Bertha Benz: The First Driver Benz Patent Motorwagen

       

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Original Kit:
Benz Patent-Motorwagen 1886
Made By:
ICM (kit #24041)
Scale:
1/24
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Benz Patent Motorwagen from Bertha Benz: The First Driver
Benz Patent Motorwagen engine left Benz Patent Motorwagen engine right Benz Patent Motorwagen engine bottom Benz Patent Motorwagen seat Benz Patent Motorwagen underside Benz Patent Motorwagen rear

 
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ICM has released three versions of their Benz Patent-Motorwagen kit, all based on the same general tooling but with the more expensive kits including photoetched parts and figures of Bertha and her two sons. I opted for the latter, even though I started with just the car.

Much like their Renault, the quality of the kit was outstanding. A good thing, too, because most of the parts here are ridiculously delicate, and there are a lot of them. The main parts tree alone had more individual components than several other full kits that I've built. Between that and the delicate nature of them, progress was slow because of how carefully it had to be handled. Dropping parts simply wasn't an option - they'd disappear in a heartbeat - so I could only work on it for short bursts when I was on my game. But the reward is how little fuss the pieces made fitting together. Mold lines were practically nonexistent, and nothing was warped or marred by tooling marks.

There were a couple of curious choices made with regards to part breakdown. For example, the step at the front right corner was two pieces, but the rear crossmember included both wood and metal components so painting it was more difficult than it needed to be. I do appreciate ICM's inclusion of optional parts to make the drive belt. Select one set of parts to use the included plastic belt, or the other set if you want to scratch build your own belt. I went the scratch built route, making the belt from the same craft ribbon that had previously been used for seat belts. I also replaced the upper gear axle with a piece of wire after damaging the one they included as I tried to get it off the tree.

The main frame is painted Tamiya TS-9, with brush painted gloss black for the springs and seat frame. The seat itself was painted TS-29, and the engine was painted TS-8 over a base of brown to give it a deeper shade. The wood parts were done by brush painting several shades of Apple Barrel acrylics to create the grain effect, then shot with TS-73 to give it an "oiled wood" effect. The rest of the engine components were painted with every shade of metallic paint I had, to try to recreate the mixed materials and clockwork appearance of the 1:1 car.

 

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