jaymcminn

Sweet! I have a set of wide and wider Fujimi Techno Racing wheels just waiting for those flares. The plaid seat decals are above and beyond and will look awesome on my SSP issue kit which I'm planning on building stock. Thanks for the review!

Man. That is insanely cool. You've taken the things Tom Daniels got right with the California Vette and improved on them while fixing many of the issues with the design (still not in love with the roof louvers, though). Stunning!

Thanks guys! Seriously, if anyone is on the fence about getting this kit just do it. You won't be disappointed. Plus, the more of these Tamiya sells, the closer we'll be to getting more great classic sports cars (Jag E-Type? Aston DB5?) BTW, I'll be posting up pics of this car's grandson tomorrow!

Beautiful work. Great job with that engine detail. Plaid seats on a Gullwing are the best seats. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Thanks Guy! I got to drive the roadster version a few months ago. It's an awesome experience. Here are some more bits and pieces... The kit intake plenum with Hobby Design P/E pieces attached. I still need to add some bolt detail... Dashboard and interior door panels. The door panels are all one piece... spray body color, mask, spray brown, mask, spray black. Tedious, but they turned out nice. Interior silver accents are Tamiya Chrome Silver, which is pretty close to the matte/satin aluminum finish of the 1:1. The wheels had the recesses painted in Metallic Grey, and the whole wheel was coated in clear satin to tone the chrome down. The effect is like a machined-face wheel. Thanks for the comments everybody! More pics soon!

That chop and section are just about perfect. What a beauty!

After building my dream 300SL Gullwing, I decided to follow it up with my idea of the perfect modern Gullwing- the SLS AMG. Paint is Tamiya Mica Blue, which is pretty close to AMG Designo Mystic Blue. It's a nice shade that really pops under bright sunlight. Interior color will be light brown over black. I'm using the Hobby Design detail set for this model as well. Wheels and tires will be the stock units... not perfect, but they actually fill the wheel wells pretty well. The body after block sanding and primer... The main pieces after paint, but before polishing... ...and the body after polishing in indirect and direct sunlight. Tomorrow is Airbrushing Day... more pics soon!

Very cool. The color scheme is well chosen and the wheel/tire package is just aggressive enough. Thanks for the heads up on the decals... I'll keep that in mind when I start mine!

Except that the Custom Lacquer paints NEED a clear coat for gloss and protection. They dry to a semi-matte finish and the paint itself is very soft and prone to scratching/chipping until they're clear coated. Either the Testors Gloss Lacquer Clearcoat or the One Coat Clear are great choices for a topcoat here... I've never had any problems using these clears over custom Lacquer basecoats.

Very nice so far... I built one of these a few years back. It builds up beautifully and looks fantastic when completed. You did the right thing by getting one of the early releases, as later issues have more issues with flash, missing chrome, etc.

Came here to post exactly this. The TS-55 looks black under moderate light, but the blue flake jumps out under bright light. Really pretty paint.

Definitely looking like the home stretch now. I love how the color break mirrors the front fender line. Great work!

Bill, I can't wait to see what you do with yours! You'll love it!

Standard wheels for the 300SL were a steel 5-lug wheel with a hubcap. These are the wheels this kit comes with. Optional wheels were a knockoff steel wheel by the Rudge company. The Rudge wheels are a highly desirable (and expensive) option to have on a 1:1 Gullwing. These resin Rudge wheels were cast by Harold Bradford, whose company Historic Racing Miniatures produces some seriously nice parts for vintage sports and racing cars. Harold doesn't have a storefront but several online vendors, like Red Frog Hobbies, sell his stuff.

Thanks everybody! I actually just ordered another set of these wheels for my Revell of Germany BMW 507 kit.

The engine bay was left box-stock, with the exception of trimming the mounting pin on the airbox ahead of the intake manifold to get the unit to sit lower. That piece will be the source of 90% of hood fitment woes... it's really tight under there! Door fitment was a pleasant surprise. It's nearly perfect, and if the car were a darker color you'd never notice the panel lines. I couldn't recommend this kit, or the HRM Rudge wheels, more highly. It's a real work of art and looks wonderful sitting on the shelf. Now I just have to decide... doors open or closed?

This is Tamiya's 1/24 scale Mercedes 300SL. This kit was an absolute joy to work on... fit and finish were excellent, mold lines were practically non-existent, and the parts count and quality were exactly what you'd expect from Tamiya at its best. The bumpers are so pretty it killed me to leave them off, but the Gullwing just looks so right without them. Rear holes were filled in and the front bumper holes were used for mounts for the driving lamps. The rear license plate mount with integral lights was a spare bit from the Hasegawa Miura kit (seriously, never throw anything away, kids!) and Dutch plates were mostly chosen because the color looks good on the car. Body- color Rudge wheels with Englebert tires from HRM add to the businesslike air of this Mercedes. Paint is Testors Custom Lacquer Chevrolet Silver Blue. I was sweating it a little, as this color is out of production and not easy to find. I'm pretty sure this color doesn't correspond too closely with any original Mercedes colors, but I love it on this car! Interior is the standard Gullwing interior- Navy blue with plaid upholstery inserts. I custom-mixed flocking to get the slightly lighter blue-grey shade of the original carpeting. Upholstery decals are Scale Motorsports (and are brilliant!). I filled the pleats in the seats, as well as the oddly- empty seatbacks, with styrene as the fabric inserts did not have the tuck-n-roll pattern of the full leather seats. Yes, the rear view mirror is askew. And yes, it is now fixed!

And I am definitely down for one of those Volvo Turbo Bricks. Talk about cars you never thought you'd see in scale!

The only thing wrong with that 2002 is that it isn't on my workbench. Yet.

Awesome Bill! Can't wait to see this come back together...you did some great work on this old Porsche 30 years ago and it will be interesting to see how you approach the restoration with everything you've learned as a builder since then. This looks a lot like my first 356 I built right around the same time..Testors Ivory paint, black interior and all, although I guarantee it was nowhere near this nice. No idea what happened to it between high school and college, though... I'm glad my little Speedster inspired you to take us with you on this trip down Memory Lane!

Absolutely beautiful. Amazing paint and detailing. This kit dates back to the mid-80's but still builds up really well for a skilled modeler- yours is living proof!

This is Tamiya's lovely Ferrari F50 kit. It's a very typical '90s Tamiya kit... wonderful detail achieved with a minimal parts count by molding many pieces as "subassemblies". It makes for an easy build, but painting is a lot trickier. This kit went together with no fuss whatsoever... stance was perfect out of the box, and fit couldn't have been better. I used the Hobby Design detail set to really bring this kit to life... the brake discs and P/E mesh make a big difference. The kit includes carbon kevlar decals for a lot of the engine bay and interior... the color is a bit weird, but apparently the resin in '90s carbon kevlar tends to turn a bit yellow with age, so they don't look too far off. All of the carbon kevlar decals were sealed under Future. I used Wilton cake foil for the heat shielding in the engine bay and airbrushed Tamiya clears over the exhaust system to replicate heat discoloration. Paint is Tamiya Chrome Yellow without clear coat and the wheels are Testors Gunmetal Metallizer for a little contrast against the body and brake discs. Since I built the F50 as the "Berlinetta" (top up) version, the interior detail is pretty well hidden. Main color is semi-gloss black with the seat inserts and dash in matt German Grey. Lots of fiddly carbon kevlar decals in the interior too. Here's a better look at the engine bay... photo's a bit washed out, but you can see the p/e rear grille, decals, and heat shielding. As always, thanks for looking !

Micro Kristal-Klear works great. Most hobby shops carry it. It's basically a thick white glue. It holds very well, including applications like yours with little surface area. Dries perfectly clear and cleans up with water. Stays where you put it until it dries. It works great for windows, lights, trim, and mockups too. If you'd told me 20 years ago that glorified Elmer's glue would be my go-to for half the final assembly of my models I'd have looked at you funny... now I can't imagine building without it!

Did they borrow a set of the NASCAR tires for that 934? Yeesh. Everything else looks pretty good though.

And the Molotow markers will show any imperfections in the paint just like foil does. I love the Molotow marker, but the finish is waaaay too fragile for windows and body moldings. Keep practicing with the foil... It'll get easier!