Progress: Project Big Ballin’ S600

Hi all,

This is my first progress thread here, so I hope I can live up to everyone else’s standards. Normally I wouldn’t do a progress thread, but this project should be a relatively quick one, and it’s gonna be FUN first and foremost!

At the moment I don’t have any pics worth showing, but as I go along, I will post some.
Here are the basics for the project:

Revell of Germany Mercedes-Benz S600 (#07384)
Aoshima VIP Series 19” OZ Opera wheels
Lowered suspension
Silver color (most likely Tamiya)
Dark tints and tinted taillights

Like I said, it should be a simple project, but it will be different from the other cars seen here. It’s a curbside model (Curbside is what you’d see if you were walking down the street and saw this car parked by the curb.) so there is no engine, and very little chassis detail.

Here’s my first installment of the project. I’ve been sanding out the imperfections in the body and it is ready for its first coat of primer. Woohoo!

That’s all for now! Let me know what you think!

Phil

:useless: somebody had to do it :tongue:

:useless: somebody had to do it :tongue:
ya beat me to it.

At the moment I don’t have any pics worth showing, but as I go along, I will post some.



Comment noted, though. There should be pics up before the night is over.

Alright, as promised, here are a couple of pics to whet your appetite. It's just a mockup, to get a feel for the overall look. After I took these pics, I shot the primer and slipped the bumpers on. Pics of that soon.

http://images4.fotki.com/v44/photos/3/35531/496069/P1010003-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v48/photos/3/35531/496069/P1010006-vi.jpg

Phil

Nice project!! :sunglasse :sunglasse
Here's my version (http://www.automotiveforums.com/scalemodeling/tonioseven/S600.html)

Nice project!! :sunglasse :sunglasse
Here's my version (http://www.automotiveforums.com/scalemodeling/tonioseven/S600.html) Very nice tonio, btw, them rims go hand in hand on that s600

Looks like a good prject. Keep us posted.

needs soem brabus exhaust tips! thos eopera are nice!!

needs soem brabus exhaust tips! thos eopera are nice!!

mmmmm brabus... i saw a brabus s600 over the summer while i was on the job... so nice!

Phil , what's the window tint shop have to say??
I love these big bodied benz's.
Chris

Like I said in the first installment, I shot the first coat of primer and sanded out the imperfections.
The bumpers had these little round “buttons” for the parking assistance system, which I sanded off. It’s a small detail that would go unnoticed unless compared to the 1:1 or another model that still has them, but it adds to the smoothness and subtlety that I’m trying to achieve.

I’m also researching ways to achieve the tinted windows I want, which would be of some sliver shade, but not necessarily reflective. Failing that, I’ll go with black. Black goes with everything!
I know that Tamiya makes a Smoke paint in a spray can, which I thought would do the trick, but a friend said it’s crap. Testors also makes something similar, but that apparently is crap too.
So, what options do I have left? I’m going to try using real window tint film from a local shop. I’m just going to ask for a few small scraps of film, since I won’t need much anyways, and simply apply it like they do on the 1:1 cars. Sure the guy will probably laugh at me, but it’s worth a try. One issue with this, though, is that the film can’t be too dark, because there’s not enough light inside the model for it to remain transparent.

Enough talk, let’s get to the pics! Below are four pics, which I took during the chassis mock-up process.
These first two show the body sitting on the floorpan (Which has the rear wheelwells molded to it):

http://images4.fotki.com/v48/photos/3/35531/496069/sidelow1-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v44/photos/3/35531/496069/frontlow1-vi.jpg

The following pics show the body sitting on the flooorpan, but this time the interior floor was added, which has the front wheelwells molded to it:

http://images4.fotki.com/v44/photos/3/35531/496069/sidehigh1-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v44/photos/3/35531/496069/fronthigh1-vi.jpg

The rear height is pretty much to my liking, although I will have to hack the wheelwells to get the tires to tuck into the fenders.
For the front, I would like to achieve a ride height somewhere between the two picture sets, for which I’ll have to hack the front wheelwells too. I haven’t decided yet if I will bother to redo them, or if I should just hack them off. It’s a curbside anyways.

That’s all for now! Feedback welcome!

That looks pretty nice man.. I gotta get me one of those.

It’s been a few days since an update, but the view count on this thread is pretty decent! Real life takes precedent over modeling time, but I managed to put a few primer coats on one of my other projects in the meantime.

This evening I took a closer look at the wheelwell situation to see what I was dealing with. As you can see in my last post’s pictures, the rear wheels stick out of the fenders, which is just plain gay on pretty much any car except a 4x4. Upon inspection, I noticed that there is a pretty simple solution.

Aoshima’s OZ Opera rims I am using for this project are a 2-piece design, with the wheel face and inner rim one piece, and the outer rim a separate piece. The wheels are too wide for the tires, and this is what was causing the rear wheels to stick out from the fenders as you can see in my previous update. I found that I can narrow the rear wheels about .040” and it would solve my clearance problem and give the model a nice stance without having to chop up the wheelwells. The fronts will be narrowed a like amount, but it will be taken off the inside of the outer rim piece to reduce the deep dish look.

http://images4.fotki.com/v46/photos/3/35531/496069/plawmb60007-vi.jpg

As you can see in the pic, I have cut one rim to show the difference it makes. You can see the two-piece design, and how much the stock wheel sticks out from the tire. The rim looks much better from the backside too, because the piece I cut off kind of overlapped onto the sidewall of the tire. I’ll chop the other three rims later today and post a quick update if I can.

More to come, stay tuned!

That looks pretty nice man.. I gotta get me one of those.

It's not really a super-nice kit, like Tonioseven said, but it does provide rather unique subject matter. It's also a Revell of Germany kit, so it might be pretty tough to come by here in North America. This one was graciously sent to me from a friend in Germany by the name of Bill Jenkins, as repayment for a small favor I did for him.

Thanks Bill, this one's for you!

Looks nice! I want to do a similar thing to a Mercedes AMG 600SEL! :evillol:

It's not really a super-nice kit, like Tonioseven said, but it does provide rather unique subject matter. It's also a Revell of Germany kit, so it might be pretty tough to come by here in North America. This one was graciously sent to me from a friend in Germany by the name of Bill Jenkins, as repayment for a small favor I did for him.

Thanks Bill, this one's for you!

Yea, unique indeed.. Thats one of the reasons id like to get one.. I know a site that sells it in the US... For 23 + S&H though :uhoh:

I got the rims finished up today, all I have to do is touch up the silver paint on the back sides. As you might be able to see in the pic, the wheels on the bottom now have less of a deep dish look. After cutting the outer rim, I noticed that I would have to sand down the overlapping part I mentioned earlier to get the tire to mount properly on the narrower rim.

http://images4.fotki.com/v44/photos/3/35531/496069/P1010003-1-vi.jpg

I popped them under the body to see how they look, and it really adds a nice muscular look to the car with the deeper dish in the rear, like those highly modified RennTech and Brabus Mercedes. :thumbsup:

As for a pic of that, you’ll just have to keep checking back for updates!

Next on the list is making the rear axles/differential sit at the right height for our new ride height!

Hmmmm, no replies since my last post... :disappoin
Oh well, I'm not the type to give up, so here's another update!

Yesterday I stopped at a couple of window repair shops that do tints, and strangely enough, they don’t have tint film in house. One shop referred me to a shop that does automotive, residential and commercial tinting, and the guy there was kind enough to give me a slice of regular black film. There’s enough here to do 4 or 5 models! Next time I might go to an automotive place, because they have a lot of different types of tints and way more colors!

Here’s what I used for this little project:
Window tint
Kit glass
Windex
Clean towel
New #11 hobby blade
Scissors
Paper towels

The most important part of this is keeping everything as clean as possible. If you’re not careful, you could end up with fingerprints or dust under the tint film, which will be very obvious once you’re done.

Trim a piece of film to the proper shape for the area you want to cover, leaving some overlap where possible. You want to avoid having too much material around the tighter curves, because it will keep the film from sticking to the plastic. Also, be sure to take into account which side of the film is the sticky side, or the piece you cut out may not fit.

http://images4.fotki.com/v46/photos/3/35531/496069/glass1-vi.jpg

Once your piece is trimmed, make double-sure the glass is as clean as possible. Clean it with Windex, and then take a good look at it under good light to see if there is any dust or lint on the glass.

Once the glass is clean, put some Windex on it. This will help you move the film around before get it to its final position. Now we’re ready to apply the film. Peel the transparent backing off the film, making sure to handle it around the edges. This is also another reason for the extra material. Put it on the glass as close to the final position as possible, and fine-tune the fit. Then, run your finger over it to get the Windex out from under it. Keep rubbing it until there is none left anywhere.

http://images4.fotki.com/v44/photos/3/35531/496069/glass2-vi.jpg

Now, take another good look at the film to see if you’ve trapped any unwanted debris under it. If you see anything you don’t like, take the film off, clean the glass, and maybe start over with a new piece of film.

Once everything is to your liking, you can trim the excess off with a new #11 blade. A new blade will make clean cuts, while a used one might make jagged cuts or even tear the film. Here you can see the difference between the tinted glass (first pic) and the untinted glass (second pic).

http://images4.fotki.com/v47/photos/3/35531/496069/glass3-vi.jpg
http://images4.fotki.com/v47/photos/3/35531/496069/glass4-vi.jpg

These steps can be used for most relatively flat glass, but glass with compound curves is a little trickier. You have to think ahead about how the film will bunch up because this could help you with smoothing it out. After a few minutes of rubbing the rear glass film, it settled down without any bulges. Be patient, but if it doesn’t work, you can always peel it off and try it another way. Below is the finished product, pictured without and with flash to show how dark it can look in low light.

http://images4.fotki.com/v45/photos/3/35531/496069/glass6-vi.jpg
http://images4.fotki.com/v47/photos/3/35531/496069/glass5-vi.jpg

One last tip: For this car, I applied the side glass film from the inside, and the rear glass film from the outside, because it was simply easier that way. They both look the same, and I don’t expect any problems from the exposed film on the rear glass.

nice, I'll try this sometime.

nice mod

sweet car and nice how to

BTW, where do you buy your tint film?

BTW, where do you buy your tint film?

Read the first paragraph. I didn't type it all up for nothing! :confused:

Read the first paragraph. I didn't type it all up for nothing! :confused:
I saw that, must've just overlooked it. Very cool, do you know what percent it is?

good shit man, nice work.

Can't wait to see it done. I'm sure it's gonna looks great.
I built this kit some time ago and they really gave me a headache. A lot of fitment problems.I suggest you to do some fitment test before it's too late. :smokin:

look pretty good so far man :bigthumb:

keep us posted :grinyes:

look pretty good so far man :bigthumb:

keep us posted :grinyes:

:iagree:

I saw that, must've just overlooked it. Very cool, do you know what percent it is?

I'm not sure what % it is. I got it for free, so I didn't think it would be too smart to ask for anything specific. Whatever it is, it's not too dark.

Thanks for all the comments, guys, it's keeping me motivated. I will update whenever I have something!

Looks good nice how to as well! I think that should a be a fine % because the model will have no internal lighting, so it will looks darker once the interior is in place. Good work! :iceslolan

OK just a quick update, no pics this time. I haven't gotten any work done on the Benzo since the tints, but I primed the interior parts today. I haven'y decided on an interior color yet, but it will most likely be black or dark grey if I can find something nice.

In case you're wondering why progress has slowed to a crawl, I got a new girlfriend :naughty: , will most likely be getting transferred at work, and I've been trying to get the Custom Silverado done :iceslolan .

I got to the hobby shop today to check out the available colors I could use on the interior. Since the car will be silver, only a few colors could work, including light grey, black, white and dark grey. Black is overdone and with the tinted windows it would be too dark. Light grey would be too close to the silver exterior, and white says VINYL!!! So I grabbed a can of Tamiya TS-48 Gunship Grey, which is a flat color. I’ve used Tamiya flats on interiors in the past with good results, and with the tints, it won’t show that much anyways.
I sprayed the floor/back seat and door panels so far, and will have some pics up tomorrow hopefully. I won’t put too much detail in there since the tints (Tints, tints, always the tints!) will hide most of it. No headrest monitors or PS2’s in there, sorry to say.
Stay tuned!

:attention

Today I got the interior done. The TS-48 turns out to be pretty close to one of the factory colors available for the S600. I applied all the woodgrain decals and did some detailing on the door panels and dash with a fine-tipped marker. I added small details like the electric seat control buttons and window switches on the door panels, and a knob or two on the dash with the black pen. These are details that are not molded in, but are easily added with some good reference pics.

The kit decals are really nice, much more detailed than the usual ones. The only problem was that they wouldn’t follow the curves of the surface, nothing a little Micro-Set couldn’t fix though.

http://images4.fotki.com/v49/photos/3/35531/496069/interior1-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v49/photos/3/35531/496069/interior2-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v45/photos/3/35531/496069/interior3-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v45/photos/3/35531/496069/interior4-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v45/photos/3/35531/496069/interior5-vi.jpg

http://images4.fotki.com/v49/photos/3/35531/496069/interior6-vi.jpg

:feedback:

Guys, even if I have to say it myself, this Benzo has A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E!! Check out this mock-up of the car!

http://images4.fotki.com/v48/photos/3/35531/496069/mockup1-vi.jpg

I noticed a few things I’ll have to fix, though:
The tint on the passenger side looks like it had a speck of dust under it and the rear one just isn’t as nice as I would like, so I’m going to do them again.
After the mock-up, there seems to be a problem with the fit of the interior where it meets the glass, causing the whole floorpan to sit crooked on the driver side. You can see below the front bumper how the black floorpan is out of place. I didn’t spend any time trying to figure it out, so I don’t know how serious it is.

Regardless of the problems, I’m pretty hyped up by the badass look of this ride!

Looks pretty damn good. It dont have ATTITUDE, it has `TUDE! Love the woodgrain.

HOT! H. O. T.

wow i'm lame :lol:

sizzling...

Awesome! The how-to on the window tint is very handy... can't wait to see this beast completed. :D

That is so AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!! :evillol: :evillol: :evillol:

No progress?

No progress, I'm sorry to say. I've been a little busy with real life lately, so modeling has taken a back seat. I hope to get some work done after the new year.
I have been plannig things out though, so once I get back to work, I'll know what I have to do.

-remove and redo two of the tints
-adjust height of rear axle to match the desired ride height
-look at the poseable front end to see if i can modify it to clear the new wheels and also keep it poseable
-paint chassis parts semi-gloss black after mods

As always, if there's progress, you'll hear about it.
Thanks for the interest!

I've been wondering Phil. I have this kit in my head.
Thanks for the update.
Chris

beautiful phil keep doing your thang

man i just came across this, but it is FKN awsome! me not being a big fan of mercs have taken a liking in this! keep it up dude!

Thanks for the encouraging words, guys! I got to doing the two tints again today, and all I really have to say about it is GET IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME! It was eay to remove and redo it, but the film leaves some residue which can be annoying to remove. In my case, it wasn't really noticeable, so I let it be.

I might tackle the suspension now, so another update might be forthcoming.

Thanks,

Phil

looking good....waiting for the finished product

really good en passent j'habite a quebec Val bélair. tu las p-t pas vue sur mon threads de mon T-birds

Great progress.Love the interior.:bigthumb:

Another quick update, I got all the suspension work done today right after my last post, and I gotta say it went a lot easier than I thought it would! I have a slight bit of positive camber on the front end that I'll have to remedy, but other than that it's quite cool! I even unintentionally created a neat feature that I'll tell you about next time!

Phil

hurry phil. I want to see pics.

Any Progress ?????? :eek7:

Any Progress ?????? :eek7:

Dayum man, I just posted 6 hours earlier than you!! :screwy: :iceslolan

I will be posting all the details about the lowering job as soon as I get my lazy ass in gear and upload the pics and type it all up. It's gonna be pretty long, so I'm not really in the mood to start it! :bricks1:

As I mentioned before, I got some good building time in on Sunday with some great results! I’m very pleased with the outcome!

Like I said, I got the tints redone, and I started work on the suspension. The rear was easy, I only had to shorten the two mounting tabs the rear axle rests on to drop the car down.
I thought I was in for a rough ride with the front end, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it turned out to be!
(I just looked at all the pics I took while working on it, and they all turned out to be blurry!  The only useable ones are of the finished product…)
Anyways, I had to create clearance for the wheel/tire where it was interfering heavily with the strut/coil spring, so I cut those up a bit, sacrificing looks (who cares, you can’t see them anyways!) to attain my goal. I also ground down the area where the strut mounts to the inner fender, which is what brings the front end down. I decided to cut the lower mounting points flat on the underside of the chassis to create clearance for the wheels there too, but I’m not sure if it was necessary.
The cool thing is that the front wheels will remain poseable, but the even cooler thing is that when I lift the front of the model off the table, the wheels drop down a little! It’s like ghetto working suspension!

http://images4.fotki.com/v50/photos/3/35531/496069/Pc210016-vi.jpg
http://images4.fotki.com/v51/photos/3/35531/496069/Pc210017-vi.jpg

Phil
:feedback:

Looks real good. Question: Have you thought of doing a ghost graphic. Like on the hood, if your spray the car a color like white or something (forgot what you were doing) Leave the paint sit for at least a week, make a stencil that says S600 of something. Mask off the hood, cut out the stencil and transfer the pattern to the masked hood with a pencil, then cut and remove the letters, and spray pearl clear over it, let set in sun for 2-5 min. remove masking carefully, and voila, s600 ghost graphic. just a thought.

The idea is good, but I'm going for a look of understated elegance with this model, and ghost graphics are not really elegant, no matter which way you cut it. ;)

Well, if it were more of a performance orientated build, they'd go nicely. it was just a suggestion. So, this is going to be what color again? I forgot.

It's gonna be silver. Nothing more elegant than that!

Very Nice !!!

:smokin:

I'm still alive, despite all the food I ate in the last 2 weeks! :puke:

I got around to doing some small tasks on the Benzo today, like painting the chassis parts and touching up the backsides of the wheels. The chassis consists of the floorpan, rear axle assembly, exhaust system, two front struts and the steering link. Pretty simple, and it's all Semi-Gloss Black, except the exhaust which is Humbrol Steel Metallizer.

The bumpers got their coats of Tamiya TS-30 Silver Leaf yesterday, and today the body got its first two coats. I'm trying to be extra careful with this paint job, so I'm doing one light coat at a time, and sanding out any imperfections before applying more coats. I'm not sure if I'll clearcoat it once the color coats are bone. TS-30 seems to go on pretty thick, so it depends.

http://images2.fotki.com/v18/photos/3/35531/496069/P1040038-vi.jpg

http://images5.fotki.com/v53/photos/3/35531/496069/P1040039-vi.jpg

http://images2.fotki.com/v18/photos/3/35531/496069/P1040040-vi.jpg


:bigthumb: