We built Mattel’s new 1,600-piece Merc 300 SL and lived to tell the tale

Congratulations, you’ve made it through Christmas Day and Boxing Day! Hope there weren’t too many family disputes over the turkey dinner. But what do you do with this strange limbo period betwixt Jesus’s birthday and New Year’s Eve? Well, if you’re anything like me you’ll be very much done with socialising for a while and ready to hide away in a dark room… 

Just make sure there’s a very small amount of natural light and you’ll be able to build a model car from tiny little bricks like I did. Spoiler alert, the pile of 1,600 fiddly little pieces you see here will eventually become a glorious 1:12 scale Mercedes 300 SL. Well, that’s the plan.

I know what you’re thinking – yet another ludicrously expensive Lego set that you’ll never have time to finish. Wrong on both counts! I did actually finish this thing (eventually), and it’s not actually Lego. The Danish toymaker’s patent for its interlocking stud system expired way back in the mid 1970s, so anyone can make a brick building set. Announced just a few months ago, this is Mattel getting in on the act with its new ‘Brick Shop’ with Hot Wheels car sets the first to launch.  

This 300 SL is the first of the fancy 1:12 scale ‘Premium Series’ sets to hit the market, and at the time of writing it’ll set you back just under £90 from that well-known online marketplace.

In the box you get all the pieces in numbered bags (I know the model itself is all plastic, but couldn’t these be paper bags?), a separate little Hot Wheels model of the 300 SL and extra aftermarket bits to customise the car once you’ve finished building it to its original spec. You also get a hefty picture-based instruction booklet and a little tool to help rectify your mistakes. And yes, there will be mistakes. 

I found the first few bricks a little tricky to push together, but you quickly get used to the different fastening methods and learn to tell whether something will hold or not. 

As expected, you get bricks in a whole array of different colours, but the dark room I’d hidden away in did make it tricky to tell between the different shades of grey in the instructions. 

Mattel’s set does include plenty of neat little details. Even at this point I’m pretty confident it’ll look excellent on display once finished. 

After a couple of stints, I’ve got a front axle in with its working steering. Very impressive, and not actually as fiddly as it looks. Only issue at this point is my back pain from being hunched on the floor for so long. I was clearly engrossed. 

I spoke too soon, because the boot is an absolute nightmare. The large bits on the lid are supremely fragile in their connection to the piece below, meaning any time I pick up the car, one or two pop off. They’re a nightmare to get back on without loosening the others, and other little bits keep falling into the boot as I make more of a mess of it. Argh!

Pressing on to the interior and it’s immediately obvious what an excellent spec Mattel chose for its Gullwing. Dark blue with tan insides? Yes please. 

And would you look at those seats!

I’ve now finished the neat little engine bay, got the opening bonnet connected and the front end all sorted. When the large ‘glass’ pieces go on it really does start to resemble a 300 SL. Slightly chunky bumper, but we can live with that. What I couldn’t live with was the three-pointed star upside down. I got excited and popped it into place thinking I’d be able to rotate it once it was neatly nestled into the front grille. I was wrong. Luckily Mattel has stuck a hole in the back of the grille so you can pop it out again with a paper clip. Disaster averted. 

Hang on, it turns out the 300 SL would have looked excellent with a targa top. If you’ve got one, just drive with the doors up to see what you’re missing out on. 

Very nearly there. Those wheelarches were as fiddly as they look, as were the little strakes over the vents. Time to choose which set of wheels I want to stick on.

And there we have it. A mostly correct build of Mattel’s Merc 300 SL. Without the optional side-exit exhausts, bucket seats, roll cage and racing stickers that have been left in the box. What can I say, I’m a purist. Although I do like the look of the extra spotlights. Perhaps I’m not quite done after all…