1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 GP Car - Open-Wheeled Body

[Plastheniker]

Hi,

After WWII Mercedes resumed GP/F1 racing with the completely new designed W196 in 1954. It was the most advanced and most sophisticated front engine GP car ever. After Mercedes' retreat from racing in 1955 the following last two successful front engine GP/F1 cars (Ferrari and Maserati) were rather simple by comparison.
The W196 had a lot of unique features, e. g. an intricate tubular space frame from thin tubes, a 4(!) OHC straight eight canted to the right for a lower center of gravity and a very low silhouette, desmodromic valve gear, central power take-off, direct(!) injection.
Mercedes used a beautiful streamline body for high speed circuits and an open-wheeled body where cornering was more important.

The W196 appeared not before the third GP of the 1954 season and then won 4 of 6 races.
For the 1955 season the inboard front brakes were mounted outboard, because they tended to overheat and the long wheelbase impeded cornering. These shorter vehicles won 5 of 6 GPs. Their complete superiority shows the result of the British GP: They finished first, second, third and fourth.
My model has the long wheelbase and inboard brakes, therefore it is a 1954 car.

The W196 that was sold for almost $ 30,000,000 recently (up until then the highest price for a vintage car ever) was a 1955 model.


I can't remember when I built my model (maybe 10 or 20 years ago) but I do remember that the Protar kit was a sham because the box was nearly empty. Except a nice body the few other parts (no chassis, no engine, no firewall, no radiator) were wrong (f. e. the wheels) or extremely simplified.
Fortunately W196 and 300 SLR were technically very similar, so I could take a lot of parts from the RoG 300 SLR kit. The rest was scratch built. Since realistic wheels make or break such a model hand-laced real wire wheels were indispensable.

After a lot of work this is still one of my favourite models.

[indy1977tx]

Beautiful work, it looks fresh off of the race shop floor!

Jordan

[model freak]

Awesome!