Minicraft 300SL Gullwing question?

[CEKPETHO BCE]

Hello, I'm considering buying a 1/16 gullwing kit from minicraft and I'm wondering if anyone has ever dealt with it? How are the body proportions and fitment? Any issues to be aware of? Is it worth buying?

[Mike Kucaba]

Depends what you'll pay for it. The Mini-craft kit is an older re-issue of the kit that was released by Entex many years ago,which was made by a Japan company. The Italeri kit of the same car is more detailed,but both build up nicely. I don't know if either one has any body shape issues or some other flaws.

[Chillyb1]

You need Skip Jordan to answer this one. I had the kit and liked the look of it very much, but sold it before I ever undertook to build it.

[sjordan2]

I have a few of this kit in my stash; I've gathered a massive amount of reference material on the Gullwing, and it looks very accurate to me. You can get a pretty good analysis of the kit at the late Martin Swire's website, which contains several pictures of his build. One advantage of the kit is that it actually has the Gullwing space frame. You'll note that Martin painted the space frame white, which really isn't accurate; he may have been misled by early factory press photos of a white frame which was that color only to make it easier to see the structure more clearly. It should be semigloss black.

http://martsmodels.webs.com/1955merc300sl.htm

I also have the 1/16 Italeri version, which is nearly impossible to find these days. I think it's overall more highly detailed and accurate and has the advantage of providing chrome window surrounds and body trim separately, while these are molded on the Minicraft/Entex body and require foiling. Minicraft badging is only with silver decals. Of the two kits, the Minicraft has the better wheels, which are chromed, unlike the Italeri; my choice would be to use the Minicraft wheels on the Italeri kit. But you can still make a nice model from the Minicraft with a little extra detailing work. The Minicraft could stand to have the grille mesh removed by sanding down the back of the grille part and replacing it with real mesh. While the Minicraft Gullwing seats are okay, the Italeri seats are a bit more accurate. Also, Italeri has the proper luggage rail running around the upper part of the rear deck; Minicraft doesn't have it.

The Italeri kit has its shortcomings, though it is overall superior: The space frame parts are only suggested on the underside of the chassis and it doesn't have a bellypan like the Minicraft and the original car; also, unlike the fully molded Minicraft body, the front clip is a separate part that's going to require some skillful bodywork. One way or another, the best model of the Gullwing will require mooshing these two kits together; The Italeri kit could be much improved by putting Minicraft space frame elements in the engine compartment, which it doesn't have. If the Italeri Gullwing is nowhere to be found to improve the Minicraft, the alternative is the readily available 1/16 300 SL roadster from Italeri, which has the better engine and chrome trim. Oddly, the Italeri kits include a decal for the nose badge that is a red-black-and-white logo that was discontinued in the late 30s.

I'll be happy to answer any further questions you may have about the 1:1 or these kits.

Edited June 3, 2011 by sjordan2

[CEKPETHO BCE]

With shipping I can get it for about $47. I have never made anything larger than 1/24, but I am willing to experiment. I am not anal about minor details like the badges, I just want it to look cool on my shelve and most likely I will be the only one who ever takes a closer look at it anyways. Is it difficult to build? I have only build 5 models before, but I will most likely not start this until I'm done most of my 20 some other models (so in the next 10 years or so lmao).

But if you can I would appreciate if you could send me some of your refference material

[sjordan2]

With shipping I can get it for about $47. I have never made anything larger than 1/24, but I am willing to experiment. I am not anal about minor details like the badges, I just want it to look cool on my shelve and most likely I will be the only one who ever takes a closer look at it anyways. Is it difficult to build? I have only build 5 models before, but I will most likely not start this until I'm done most of my 20 some other models (so in the next 10 years or so lmao).

But if you can I would appreciate if you could send me some of your refference material

My reference material is enormous, about 1 gigabyte, and takes a long time to transfer to 2 to 3 CDs. I will be happy to send it to you if you will PM me with your mailing address. I might add that this is probably the world's largest Gullwing image reference available from a single source, and I am glad to share it with anyone for free. However, if you are not ready to do anything with it, it's quite a pain and expense to burn it and mail it. Please let me know when you're ready to build your kit.

Edited June 4, 2011 by sjordan2

[Mike Kucaba]

Here's a link for one on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320707225223&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

seems that it would come out a little cheaper?

[CEKPETHO BCE]

My reference material is enormous, about 1 gigabyte, and takes a long time to transfer to 2 to 3 CDs. I will be happy to send it to you if you will PM me with your mailing address. I might add that this is probably the world's largest Gullwing image reference available from a single source, and I am glad to share it with anyone for free. However, if you are not ready to do anything with it, it's quite a pain and expense to burn it and mail it. Please let me know when you're ready to build your kit.

Thanks for the offer. I will let you know when I decide to build one (probably in a year or so)

[sjordan2]

Thanks for the offer. I will let you know when I decide to build one (probably in a year or so)

It's okay if you want the material now. That may help you plan ahead for what you want to do with the kit. Just send me your mailing address.