1936 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Cabriolet B - The Old Italeri Kit After Necessary Improvements

Hi,


speaking of the Mercedes 540 K many people think that the spectacular Spezial-Roadster body was her typical bodywork. In fact the opposite is true.
Totally 419 (29 delivered chassis included) 540 K were made. Not more than 25 were Spezial-Roadsters. Most buyers by far (190) preferred the Cabriolet B, one of several less flamboyant works bodies.


To my knowledge Italeri released its Cabriolet B kit (later re-boxed by Testors) in 1981. Even by today's standards this kit offers good quality at a very reasonable price. Proportions are perfect, casting quality and fit are very good. Nevertheless fixing some issues is absolutely necessary:

• The two-part styrene tires have almost no tread. The two lateral spare wheels make their toylike appearance most salient. Giving the tires a new tread is indispensable (Don't forget : No whitewall tires on a German car of this period; modelers and kit manufactures love them but in reality they were absolutely unusual).
• Another striking shortcoming of this kit are its rims. Mercedes wire wheels had very large hubs. Thereby corresponding plastic wires look particularly crude. Here even more than usual lacing realistic wires makes or breaks the model. (Don't forget : Almost no chrome wires on a German car of this period; modelers and kit manufactures love them but in reality they were rather unusual).
• All kits with classic Mercedes radiator masks, no matter which scale, have completely unconvincing grilles. Real Mercedes grilles were rather bright cast parts and neither painted nor chromed. Note the faint additional large grid pattern .
  In 1/24 kits Mercedes grilles are always an integral, unperforated part of the chromed radiator mask. Leaving the grille chromed looks terrible, painting it dark with a brighter drybrush looks better but still unrealistic. On this model I replaced the grille by a piece from a matching generic PE fret and scribed the large grid pattern - very painstaking but for the very first time I found a classic Mercedes grille really convincing.
• The 1:1 car has some exterior chrome mouldings that Italeri omitted, f. e. on the soft top, above the lateral bonnet air vents or below the side windows.
• The interior is correct but leaves much room for detailing, f. e. OOB there aren't even instrument decals.

Fixing these issues plus a period-correct discreet paintwork and (IMO) the beautiful top closed can make an exceptionally realistic model .
I would recommend this kit to experienced (and patient) modelers.