Driver's License Mercedes-Benz 450 SL

       

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Original Kit:
Mercedes 450 SL Pagoda
Made By:
Polistil
Scale:
1/25
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Mercedes-Benz 450 SL from the Olivia Rodrigo album Driver's License
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Although there are a few options for the 450SL in 1/24~1/25 scale, finding one with the hard top in place to properly represent the car used in Driver's License limited my options to just one: the old diecast produced by Politoys. It's a decent enough replica for its time, but its time was long before the detailed diecasts we're used to today. Still, I thought it wouldn't look half bad with a little work.

I started by disassembling everything and stripping the paint and preparing the body with some Eastwood pre-paint prep. I then cleaned up the edges and parting seams, and repainted it gloss white from a hardware store rattle can. Unlike typical models where thinner paint is better, the heavier paint worked to my advantage here by giving it a little more to level out any small imperfections in the cast surface.

The interior, chassis, and engine were left alone for the most part, the only modification being some black paint on the chrome steering wheel. I found out the hard way years ago that trying to detail up an old tooling like this more often than not becomes an exercise in frustration: since everything is simplified, nothing stands out. If there's suddenly a photoetched window crank and door handle in the middle of the mere suggestion of a door panel, they draw attention to how crude it is. Best to work with what's here.

That said, I did add all the appropriate trim to the body. Most of it was Bare Metal Foil over the cast-in ribs and flares, but the window surrounds had to be made from aluminum repair tape to give them a little extra thickness. I also modified the headlights and bumpers to match the car in the video, drilling out the lenses to make the North American-spec sealed beams and adding scratch built bumperettes. I also added a set of hubcaps from a Bburago Mercedes gullwing. Painted appropriately, they really looked the part. The final detail was a set of license plates, drawn up to match the plates on the car as per the "making of" video.

 

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