Progress: Project Big Ballin’ S600

[Fastphil]

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

[SonyMobile]

somebody had to do it

[86_SR5]

Originally Posted by SonyMobile

somebody had to do it

ya beat me to it.

[Fastphil]

Originally Posted by Fastphil

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.

[Fastphil]

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.





Phil

[tonioseven]

Nice project!!
Here's my version

[86_SR5]

Originally Posted by tonioseven

Nice project!!
Here's my version

Very nice tonio, btw, them rims go hand in hand on that s600

[EMAXX]

Looks like a good prject. Keep us posted.

[tpliquid]

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

[jgmodelcars]

Originally Posted by tpliquid

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!

[73superduty]

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

[Fastphil]

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):





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:





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!

[Camber]

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

[Fastphil]

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.



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!

[Fastphil]

Originally Posted by Camber

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!