Post by plastheniker on Oct 25, 2017 13:37:41 GMT -5
Hi,
After WWII Mercedes resumed GP/F1 racing with the completely new designed W 196 in 1954. It remained the most advanced and most sophisticated front engine GP car ever. After Mercedes' retreat from all racing activities in 1955 the following last two successful front engine GP/F1 cars (Ferrari and Maserati) were rather simple designs by comparison.
The W 196 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(!) fuel injection.
Mercedes used a beautiful streamline body for high speed circuits and an open-wheeled body where cornering was more important.
The W 196 appeared not before the third GP of the 1954 season and then won 4 of the 6 remaining races.
For the 1955 season the inboard front brakes were mounted outboard, because the inboard brakes tended to overheat and the long wheelbase impeded cornering. These shorter vehicles won 5 of 6 GPs. The result of the British GP shows their complete superiority: They finished first, second, third and fourth.
My model has the long wheelbase and inboard brakes, therefore it is a 1954 car.
The W 196 that was sold for almost $ 30,000,000 some time ago (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 an overpriced sham because the box was nearly empty. Besides a nice body only very few parts were usable. Essential parts (no chassis, no engine, no gearbox, no firewall, no radiator, almost no interior parts) were missing, some parts were wrong (f. e. the wheels), and others were crude or extremely simplified. Deservedly the kit disappeared from shops rather soon and to my knowledge there was never any reissue.
Fortunately W 196 and 300 SLR (internal W 196-S) were technically very similar, because the 300 SLR was derived from the GP car, 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.
