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Mercedes-Benz SLK

This is the SLK exactly as I bought it from a friend of mine who had already sprayed it silver and painted its head and tail lamps in black. Most of the paint was damaged so it definately needed a re-spray, however the model was complete and even had the foldable roof which was still in a working condition

First thing I did was taking the SLK apart and start working to fit the new OZ wheels which I got from the Solido Impreza. At the rear I did this by fitting the new wheels on the same Maisto's axles by modifying the centre shaft, whilst on the front I completely removed the original axles and fitted the Solido ones instead. Then, I lowered the body onto the new wheels by removing the original springs and fitted a shorter plastic spacer instead to get the ride height desired. Brakes are from the Solido Impreza too

Here you can note the green paint on the front panel where I began experimenting to see what colour goes best with the gold wheels

After making sure that the new wheels fully turn and steer, it was time to remove the silver spray using paint remover

Once all the spray was off, it was time to start building the bodykit. I used the original plastic kit in black as a support for my new kit and constructed this using an automotive body filler. The first kit I made was a bit small for my taste, so I ended up building another bigger bodykit on the other. I also smoothed out the door handles and fitted a bonnet vent which was originally a roof scoop on the Impreza. Here's how the first small kit looked

And here's the new bodykit. You can see that I've also smoothed the side skirts into the side panels this time. In the following pictures you will note that various parts of the SLK are in green, and that's because I had already sprayed it in green, but didn't like how the colour turned out so I ended up removing it

Happy with the new kit, the body was now done so it was time to start thinking about the engine. The original one was very plain so I had to detail it as much as possible. Here's the Maisto standard look

Here is the finished version. I've done this by painting various parts to achieve a more realistic look

Then once the engine was ready, I detailed the exhaust to make it more realistic too

With the engine ready, it was time to focus on the interior. First I carpeted the floor using a carpet-look contact paper. I've also undercoated all the interior components in white so that I would get a better effect when I paint these to match the exterior

And here is the interior fully detailed and readily assembled. I chose silver, grey and blue to match with the metallic blue of the body

All that remained at this point was the body's spray. I began this by first applying a white undercoat

Then applied the metallic blue colour (an automotive original Peugeot metallic blue) and then the clear coat. After more than 24 hours drying time I wet sanded the clear coat using a wet 2000-grit paper to level out the spray

Once dry enough, I polished the body using a T-cut polishing compound and a Turtle brand wax. These two products gave me the required shine which you can see in the photo below

Now the only thing remaining was the addition of the last detailing touches and finally assemble the SLK. These detailing touched included a silver window trim, removing of the black paint from the front and rear lights using brake fluid, silver license plates with SLK written on them, detailing of the front grill and more. Once this was all done, I assembled the SLK and here is the finished carnd selecting the options from the toolbar.

Finally, you may notice that in the above pictures the side mirrors are missing the actual chrome part. It's because I forgot to attach them and only realised about this after taking the pictures. So then I attached the mirrors in place and took a final picture of the Merc!

Thanks for looking. Click here to return to the Custom Die-Cast section.