OK, here is the first part of my Mercedes CLK DTM review. It is the same kit as Zeljko's with the same Studio 27 metal etch set, but with other decals shown here on the left. I hope you like it. If you have better ideas or questions, don't hesitate to contact me at rinus@hrmodeler.com .

I spray my cars with automotive paint. Tamiya says to use the color 'US NAVY insignia white', which I remember from my aircraft modeling era is FS 17875. So I went with my Federal Standard color guide to my local automotive paint store and they made the paint for me.

You can choose to build the car from the assembly guide, but I chose to first build the body complete and airbrush te whole thing.


When you spray with automotive paint, be sure to use a good primer and ALWAYS use a good safety mask. If you don't, you can't remember you did modeling at all in a few years.

For the front bumper I used the Tamiya spraypaint TS-54 as stated in the guide.

Painting went well. I have to remove some small dust particles and give it all a last wet coat of paint.


The roll cage is mounted completely in the interior tub for a proper aligning. Just glue all parts together and place the cage in the tub, taking care not gluing the cage to the tub. You will notice that small holes in the tub will show you the place for the cage. After letting it dry overnight I airbrushed the cage in Alclad steel, which gives a nice 'light gun metal' appearance. The doors are covered with Kevlar decal from Scale Motor Sports.

The wheels are painted in Alclad Chrome, but you can also use Testors chrome as you whish of course. I like Alclad because of the very fine metal particles.

To get the best chrome finish with Alclad you have to paint the object gloss black first with an enamel paint. After letting it dry overnight you can spray a thin coat of Alclad.

I skipped the black paint on my wheels to prevent a to much chrome shining.


The chassis is painted semi flat black. You can use SMS Kevlar decals, but because they are expensive I leave the underside black. The air intake is covered with Kevlar. The engine is gonna be build straight from the box, so no plumbing, wiring and extra parts will be added.
Continued in part 2