This has been an epic journey. I have thoroughly enjoyed this build. I don't need to go on and on anymore. Im just going to let the pictures speak for themselves thank you tamiya for what i would call your best kit yet..
This car has been modeled based on pictures from the internet of Bert Kinerk's 1970's 300SL. Here is some history of the car the model is based on:
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Ennis Berker of Birmingham Michigan purchased the car in the early 1970’s from Bert Kinerk of Tucson, Arizona. The car was used as a daily driver for several years and a complete restoration was begun. The restoration was started and stopped several times but never completed. The car remained off the road and in storage for the next 38 years Dr. Berker reluctantly sold his Gullwing in May of 2011 with the odometer showing just 63,925 original miles to Michael Harling of Dallas Texas. Mr. Harling commissioned 300SL specialist Scott Grundfor to conduct a 100 point body off “Show” restoration. The restoration entailed over 4,000 hours to complete. The car was completed in February of 2014. It was shown at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in March and was awarded a First Prize. Subsequently it was shown at the Concours d’ Elegance of America at St. Johns and won the coveted “Mercedes Benz” trophy. At the Beverly Hills “Greystone” Concours and Santa Fe Concours d’ Elegance it was again awarded the First Prize.
The Gullwing is finished in DB 396 Blue Metallic complementing the original Roser 955 Light Gray Leather.
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I thought that this car was so lovely that i HAD to base my model on this car. I think this blue has a wonderful ability to show lovely deep hues in subdued light, and has a bright summertime sky presence in full daylight.
The light grey Roser 955 leather was quite hard to replicate, i did this with a palette of humbrol matt black and matt white and tested the mixes until i got it as close as i could replicate from the pictures i had. This took a few hours before i was happy.
In order to differentiate from the leather on the seats, I added a light satin finish to just make them look a little more like leather that's been sat on. Not too much as I wanted them to look new-ish but in keeping with the age of the car.
The engine and gearbox i wanted to look like its had a full overhaul, so i made this look as clean as possible with not much weathering, only weathering was exhaust pipe with some light surface rusting by soft brushing some brown (brushing when tacky) and then dry brushing some very trace amounts of silver (when fully dry)
The floor-pans did not look particularly realistic from underneath. So i filled them, smoothed and added poly rod to simulate weld lines. I then primed with a white-black mix and added a metalcoat all over. A light buff just made them pop a little which is what i wanted to achieve. By doing this free-hand I gave it a more hand built look.
The space frame was a combination of improvisation and enhancement. I painted the space-frame white, as i wanted to separate the front and rear sub-frames by picking them out in black. I also weathered the space-frame with rusty grime, which was my first attempt at rust and didn't really look all that realistic on its own, but in combination with the crisp engine and floor pan/bodywork its passable as a dirty frame with bits of rust which in essence is probably what the frame would look like after a year or two from the factory. but this is pure improvisation and served as an experiment which sort of paid off.
The paintwork really is something i am very proud of on this model. I used Zero colour matched paints, now you have to be careful with this stuff as its cellulose based. But the quality of the paint was really extraordinary.
There was a major fitment issue on the bonnet, the air-box assembly was preventing it from laying fully flat. It was closing, but just slightly up which made it look like a toy. So i had to remove plastic underneath the bonnet to make it fit fully closed like the real thing.
Please enjoy the pics.
all the best
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This car has been modeled based on pictures from the internet of Bert Kinerk's 1970's 300SL. Here is some history of the car the model is based on:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ennis Berker of Birmingham Michigan purchased the car in the early 1970’s from Bert Kinerk of Tucson, Arizona. The car was used as a daily driver for several years and a complete restoration was begun. The restoration was started and stopped several times but never completed. The car remained off the road and in storage for the next 38 years Dr. Berker reluctantly sold his Gullwing in May of 2011 with the odometer showing just 63,925 original miles to Michael Harling of Dallas Texas. Mr. Harling commissioned 300SL specialist Scott Grundfor to conduct a 100 point body off “Show” restoration. The restoration entailed over 4,000 hours to complete. The car was completed in February of 2014. It was shown at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in March and was awarded a First Prize. Subsequently it was shown at the Concours d’ Elegance of America at St. Johns and won the coveted “Mercedes Benz” trophy. At the Beverly Hills “Greystone” Concours and Santa Fe Concours d’ Elegance it was again awarded the First Prize.
The Gullwing is finished in DB 396 Blue Metallic complementing the original Roser 955 Light Gray Leather.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I thought that this car was so lovely that i HAD to base my model on this car. I think this blue has a wonderful ability to show lovely deep hues in subdued light, and has a bright summertime sky presence in full daylight.
The light grey Roser 955 leather was quite hard to replicate, i did this with a palette of humbrol matt black and matt white and tested the mixes until i got it as close as i could replicate from the pictures i had. This took a few hours before i was happy.
In order to differentiate from the leather on the seats, I added a light satin finish to just make them look a little more like leather that's been sat on. Not too much as I wanted them to look new-ish but in keeping with the age of the car.
The engine and gearbox i wanted to look like its had a full overhaul, so i made this look as clean as possible with not much weathering, only weathering was exhaust pipe with some light surface rusting by soft brushing some brown (brushing when tacky) and then dry brushing some very trace amounts of silver (when fully dry)
The floor-pans did not look particularly realistic from underneath. So i filled them, smoothed and added poly rod to simulate weld lines. I then primed with a white-black mix and added a metalcoat all over. A light buff just made them pop a little which is what i wanted to achieve. By doing this free-hand I gave it a more hand built look.
The space frame was a combination of improvisation and enhancement. I painted the space-frame white, as i wanted to separate the front and rear sub-frames by picking them out in black. I also weathered the space-frame with rusty grime, which was my first attempt at rust and didn't really look all that realistic on its own, but in combination with the crisp engine and floor pan/bodywork its passable as a dirty frame with bits of rust which in essence is probably what the frame would look like after a year or two from the factory. but this is pure improvisation and served as an experiment which sort of paid off.
The paintwork really is something i am very proud of on this model. I used Zero colour matched paints, now you have to be careful with this stuff as its cellulose based. But the quality of the paint was really extraordinary.
There was a major fitment issue on the bonnet, the air-box assembly was preventing it from laying fully flat. It was closing, but just slightly up which made it look like a toy. So i had to remove plastic underneath the bonnet to make it fit fully closed like the real thing.
Please enjoy the pics.
all the best
View attachment 240971
View attachment 240975
ñView attachment 240976
View attachment 240954
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View attachment 240951
View attachment 240952
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