Radwood Ready... Tamiya Mercedes 500 SEC Lorinser

[jaymcminn]

The German tuner scene in the 80s was a time of automotive insanity. While companies like bB and Gemballa made insane custom Porsches, other companies like AMG and Lorinser were designing customs from wild to mild on various Mercedes platforms, with taste being less of an object than the depth of the client's pockets. The most popular Mercedes to customize was the then-new W126 platform, especially the rakish coupe. 

Lorinser was a tuner that specialized mostly in relatively tasteful cosmetic and luxury modifications. Body kits, nice wheels, flashy paint and luxurious interior upgrades were their stock in trade as opposed to crazy gullwing doors and multiple turbochargers. 

This kit is Tamiya's venerable 500 SEC kit in the rare Lorinser version. According to Scalemates, it was only released once in 1982. I got this at a swap meet a few years ago complete except for instructions. The kit includes the "early style" Lorinser body kit, a very nice set of BBS "Mahle" wheels and interior upgrades including Recaro mesh-headrest seats and a Telefunken Autorad car phone. 

My plan for this build is to keep it tasteful but not to ignore the flashiness that went along with these cars. The paint is Tamiya Mica Red that I applied over their pink primer. I was skeptical about the pink primer but I really think it gives the red some extra pop. The paint turned out well enough that I went straight to polishing out the body with my usual Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and Polish without wet sanding. I left the grille body color, but I will be adding the chrome beltline trim and window moldings. 

The interior will be light tan with Mr. Model upholstery decals for the door and seat inserts. The pattern is a multicolored Mexican blanket pattern, but I think it will work extremely well to represent the funky fabrics that were frequently used in these cars. 

First, pics of the body after polishing. My tendency is to start off with the bodywork which gives me the motivation for the rest of the build. Even if it is Tamiya, it's still an old kit. The body needed a lot of block sanding, rescribing of panel lines and sharpening of trim and details to get it to the primer stage but the results are worth it. I added the rear lip spoiler and side skirts before paint.

Edited November 2, 2024 by jaymcminn

[stitchdup]

the paint looks great, very suitable for this

[Mattilacken]

That’s such a nice car and paint looks good! 

[espo]

Beautiful looking paint color and finish, looks almost like a Candy Red color. Like the concept for your build. 

[Justin Porter]

Really cool project and one of those Tamiya kits that just plain doesn't get built enough.

[milo1303s]

Very nice color can't wait to see it on some BBS wheels  hope they're RS's lol!!!!!!

[jaymcminn]

20 hours ago, Justin Porter said:

Really cool project and one of those Tamiya kits that just plain doesn't get built enough.

Thanks Justin! Agreed that it's a really good kit. I built one when I was 13 or so and was pretty pleased with it at the time. Like most of their 1/24 kits of the time it's an easy box-stock build and not difficult to detail up. The only fitment issue so far is a slightly wide rear track that was easily corrected.

15 minutes ago, milo1303s said:

Very nice color can't wait to see it on some BBS wheels  hope they're RS's lol!!!!!!

Thanks Bob! Not quite RS, the kit wheels are earlier "Mahle" wheels with exposed lug nuts and no bolts around the perimeter. I was toying with a set of 17" RG's I have in the stash but the kit's rolling stock is perfect for what I'm envisioning.

 

More pics soon, foil work and lighting elements are done on the body and the aforementioned wheels have been detailed a bit with valve stems and paint!

[DJMar]

I'm digging this! This was the very first Tamiya kit I ever built, around 1983.

The red looks really, really good.

[TransAmMike]

Great looking color and smooth paint job, beautiful!!

[titino]

Excellent color!!

[iamsuperdan]

Perfect paint choice for that car. 

Can't wait to see more!

 

[Dann Tier]

Wow that is looking beautiful!!

[jaymcminn]

Bodywork is done except for some fragile detail bits that will go on in final assembly. The headlight and taillight buckets were painted in Molotow chrome and the red and orange lighting elements were airbrushed with Tamiya LP clear red and orange. Tamiya did a great job of molding the deeply-louvered taillights, which is a mixed blessing as they were VERY tough to mask! BMF was used for the chrome trim, and the work I put in on the body prep paid off again as the lines are much sharper than they would otherwise have been. Still to be added are the headlight wipers and a PE three-pointed star for the boot lid. I used a mix of thinned red and black Revell acrylics for the panel lines. On to the pics...

Next update will be wheels and chassis while I dither about exactly what to do with the interior. Stay tuned!

[SpikeSchumacher]

That's just stunning!

[catpack68]

That is looking really good! I love that color?

[Greasefinger]

Very nice! The headlights look amazingly realistic. 

[beeRS]

Looks stunning so far. This is going to make a really nice Mercedes. 

[jaymcminn]

I'll post an update on this as soon as the site lets me. It's not allowing photo uploads for me right now for some reason. Grrr.

[jaymcminn]

Let's try this again... Interior with custom mixed tan from Tamiya acrylics. Mr. Model "Mexican blanket" upholstery decals. Burl veneer done with thinned Tamiya acrylics with a clear orange top coat. Removed molded mesh in headrests and replaced with real mesh. Telefunken phone with cord made from 30awg wrapping wire. The interior on this kit is seriously nice and could go toe-to-toe with the best new tools of any manufacturer today. Once it's in place the interior will be very visible through those big windows so this was effort well-spent!

[tooltime-fan]

Great work so far.

But it seems you covered the knobs of the a/c control

[jaymcminn]

19 minutes ago, tooltime-fan said:

Great work so far.

But it seems you covered the knobs of the a/c control

The radio is a bit taller than the molded kit piece it's installed over and butts up against the bottom of the buttons on the center stack. The AC controls would be mounted in the empty space above those buttons. I'm not sure why Tamiya didn't include those details but I wasn't too bothered about them.

[DJMar]

That looks sweet! Those seats are really well done.

[BK9300]

Really well done interior - hoping to find some of that wire you used for the phone cord!

[jaymcminn]

2 hours ago, BK9300 said:

Really well done interior - hoping to find some of that wire you used for the phone cord!

Easy, it's 30 gauge Kynar coated wrapping wire. $11.99 for 100 feet on Amazon. The Kynar coating is thinner and more flexible than standard plastic coated wire. It's my go-to for ignition wires these days.

Edited November 29, 2024 by jaymcminn

[jaymcminn]

Quick update... The chassis was painted in the body color and weathered with washes and pastels. The exhaust was done with Vallejo aluminum and pastels. The chassis in this kit is as well detailed as the rest of the kit. Surprisingly for Tamiya the steering isn't poseable!

The engine is simple but nicely represented and responds well to washes and dry brushing. I added a 3d-printed distributor and ignition wires. I'm trying to think of Tamiya ever did full engine detail on a 1/24 kit before this one and I'm coming up blank. The air cleaner/intake plenum will be fitted once the engine and radiator are installed.