1936 Mercedes 540K called "Wicked"

[Gary Kulchock]

I started plans for this build almost 2 years ago when I asked Tim at TDR, to rapid prototype me a 1/16th scale Allison engine. The engine arrived, and it looked pretty nice but it was very heavy and lacked a lot of the detail I was after.



I ran up to a somewhat local Hobby Shop and purchased the Minicraft 1/16 Mercedes 540K I remember seeing there many times before.



My vision and goal will be to build a scale model of a car, capable of winning what many consider to be the most prestigious 1:1 automotive customizing award in the world, the "RIDLER AWARD"

This past summer I got a much better detailed and lighter weight 1/16 Allison engine made, this time with twin turbos from TDR. Sweet!

So follow along over the next few months, or however long it takes, and we'll see just how the transformation goes. So far, she's been named "Wicked" after the Broadway play my youngest daughter so enjoys. It will be painted to match.



Photo-etch has been designed, the body has been stretch in the engine bay 1 3/4" to allow room for the new Allison, and the interior has been stretched by 3/4".

I'll get some photos up this weekend of my progress to date.

[Gary Kulchock]

Ok! So here's the new lighter, more detailed, twin turbo Allison.



I mocked up the engine to see how it would fit in the 540K.



Here's the Allison mounted in the stretched 540K chassis. Dang! This is going to be Wicked!



About 2 nights ago I felt I need a bit more room in the interior so I stretched it by 3/4". Compare this photo with the previous one.



The trunk area has been framed.


The car now scales out to be just over 20 feet long.


The 42 gal. fuel tank has been scratch-built and houses the 9V battery to power the, ....... well I'm not letting that out of the bag just yet.




Need to find some wheels and tires now before I widen the stance a bit. Later.....

[The Mad Modeller]

Im sure this one will be over the top like all your builds.

[Eddie]

I'm allready getting excited.
I love your work Gary!!

[Gary Kulchock]

Time to widen the rear fenders.

I cut off one rear fender and added in a strip of .4375 wide plastic.





Big difference!


This should give me enough clearance for these tires I've mocked up.



These tires will eventually be made through the "Rapid Prototype" process by TDR to my specs.

Better get started on the other side. Front fenders next week!

[unforgiven2008]

Way kewl...

[wtsf150]

Very very cool Gary could you tell us more about this rapid prototyping could someone just bring in a 1:1 part have have it made to scale? or is a CAD program of the part or parts needed
Thanks, Willie

[Gary Kulchock]

May 24, 2010 16:49:34 GMT -5 wtsf150 said:

Very very cool Gary could you tell us more about this rapid prototyping could someone just bring in a 1:1 part have have it made to scale? or is a CAD program of the part or parts needed
Thanks, Willie

Sorry I took so long to get back to you. I wanted to get you a correct answer. As Tim tells me, you need an electronic file. I think if you had the actual part, and you took it to someone who had a high resolution 3D scanner, you could get the electronic file that way. It would probally require some tweeking after that also. Hope this helps.

[wtsf150]

Thanks Gary it does help just wish i had the part and access to a 3D scanner other than that i'm set LOL
Thanks, Again Willlie

[Gary Kulchock]

Here's what I've been up to on the Wicked'. Let's see if I can describe this right.

On the stock '36 Mercedes, the body surrounding the interior is narrower at the front cowl area to "smoothly form" into the grill. By moving the grill forward, and stretching the model by 1 3/4", the bodywork no longer "smoothly formed" into the grill. The solution was to widen the body a bit at the cowl area to allow for a smooth transition into the new grill location. Understand?



You see by my bodywork I tried this twice. The first time was still to narrow. This will also give me more foot-well width. OK, easy part finished.

So now I installed the body to the fenders and floor. Of course the floor will need to be widened to fit. See my pencil marks. There was a lot of work ahead of me here.



I actually started thinking (I do that every once in a while) about what else I need to do in the interior. I know I wanted to redo the driveshaft tunnel to allow the drive train to sit higher in the chassis and lower the body around it. You can see I've done tons of work to this area already, and I decided an entire new floor was required to take care of all these areas that required modification. So here you go.



So now I need to cut out the old floor and install my new improved part.



Hopefully I can show you some updated photos tonight.

Later guys.

[plasticcrafter]

looking great gary.......any idea on color as of yet? awesome work my friend

[Gary Kulchock]

The transplant is complete.




Onward!

[Gary Kulchock]

Black fenders, emerald green body, white details ..... for now.

[jerry]

Another work of art inthe making.

Jerry

[fireguy14]

Lookin good Gary!

[wtsf150]

Very nice plastic hacking going on here nice fab work
Willie

[coopdad]

Watching and loving it.
john

[Jantrix]

MORE!

[shreddedtire82]

cant wait to see this one finished, any updates on it?

[Gary Kulchock]

Not much more right now. I'm finishing up the design on all the photo-etch I need for it. I hope to have that done in the next couple weeks. I need to get the turbos and valve covers reprinted (rapid prototype) with more detail! Finally found some wheels. I'll try to get a photo of those up soon.

Thanks for asking.

[skibum]

I can't wait to see this one too. Since we know that this is going to be an amazing build, take your time to make sure that everything is just perfect.

Rob

[Gary Kulchock]

Dec 31, 2010 21:09:10 GMT -5 skibum said:

.... take your time to make sure that everything is just perfect.

Rob

That's how to do it Rob.

"Build every part is if it were a model in itself".

You can't go wrong if you follow this advise.

[shreddedtire82]

is the emerald green a definate or is it subject to change as time progresses?

[Gary Kulchock]

Jan 1, 2011 2:07:52 GMT -5 shreddedtire82 said:

is the emerald green a definate or is it subject to change as time progresses?

The emerald green will be more of an accent color used very sparingly. The main color I envision will be a champaign gold body with a white ivory interior.

[Gary Kulchock]

Hello all.

Sorry I haven't been around to much but I have been busy on modeling.

The huge photo-etch sheet for all my upcoming projects including "Wicked", is being re-etched as I write this. I received the first batch in the mail last Thursday and it sucked.

Note to everyone: Stainless Steel is some hard as_ shi_!




The Stainless is all being redone in Nickel Silver, and I should have it in my grubby little hands next week. I'll post photos when it arrives.

The brass sheet would have turned out nice if the top pattern hadn't been etched clean through the bottom pattern to the rubber. Yes it's being redone also.



Now on to my "Wicked" project! So where do I start?

This project started life as a 1936 Mercedes. Lots of changes to the body in combination with the cheap Mini-Craft rubbery plastic, has made the body very weak and fragile. Styling? Well I loved the look of the long front fenders but I just wasn't feeling right about the overall looks.

I considered Vacu-forming my own body but I felt that may be too weak also. Brass? Too hard to form all the compound curves I was after.

So what to do?

Step into the future. Rapid Prototype.

I designed a body base on the Morgan Life car. I stretched it quite a bit to be able to fit that twin turbo Allison V-12 under the hood. Here are some concept drawings. I may go with the straight roadster body but have left the option for a removable hardtop.

Check it out:





Remember this is just the concept. The actual body is now being worked up in 3D and when it's printed, I'll post tons of photos.

So ......... what do I do to give the original "Wicked" modified Mini-Craft body a proper burial?

Let me know what you think ........

[zbuckster]

I had to go and read this one from the begining. Man awesome project. You got me hooked. I love the concept drawing. It looks like a car I have seen before but then it again it doesn't. You know what I mean.

[shreddedtire82]

new body...... interesting i like it. exhaust layout....... maybe redirect and have it exit through the rocker panel just before the rear wheel wells. either way this thing is gonna look awesome when finished

[Gary Kulchock]

Mar 29, 2011 14:40:01 GMT -5 shreddedtire82 said:

new body...... interesting i like it. exhaust layout....... maybe redirect and have it exit through the rocker panel just before the rear wheel wells. either way this thing is gonna look awesome when finished

I thought about having the exhaust exit in front of the rear wheels, even thought about 12 exhaust ports exiting at the running boards on each side, but with the tiny height on the running boards, it would be difficult. The 4 Magnaflow mufflers and 3" to 4" diameter exhaust tips should get someones attention.

[Gary Kulchock]

A 100 times better.

The photo-etch was redone in Nickel Silver and Brass, both .006 thick. Here are the results.

[wtsf150]

The etch parts look great soooooooo if those others are not so good let me be the good guy and take them off your hands so you dont have to see them LOL great work Gary
Willie