1955 Mille Miglia Mercedes 300SLR

[Pierre Rivard]

On 1/21/2024 at 7:55 AM, MarkJ said:

Pierre, you are doing your usual excellent job on the body mods. The cutting out of those doors is crisp and basically perfect. I usually try to avoid cutting out trunks and doors if I can. I don't trust myself not to ruin a body and have to buy a whole new kit which might be hard to find. Plus, it is very labor intensive.

I just carved out a body side panel  (jest behind front wheel opening) as it was not on the car at that race. Just like you I would not do opening doors & deck lids. I just don't have those kind of skills.

[Pierre Rivard]

The driver only head rest /aero fairing has been glued to the body. The thinning of the part from the underside has improved the integration quite a lot. Than big step is gone.

 

[Pierre Rivard]

Home made windshield using a paper card to make the template, 0.25 x 1.0 mm styrene for trim and food container plastic for the glass. Can't make it more home made than that.

It's possible I may have to cut a new piece of clear plastic as this one has been tormented in the fitting process but I'm happy with the result.

[Zippi]

Good looking mods.  That windshield came out nice.

[MarkJ]

Pierre, I find that food packaging is better than the clear evergreen styrene I have purchased. Somehow the evergreen gets scratches in it where the food packaging doesn't. That windshield looks just like the one in the ref pics. The tonneau cover and base for the windshield looks perfect too. 

[Pierre Rivard]

Thanks Bob and Mark. I lowered the windscreen a bit, finessed the trim pieces and did a mock up with the interior (minor interference relief needed).

Looks a bit better like that. Not perfect but this method only allows single axis curvature but it's reasonably close. The body of this car is looking more and more like Fangio's ride.

 

[MarkJ]

Oh yeah. That looks just right. You can tell just by looking at Fangio's pictures that he must have been a tough customer out there on the track.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Nice. On some pics the windshield seems less than full wraparound. Like what you've done so far.

[1959scudetto]

Well done, Pierre - your attention to detail and your eye for body proportions is very inspiring as always.

[Pierre Rivard]

Thanks guys. Trying to get the details right is where all the fun is and why I chose to do Fangio's car, and not just as the kit was designed (Moss car). Lot's of changes needed but I love it.

Speaking of getting the details right I have excellent news. Jason Hupin has agreed to take on a new project to design and 3D print the wheels as pictured below. These wheels should also be a good fit for some Ferrari front wheel applications (250LM, P275)

 

[1959scudetto]

This is indeed good news, Pierre ! Jason does outstanding work! (I'm thinking of the Ferraris you mentioned and a certain 275 GTB/C which won GT class in LM 65...)

[absmiami]

taken at Goodwood Fest 19 yrs ago ...

[Pierre Rivard]

3 hours ago, absmiami said:

taken at Goodwood Fest 19 yrs ago ...

The chance to be in person near this incredible race car... goosebumps! The restored Moss car has seen changes relative to how it was at the 55 MM but still an amazing reference. Imagine if Mercedes had not left racing at the end of 55? I adore Ferraris but this Mercedes was a game changer.

[absmiami]

It hadnt occurred to me - but a the Mercedes wire wheels are alot different than Borranis - so there are a bunch of kits that could use 3D printed wheels with the outside laced wire pattern - Mercedes, of course, made the right decision to leave competition - but if there had been no Lemans disaster - it would have been interesting to see if MB would have abandoned front engine design in grand prix comp before the engine capacity change in ‘61 …

[Pierre Rivard]

3 hours ago, absmiami said:

It hadnt occurred to me - but a the Mercedes wire wheels are alot different than Borranis - so there are a bunch of kits that could use 3D printed wheels with the outside laced wire pattern - Mercedes, of course, made the right decision to leave competition - but if there had been no Lemans disaster - it would have been interesting to see if MB would have abandoned front engine design in grand prix comp before the engine capacity change in ‘61 …

Thinking the Mercedes may have been using the out-laced Borranis. If not a look similar enough that a common design at 1/24 scale would work. Stay tuned, working with Mr Hupin on that.

 

[Pierre Rivard]

Body alterations are complete. I primed the body and to my surprise only a few small blemishes needed fixing before re-priming.

 

[TransAmMike]

Man that looks good Pierre!!!!!?

[MarkJ]

All I can say is, you did it again, Pierre. What a crisp, and clean body. Man, that thing is going to look good with paint on it, not to mention decals and everything else that makes up a beautifully finished build. Can't wait to see it.

[Pierre Rivard]

1 hour ago, MarkJ said:

All I can say is, you did it again, Pierre. What a crisp, and clean body. Man, that thing is going to look good with paint on it, not to mention decals and everything else that makes up a beautifully finished build. Can't wait to see it.

Brush painting silver...? or bail out to the spray can?

[MarkJ]

9 minutes ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Brush painting silver...? or bail out to the spray can?

You know what I would pick, but if you feel a need to go to the dark side and use the can. Well let's just say you might be expelled from the Brush Painter's Society of America. Let your conscience be your guide. Just kidding of course.  If you feel the need, the need for speed, go for it. It's your model you have a right to create it however it feels best to you. No matter what you use, it is going to be awesome. That is for sure.

[kitbash1]

On 1/15/2024 at 5:27 PM, Pierre Rivard said:

You are absolutely right Helmut. I have 2 choices of wheels and what I need is a mix between the two. Ideally a version of the Borrani with the outlaced forward row would be the better fit but Jason does not have it designed and I would not ask if I was the only customer for it. It's a lot of work for just one order.

 

I'm building this kit as well. Building it as the Moss / Jenkens car. I'm using Indycals decals but I've bought a set of wire wheels from Fernando Pinto. He has a set that will work on both the Targa Florio car and the Mililla Miglia cars.

[Pierre Rivard]

10 hours ago, kitbash1 said:

I'm building this kit as well. Building it as the Moss / Jenkens car. I'm using Indycals decals but I've bought a set of wire wheels from Fernando Pinto. He has a set that will work on both the Targa Florio car and the Mililla Miglia cars.

Happy that you are building one of these too. It needs work but it's a reasonably good kit. Can you post a picture of the Pinto wheels. They are pricey but wonderful. I just could not find a 3x24 outside laced wheel when I checked out his offering.

[Pierre Rivard]

At this stage I want to start work on the chassis, with a primary objective to set wheelbase and ride height. A deal breaker for me when assembling the chassis to body produces unattractive ride height or wheels not centering into wheelhouse openings or track width that looks wrong.

I usually do mock ups and alterations before committing glue to the assembly but the multi piece space frame chassis on this kit will require some glued pre-assemblies. So I initially did some engine assembly to see how it interacts with chassis and body components. First change needed was taking a bit off from the legs of the suspension frame element to give clearance to the water pipe running above it. The engine air inlet also needs to be located properly and a bit of material was removed to the underside of the hood to allow it to shut flat. I glued the air inlet to engine to set that dimensional relationship. I did the same (not shown here) with the exhaust headers to properly line them up to the body side openings. This differs from the instructions but I thing it will work out better this way

 

[Pierre Rivard]

Next step was to see how much of the chassis structure I could pre assemble and glue together, to provide a good foundation yet allowing to load engine, fuel tank, axle and inboard brake assemblies etc.

This should seem the logical way but not the way the instructions were set. Do a bit of engine, install it, add structure, then more engine components etc. Hard to manage the painting process with such an assembly sequence so I tested different sequences and see what's possible. Following pics are the mockup of the chassis/engine/interior tub, then stripping up the parts and leaving as much pre-glued chassis structure as possible, both for paint and setting up ride height and etc.

[Pierre Rivard]

I added locating elements to the four corners of the body to better set position of the chassis front/rear filler panels to body.