SONAX C-Class DTM - It's Finished!! Here are the Pics - 7 pcs!!

[Guido]

As far as the digicam is concerned... it's not mine...
I got it from a friend this weekend to take pics for the contest!! It's a Minolta 4Mpix with 7x digital zoom. The thing is to keep it stable while in macro mode, but therefor I use my tripod I must say I was impressed myself with the result. I'm going to stop buying some kits (stock is a around 80 now, so I should be fine for some time...) and start saving for a toy like that :licker:

[Guido]

Thanks everyone for the comments so far, as as you can see, my sig is updated now as well :finger:

I've posted the complete review on my site Automotomover now, including 21 pictures!

P-Man, I knew you would love it! Entry will be on it's way later today.

[RyanGiorgio]

Great car, love the carbon fiber.

[Jonno]

Originally posted by huudo
Thanks everyone for the comments so far, as as you can see, my sig is updated now as well :finger:

*phew*, Crisis over.

[RallyRaider]

Excellent Merc Huudo, well done!!

Exactly what colour is this car supposed to be? Is it a simple dark green metallic or is it some tricky “flip-flop” green to black paint?

I’ve seen it described as both. A bit like the Raybrig NSX, doesn’t look “flip-flop” in pictures but in the metal (carbon fibre ) who knows…

[Guido]

Originally posted by RallyRaider
Excellent Merc Huudo, well done!!

Exactly what colour is this car supposed to be? Is it a simple dark green metallic or is it some tricky “flip-flop” green to black paint?

I’ve seen it described as both. A bit like the Raybrig NSX, doesn’t look “flip-flop” in pictures but in the metal (carbon fibre ) who knows…

Well that is a good question and I'm not 100% sure about the answer either. I met a guy a couple of months ago, who claimed to have used to orignal Mercedes colour and it look nearly black... I didn't ague that but, firstly I've seen pictures of a green car and secondly I guess Tamiya have researched it thourougly, so I followed their instructions. I've included some pics from Bernd Schneiders official website to give you an idea.

1993 season Merc 190E and this looks black.


1994 season Merc C-Class and this looks green to me, but as you can see the rear view mirrors are different on this one.


1995 season (?) Merc C-Class and this looks this blackish green.


So it's my guess that in 1994 they ran in green livery and changed back to the blacker one in 1995. The 1995 car differs from the 1994 with a different front wing. If anyone else has pictures to make a point about this, I would love to hear it, because it has bottered me also for a while...

Cheers,
Guido

[RallyRaider]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

Regardless, your Merc looks fabulous.

Interestingly, in some of your photos of the model there does appear to be a green to black fade anyway. Perhaps that is a characteristic of a dark green metallic finish and the rumour of a "prismatic" paint job stemmed from that?

[Guido]

I've done some extra research on the colours. As this is what I found. The 1994 version 'was' green and the 1995 'was' black. Other difference between 1994 and 1995, apart from the front wing, are intakes right behind the rear doors, which got even enlarged for the 1996 version, but that's another story.

so anyone building a black one, make sure you do the 1995 modifs

[Purpura Delujo]

Nice benz!

[hrmodeler]

Very nice Huudo!
I always liked that car and one day I will make it, too.

[mel79]

There was a build up article of that Sonax Merc in Tamiya Modeling Magazine(if I recall correctly) some years ago and there were pictures which showed that the paint had a chameleon effect from green to black to purple. I think you can see the effect also in the pictures you posted as the bonnet is more bluish than the rest of the car.

However I think your model looks great and realistic in green

-Mikko

[RallyRaider]

Originally posted by mel79
I think you can see the effect also in the pictures you posted as the bonnet is more bluish than the rest of the car.

It is also possible the bluish tinge you refer to is caused by the reflection of the sky.

I'm not convinced that the SONAX Merc (or Raybrig NSX for that matter) had prismatic paint jobs. And even if they did the effect is so subtle that it doesn't show up in photographs.

The only choice to make is the one Huudo did - build it as you see it. Consider, viewing a scale model from a foot or two is like viewing the real car from 30 or forty feet. So if the effect is only noticed with your nose on the real car's paintwork it don't need doing in 1/24th!

Phil

[flyonthewall]

Wow! Great to see some work from you, this is just a beautiful model!

[Gainsbourg]

Nice to see it finally finished.
You have done a simply amazing job in this lovely model huudo.
The overall aspect is perfect and the addiction of all that small details make it even more beautiful model.
Will be waiting for your D2 and Promarkt ones

[Guido]

Originally posted by RallyRaider


I'm not convinced that the SONAX Merc (or Raybrig NSX for that matter) had prismatic paint jobs. And even if they did the effect is so subtle that it doesn't show up in photographs.

Phil

It's a bit of both.

The thing is that the colour is made of Clear Green mixed with Metallic Blue and a couple drops of Black. If you look at the model under different lighting conditions, the colour will be different, slightly, but there's a difference. That's the result of mixing the colours and there's probably not much one can do about that.

That being said, the variations in the pics are indeed as Phil indicated, reflections of daylight but probably the blue pigment of the metallic blue plays a little part in it as well. So again a bit of both. And like stated before I'm really happy with the result

The yellow Promarkt version, which I'm about to spray is another matter. Yellow is probably the most difficult colour to spray.

Originally posted by flyonthewall
Wow! Great to see some work from you, this is just a beautiful model!

That one is higly appreciated. Thanks mate!