1955 Mille Miglia Mercedes 300SLR

[Pierre Rivard]

This new project involves again starting with a vintage Monogram kit and adding modifications to represent Juan Manuel Fangio's car. I've had the kit a long time and was always put off by the toyish look of it on the box cover. The body looks well cast but appears a bit off (more on that later). Mods to the achieve the Fangio cockpit configuration will be needed but the chassis appears to be fairly well detailed. The tires are very good and I will substitute the wheels for 3D printed ones not completely representative but much better looking than the kit units. This one will not be a quick OOB for sure.

 

Edited January 18, 2024 by Pierre Rivard

[Pierre Rivard]

First task is a quick mock up with tires on and a reasonably good ride height and track width, then take pics of it with the real car in background, to see how the shapes compare.

The front end flows pretty good vs the real car. Some finessing and detailing but essentially the kit body looks ok to me.

Moving to other views I can se some reshaping will be needed. The rear car has a a more rounded and lower rear fender arrangement, and perhaps a bit wider as well vs the kit body. The head rest fairing is also quite different.

That's what I see and will start to work on. Please add your comments/advice if you see stuff I may have missed on. Thanks.

 

[Bainford]

Oh, goody goody! Great project, Pierre. Looking forward to seeing this one come together.

[Rich Chernosky]

Pierre...this kit is more than likely based off the Stirling Moss/Jenkins car.  I remember my build of this very well. It was my 300th completion. (fitting I suppose) I am currently at 862...so it was awhile back.  Can't wait to see what magic you put into this. 

[absmiami]

Rich - do you  ever lose one ?

[Gord55]

I will be really looking forward to this build Pierre!

Have you got Justin started on wheels and tires yet?

[Mittagskind]

Another interesting build from you, I'm there.

[Pierre Rivard]

12 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said:

Pierre...this kit is more than likely based off the Stirling Moss/Jenkins car.  I remember my build of this very well. It was my 300th completion. (fitting I suppose) I am currently at 862...so it was awhile back.  Can't wait to see what magic you put into this. 

300 SLR was your 300th build...how's that for planning. I plan to complete my 300th build about... 10 years after I die! ?

So yes it is the Moss/Jenks kit that I plan to modify as the 658 Fangio. The plan for the race was for Moss to play rabbit to push the Ferraris to break down and for the other Mercedes to hang back a bit. Moss & Jenks won it in a record 10:07 hours but Fangio made it in 10:39 without the help of a navigator. That's mighty impressive!

[MarkJ]

Oh good. I found this right away, so I haven't missed a lot already. I'm sure you will work your magic and get the model to look just like the awesome ref pictures you were able to find. I'm staying tuned to this thread for sure.

[Miatatom]

Where are you getting your decals?

[Pierre Rivard]

On 1/13/2024 at 10:24 PM, Gord55 said:

I will be really looking forward to this build Pierre!

Have you got Justin started on wheels and tires yet?

Gord, I assume you mean Jason from Jack_Modeling? No I have not asked for a unique design as these may not be seller for him. Right now I plan to use his Jaguar style wheels as shown on pics above. They are not a perfect replica but the best I could find. I'll be using the kit tires as they are excellent as is.

[Pierre Rivard]

22 hours ago, Miatatom said:

Where are you getting your decals?

Indycal

[1959scudetto]

Will be great to watch, Pierre  - this is the Monogram reissue of Revell AG's kit (from the 90's?l I had this kit, but sold it off when I got the chance to acquire Minichamps diecast models.

Jason's e-type wheels seem to have too many spokes, but look good here nevertheless. I will follow this WIP and am curious what will you do with it.

[Pierre Rivard]

1 hour ago, 1959scudetto said:

Will be great to watch, Pierre  - this is the Monogram reissue of Revell AG's kit (from the 90's?l I had this kit, but sold it off when I got the chance to acquire Minichamps diecast models.

Jason's e-type wheels seem to have too many spokes, but look good here nevertheless. I will follow this WIP and am curious what will you do with it.

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.

 

[Rich Chernosky]

On 1/13/2024 at 10:10 PM, absmiami said:

Rich - do you  ever lose one ?

Andy....nope...<G>...I have every one of em.  Started putting them in display cases way back.  Will let you know after I unpack form this last move.  Got 90% of them moved but not unpacked yet. 

[MarkJ]

17 hours ago, 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.

 

After you finish this build with the one order Jason does for you, it might turn into multiple orders when people see how good it looks with the Borrani wheels.

[Pierre Rivard]

Work on reshaping the back end, which is quite more off than I initially estimated. First I back filled the fenders with epoxy lo allow to take away a lot of material without breaking through. The head rest fairing will be thinned from the underside and the top as well.

Third pictures shows how hard this styrene is. I actually had to use the Dremel with a coarse sanding drum to cut through! I did eventually cut through the styrene in my reshaping efforts so the epoxy underlay paid off.

The back end looks significantly better now. Perhaps not fully accurate but with more realism. I'm happy with the change.

 

[MarkJ]

Great idea using the epoxy to back up the area to be reduced. The rear fenders look so much better now. Much more like the real car.

[Dave B]

Looking good Pierre but the dent is missing!!!

I shall follow this, I have built the Ulenhaut couple and I'm not really happy with it.

Should have taken a leaf out of your book and taken a lot more time

Dave B

[Rattlecan Dan]

Off to a fantastic start as usual. Good luck with this one, It's a great car. And sure you will do a great job.

[Pierre Rivard]

10 hours ago, Dave B said:

Looking good Pierre but the dent is missing!!!

I shall follow this, I have built the Ulenhaut couple and I'm not really happy with it.

Should have taken a leaf out of your book and taken a lot more time

Dave B

The Moss car (#722) came back pretty banged up but the Fangio car (#658) appears to be dent free. So no dents to be modeled but plenty of other mods needed to transform the kit form the 722 to 658 configuration. This one will not be OOB!

[Gord55]

On 1/15/2024 at 5:10 AM, Pierre Rivard said:

Gord, I assume you mean Jason from Jack_Modeling? No I have not asked for a unique design as these may not be seller for him. Right now I plan to use his Jaguar style wheels as shown on pics above. They are not a perfect replica but the best I could find. I'll be using the kit tires as they are excellent as is.

Yes exactly, after seeing your builds I ordered Boranis from him. Astounding quality, great guy and great service too. Very Affordable.

Thanks for the wheel pics, I think I will do the same.

[Gord55]

On 1/15/2024 at 5:11 AM, Pierre Rivard said:

Indycal

I have been buying a lot of Indycal stuff lately. The decals are excellent and also very pleased with the tire sets and Lotus 29 correction set. Tire ring decals look very good too.

[Pierre Rivard]

Reconfig fuel filler door on headrest , filling in front turn signal lamps, side openings per MM race configuration, starting work on removing 2 seat windshield setup and fab of passenger cockpit closeout. Chipping away...

 

[MarkJ]

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.