1/24 Franklin Mint 1960 Mercedes 300 SL Roadster (restored)

[1959scudetto]

I always wanted a FM 300 SL roadster for little money - I think it is one of their best models whereas the much earlier released gullwing coupe has several issues: - crude details (steering wheel, cloth on the seats, roofline), bad proportions - it simply shows its age. I happened to catch both together on ebay for €  27,00 + shipping - the silver gullwing had  chips in the paint and was sold off immediately so the remaining price of the roadster was about 10 € only.

But: wipers and gear lever were missing, the softtop was missing, front and rear bumpers and the exhaust pipe were missing, dull paint, dirty and dusty interior and yellow tinted left corner of the windshield; the front suspension had also issues on the left side.

A cheap Welly SL was robbed of both bumpers, wipers came from a Tamiya Honda S 800 kit, the gearlever is a pin, exhaust tip is a small steel tube. Before all that, the model was thoroughly cleaned and the body polished.

At last I fabricated some  license plates from thin aluminium sheet with old Netherlands numbers - it turned out not bad - the only thing really missing is the cloth softtop - you can see those ugly mounting holes in the body. Maybe I can manage to hide these with the hardtop from my Italeri SL kit - we will see.

On to the pics:

Though I had to make some compromises, I strongly recommend this to all fans of classic sportscars - Franklin Mint has outdone themselves with this one !

P.S. what happened to the butchered Welly SL ?

Till next time !

 

Edited July 8, 2022 by 1959scudetto

[1959scudetto]

1 minute ago, 1959scudetto said:

is showing its age

 

[slusher]

Look very nice..

[ewetwo]

Very sharp looking.

 

[1959scudetto]

On 11/9/2021 at 2:47 PM, slusher said:

Look very nice..

 

On 11/9/2021 at 4:11 PM, ewetwo said:

Very sharp looking.

 

Thanks, guys - I think FM did really well with this one - it is better detailed than their earlier gullwing SL in every aspect.

[Geno]

Helmut, that is a beautiful restoration of an iconic car. Absolutely stunning work. You should be proud to display that in your collection. I surely would.? 

[1959scudetto]

On 11/13/2021 at 3:00 PM, Geno said:

Helmut, that is a beautiful restoration of an iconic car. Absolutely stunning work. You should be proud to display that in your collection. I surely would.? 

Thanks, Gene - but I have not done very much (apart from a bit cleaning an polishing) - I have no solution for the yellow tinted windshield (probably due to being exposed to UV light)

[spencer1984]

Nice job bringing it back, it's a great looking little roadster.

[1959scudetto]

On 11/17/2021 at 4:35 PM, spencer1984 said:

Nice job bringing it back, it's a great looking little roadster.

Thank you Bill - this model deserves it - it is certainly one of the best Franklin mint models (of non-American subjects).

[Gramps46]

How did I miss this one? Super save of this iconic Mercedes.

[1959scudetto]

On 12/1/2021 at 12:50 AM, Gramps46 said:

How did I miss this one? Super save of this iconic Mercedes.

Thanks Gary - it was definitely worth it - and for about only € 10  you can't complain...