VW MicroBus 23-Window!

Rwvell sold this one for a while as well.

Greg, are you listening?

It's a great model.

Hi;

  Pillowcase linen. Get an old worn one to be sure. I normally use any up-price men's hand-kerchief. They work better with craft paints!

I find those window making materials can be used for windows about quarter inch square or so.  But larger windows are problematic with that stuff. 

For larger windows I just cut them from clear acrylic or clear styrene.  Gluing in windows can be a problem too, as many glues disfigure the clear materials.  I have been using that new UV hardening glue.  Only problem is that you need access to the glue line, as the laser light must impinge directly on the glue.  Clear plastics are opaque to blue light.  That means you must glue them in before closing up anything.

I think I'm going to try the clear acrylic. The window maker looks ok but i know it will have to be done last because it'll be risky taping over it.

Been awhile. Honestly its just been little subassemblies and i figure everybody's seen those. Since time has passed  though here's a brief update 

ive worked on the frame trying to make it look real. Some overspray on the frame rails and flat black in between the subframe supports. Stil need to wash the engine. These are just set in place. I won't glue them in till after i mount the body.

prepping the interior. nothing provided in the kit behind the front seat So the doors need covered with something to rep the door panels.

just cleaning up the exterior. The bus I'm duplicating doesn't have the big turn signal lights so they have to go. 

I made a big switch in direction on the windows...big reveal later in the week once i paint the interior 

Tanker-Builder

Hi;

  Pillowcase linen. Get an old worn one to be sure. I normally use any up-price men's hand-kerchief. They work better with craft paints!

 

oooh, this has serious potential. no way I was cutting the roof without a good replacement. I may even have a brown one to match the paint!

My 1st coat of primer is on. Just some clean up needed where i filled in the lights up front. 

GMorrison

Rwvell sold this one for a while as well.

Greg, are you listening?

It's a great model.

 

Yep. Just got my attention.

This is looking great! Good attention to detail. Love the hand-crafted seat-support tubes. The body looks fine with a coat of primer, and I am waiting with bated breath to see what you do with the windows.

There's also a tube that runs down the middle, or I suppose up the middle, of heated air thats collected over the cylinders and vented into the drivers compartment.

The transporter doesn't exactly have a frame as it couldn't be driven around without the body. But it's different from the car, for sure.

GMorrison

There's also a tube that runs down the middle, or I suppose up the middle, of heated air thats collected over the cylinders and vented into the drivers compartment.

 

The transporter doesn't exactly have a frame as it couldn't be driven around without the body. But it's different from the car, for sure.

 

Oh yeah that thing was a death trap in the northern winters! The tubes would rust out and pass exhaust up into the car. I remember driving around in my buddies bug with the windows down in the winter. Don't ask how he defrosted the windshield 

Making some good progress on this. I love these buses!!! That's funny about the windows down in the winter! When I was a kid I drove a 67 Mustang with no heater and no defrost. I eventually got it fixed after driving around in rainy/ colder weather with the windows either partially or all the way down to defrost the windshield. Unbelievable what we'll endure when we're younger. I wouldn't dream of doing that these days. Gotta have my heater/ defroster and damn sure have to have that A/C.

Here's the 1st glimpse of my 2-tone interior

up in the top you can see the headliner i created...also a clue related to the future of the windows.

everything is done in satin clear now. A day to dry and then i can start the sealing-wax-red paint on the interior. 

Hello!

Your model of the VW Bus looks good! If you like, here's my take on that model:

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/4/t/172395.aspx

Now the Hasegawa model of the bus isn't very sophisticated - it has a lot of simplifications and omissions. There is a Revell model of the same machine - and this is very detailed. But you have to watch what you buy, because I believe Revell also used to rebox the Hasegawa, so it's worth chcecking scalemates to see what you are going to get.

Here is the diagram showing what I mean and there is also a link to the building instructions of the newer Revell kit:

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/revell-07436-vw-t1-samba-bus-lufthansa--975205

Good luck with your build and have a nice day

Paweł

Pawel that was some nice reading. Great job on that lowered bus! Loved the suspension work for sure.

huge difference between the revel and Has kits based on the instructions. Funny, one of them is based on the other because both sets of instructions would have you put the exhaust pipe on so it would stick out into oncoming traffic 

Layed down the sealing-wax red today. More work to do on getting a good gloss but not bad for my 1st time i hope. Rubbing it out should help. I applied 3 coats of clear. It’s just a little patching, like i didnt get a good wet coat down consistently. Interior coming along as well.

Working on some miscellaneous stuff while I'm listening to monday night football. 
1st off scratching together a new dash to match the bus I'm duplicating. A little glazing putty and rounding out all the corners should have the shape correct on this.

Looks good but rear brake drums should be dirty brown.

We broke a throttle cable on my friend Bill's bus coming back from a concert.

The bus had a hatch in the little cargo tray in the back.

Opened it and Jim bent over the back of the rear seat and held a piece of wire attached to the crank on the carburator. 

Directions from the bridge:

"Gas!"

"Let off!"

Drum brakes now dirty brown lol pics to follow.

just finished up the chestnut brown. Ohhh the chestnut brown is really laying down glossy! MCW didn’t have this color so i took some advice from a local club member that specializes in cars and went down to the local auto paint store. They were able to mix it up in a 2oz touch up bottle. cant wait to see both colors together....

Having figured out what i did wrong it's finally time to fix the bus. Took 2 sanding sessions to get the paint cleaned off the front and smooth enough to primer. 

the original problem was that I took the tape off too fast. The clear coat is pretty hot I guess. If it's not allowed to dry for 15-20 minutes the base coat will pull right off the primer. Lesson learned.

now its time to put this baby together!

She is looking pretty good. Too bad you don't have the real deal here, they are going for big bucks nowadays. Looking forward to seeing more.

BK

Thanks Brandon. Yep, it's a $100k Samba Bus! My best friend used to get the basic VW bugs and buses for almost free. I'm giving him this for his birthday so he'll finaly have a 6 figure bus lol

Heres today's progress. Mostly little stuff tho. My big claim to fame on this is cutting off the plastic card seat supports and making real ones from brass tubing just like the real bus.

that piping sure looks better in person. Much more like a line to the naked eye. Although i do see a few touch ups to do before putting the body on.

The glass is in  Finally, after months on shelf of doom, here's my solution to the stock glass panels. I made a headliner from 0.040" spaced evergreen siding. 

Using the evergreen as a headliner is a wonderful solution. As for clear coating, the only two options I would recommend is a light brush coat of future as you mentioned or mask each wondow carefully, clear coat, and then remove the masks. I would also masks prior to the BMF and do the foil last (IMHO)...

Ben

Bad....ASS!!!!

Drums01 thanks for the props!

mustang1989 love your work, honored that I got a bad-asss from you!

She's finally finished! Of all things the license plates took 3 rounds of paint. Dang lettering is sooo small. Tried masks, tried by hand, and finally got a new blade for my silhouette so i could cut them out. it's not a show winner but im proud of the custom work i did and the overall look now that it's finished. My buddy's gonna love it.

Here I made the tubing for seat supports and cut the seat so it would fold.

In this one I made the floor mat, custom made chrome door handles and interior panels, plus hand painted the vinyl piping that goes around the seats.

Shaved the rear and made up tail lights to match the style Samba bus I'm building.

Kinda simple underneath. The big reveal here is the heat pipe from the exhaust to the cabin. No VW would be complete without it lol

Edit-almost forgot, custom dash. The kit one wasn't even close. Found some decals for a mini and used the vw logo from the kit decal sheet to get it right.

Let's close with a headxshot and a quiz...

My buddy got this license plate by chance, it's an actual set of numbers from one of his buses. Who knows what a 714 is?

That turned out great!  Nice build of a very cool subject.

Reminds me of my '73 Alpine Microbus.  Only mine was a junkyard find, and only had two seats   It had the gasoline heater instead of the duct, luckiliy, it was Texas, so the aftemarket a/c got a lot more use.

Yeah that sounds alot like my buddy's buses! either he got them for free, for some reason people just gave him things, or he paid no more than a few hundred bucks for them. You reminded me of my favorite one, no seats in the back. We would put plastic down, cover it with ice and beer and go to the drive-in