Something You Don't See Everyday Mercedes Benz Sprinter Finished

[oldcarfan]

So this is something I bought a while ago. It came from a Ukrainian toy company    https://www.amazon.com/Tigres-Mercedes-Benz-Sprinter-Ambulance-Stand/dp/B0CCW1YD48 and it's a pretty darn accurate 1/24th scale. It's molded in ABS and is basically a plastic diecast toy if that makes sense. They are cheap at around $20 and available on Amazon and many sites. If you are wanting to build a delivery or camper van that's not a 70s Ford, Chevy, or Dodge, this might be your start.

I started this project in late June. Last week I went with my wife to Salt Lake City for a work trip and we passed through Colorado and over the Rocky Mountains. We saw a ton of these type vans converted to high dollar campers which inspired me to finish up this project. Speaking of vans, we passed one of those giant auction lots up in North Texas and there were a ton of retired Sprinters and Transits in Amazon and other liveries. I glanced at their web page and they sell for anywhere from a few thousand dollars to the mid-twenties with around 100,000 miles on them and regular maintenance so a lot of people buy them as a base for a home built camper. 

Anyway, I wanted the van to look like something a local shop or racing team might build for their shop truck. I wanted the van to stand out on the shelf so it's painted in Krylon Citrus Green which is really a bright yellow. The yellow is a bit transparent so it needs a white primer.  A note here if you build one of these, the front and rear doors are a close fit and will scratch your paint.

The suspension is raised an 1/8 of an inch to clear the Pegasus Spyder 22 inch wheels fitted with offroad tires off a Maisto diecast truck. The interior is an blank space so you could go wild with the detailing if you wanted. Mine is pretty much standard except for some details in the cab. The interior has weirdly proportioned molded in seats so I cut them out and replaced them with parts box van seats. Eventually I'll finish the rear with toolboxes and racks. The front of the van features a push bar with a winch because you know how hard it is to get those old parts cars out of a muddy field. The driving lights are from an unknown source with thumbtack covers. On the roof is a rack from Hooligan Scale Models on Etsy, with lights from an old Monogram F-350 and a tarped cargo. The box behind it is courtesy of a pair of Apple Airpods and the ladder is a Plastruct piece carefully bent. The rear windows were cut from a packaged salad container and sprayed with my last can of Testor's transparent black. I think they came out pretty nice. The decals are a combination of Gundam numbers and some stuff I made on Word and had printed at a copy store. The font is Porsche style lettering from FontMeme. https://fontmeme.com/porsche-font/   They have fonts for most brands and are easy to work with. 

I'm not much at doing tutorials, but here is the build post I started. 

I probably forgot some stuff, but hope this was interesting.

 

[thatz4u]

on a scale of 1 to 10, this is a 12, well done

[espo]

That is one bright color, great finish and trim detailing, ladders and racks and cargo. Like the racing signage.  

[Jim B]

Great looking Sprinter.  Well done.  Quite a rare build.