes end for end into the tree tops in the ravine below. The audio has a lot bleeps in it.    

[ChrisR]

NICE!!