[Rob J]

Lovely builds, Ken, and the W125 and Auto Union must be a lot quicker than the basic cars, as Mirrorman says. The original "cube" motors are nice museum pieces but not up to racing.
It's a dilemma whether to paint the W125 silver or leave it in the original rather attractive pearl grey-white.
Danny: If you want the original wheel-axle units, the best source is probably Phil Smith and his scaleslotcars.com site. They can be used with a modern motor. I'm not sure what Ken has done but some people have glued them in. If the wheel-axle units are not listed on Phil's site you could ask him direct or through Slotforum.
Early Auto Union wheel-axle units would probably fit too (they'd just need painting -- they're usually yellow). The Auto Union came in two types. The early ones had twin-peg guides and the Mk II a blade guide with "keyhole" aperture in the body. The rear axle bearings and mounts are different too. I'm not sure about the Merc. Maybe Kev can explain. Mine has the later cockpit and driver but the old twin-peg guide (like Kev's), so perhaps they didn't change the guide on the Merc.
The W154 is from a different range, MRRC rather than Airfix, from when (I think) MRRC was a subsidiary of Airfix but produced completely different cars and a wide range of higher-quality components.
Rob J

 

[Rob J]

A good point, Pertti, and I have had some fun with them. I should have said "not up to racing against many others". I suppose they're at least as good as Scalex FJs, though the FJ 1:1 cars are from a different era, the early 1960s. Some Politoys have similar motors but are models of even later F1 cars. And the Airfix cube motors are apparently inconsistent. Still, I'd be happy to be proved wrong. What else would you have on your grid?
Rob J

 

[Rob J]

Sounds good, Danny. I left mine as original, with a cube motor, and painted only a few parts like the grille and cockpit. The standard braid is very narrow and usually needs teasing out, though I vaguely recall there are other solutions.

Back to Kev, Mirrorman and others: What was the evolution of the Airfix W125? Was there a first version with open cockpit and 3/4 driver, and/or a full Mk II with keyhole guide? Mine and Kev's are sort of Mk one and a half in Airfix terms, with early twin-peg guides and Mk II-type closed cockpit panels.
All the other contemporary Airfixes I've seen, such as the Cooper and Porsche, seem to have come in one form or the other.
Rob J

 

[Rob J]

Danny: I suggest not cutting open the cockpit (except perhaps at the front), partly because you're keen on originality and partly because the motor is directly under it and you wouldn't be able to fit much more of a driver. We know your skills from other builds such as the Bugatti, so perhaps you could cut the cockpit enough to give the driver arms and fit a full steering wheel if you wish.
As for cockpit colour, I've seen a tan or light brown (probably gloss) which looked good. You could use a darker colour if you gave the driver arms, like forum member ferrari1950, who did a good remodelling with both blue and matt black on the existing cockpit. See http://www.slotforum.com/forums/blog/ferra...?showentry=1215
Looking at the cockpit-motor positions today makes my earlier question seem silly. The Airfix Merc could never have had a seat and threequarter-length driver. The "Series I" models that did were all of rear/mid-engined cars with the driver closer to the front: the Auto Union, Cooper, Porsche, etc.
Rob J