My diastema and doors and bonnets and boots

I have a diastema which is that space between the upper front teeth that 20% of adults have to some degree.  Mine is big… David Letterman sized.  The main benefit is it allows me to whistle extremely loud.   That is until I had it filled in.  But more on that later.

Look at these two promotional pictures of the fabulous LeGrand 300 SLR Gullwing Mercedes (we still have a few left in stock!)  Do the pictures look different?  If so, what is the difference?  And which looks better?

I decided to have the dentist fill in my diastema one day.  I didn’t tell anyone… even my wife.  When I came home, she didn’t notice anything at first.  Then she asked me if I had had Botox injections.  She said I looked better for some reason, but she wasn’t sure exactly why.  She didn’t realize I had become the bottom Gullwing picture after having lived the last 50 years as the top picture.  I had my gap filled just like that Gullwing door.

By far the toughest thing to achieve on a model car that has doors, hoods and trunks is making the gaps around them even and in scale when all the panels are closed.  I have only seen a handful of models with opening doors that have scale width gaps when closed.  When I look at pictures of some of the greatest models ever made usually the only clue that it’s a model are the gaps… either too wide or uneven.

Automobile designers and manufacturers go the great lengths to ensure that all panel gaps are even and minimal.  Fit and finish are essential components of a good first impression whether it be a real car or scale model.

Bob Breslauer