1966 Beetle Rallye Car

Got a mild case of Covid last May, but started sufferring badly from long covid afterwards. the Brain Fog made focusing on this project all but impossible (hence my abscence here). Been improving lately, so we'll see...

Before Covid, the clear coating adventure turned into an orange peel nightmare. More wet sanding and polishing of the non-decal surfaces and finalizing the holes and pins for the side mouldings are my next challenge.

Hope to post an update soon.

J.

Hey! I remember the Dasher

        Cute little car for sure! I even wound up with a wrecked (First Year, Honda)  And I thought that Fiat 500s were small!

Mustang1989!

      My swan song in that business was outstanding. The SecondGen, Riviera By Buick. I had one come in and when the insurance totalled it I bought it from them. The back end (From the rear door pillars) to the Bumper was toast. I salvaged the interior parts and the front. No Computers then remember! I got on the "Red Phone" hotline and found a rear end that came off a car right in the middle of the Door Jambs. Down in New orleans!

     When the Rear Clip arrived I got a total surprise! It was the same color inside and out as the front parts I had. Sooo! I wound up with a completely rebuilt Buick Riviera Gran Sport, With the factory performance package and no one knew it was two wrecks put together to Re-Create one of the most Beautiful Machines( I Thought) that G.M. ever made in Steel! I wish I still had the photos. Wifey had a New one and It was Cocoa Brown Metallic, it too was the Gran Sport performance version. Mine was Light Pearl looking Mint Green. Original mileage on the front Half? 685, that's all! Mileage on the back Half, 155! Both were wrecked before that year was one quarter over! 

I don't have any pictures, alas.  But it was a cute li'l wagon.  

You're giving the term "going the extra mile" new meaning with this one. 

Aint it fun playin' around with the 1:1 cars? Got any pics of that Dasher Wagon? 

Yes, I remember the mini-Vette GT.  My very first car was a 1977 VW Dasher Wagon.  Somebody had wrecked the front end and welded it back on.  I had some great adventures with that car - it weighed next to nothing and somebody had removed the 1st Generation emissions controls.  It had 85hp but moved like a scalded dog.  

Lon:

        Talking about Opel? Remember the OPEL-GT? We had one in the shop that was my paint mule (The front was toast!). One Day I got a bug, you know where! I pulled it out of the Bay adjacent to the Paint Booth. I cut it back to the Firewall. Found another that an 18 wheeler removed the back from!

       Put them Both together and when she was done, I kept her for my advertising vehicle. I learned that little trick from my Police department jobs! The whole trick was locating a spot that helped Hide the welds and doublers. If it had a frame we usually bought an intact frame from The salvage yard. So Fords and G.M. makes got new frames if the bodies were Joiner Jobs!

 Unlike Models where you can use a ruler on, I had to have a Frame Jig and Alignment machine. If It didn't meet optimal Measurements It was stripped! Those were how my guys were taught the trick. Some got so good they left me for the dealer shops. I paid better, but, they wanted the Attention I guess!

Michigan is a wonderful state . I was there when I was a kid many, many years ago. Dont remember where only that I liked it. Lets see a round logo? Wellthat could be several makes depending how you look at it. Well you are retired now so enjoy life and relax.

You worked for Opel?  

lurch

Teched where is 'up here'? I am from northwestern wisc.

Oakland County Michigan... about an hour north of Detroit. I'm a retired engineer from one of the German auto brands... you know, the one with the round logo 

Teched where is 'up here'? I am from northwestern wisc. 

Recently overheard on the Rallye Beetle's Driver - Navigator intercom:

Navigator: "Does it seem to you that there's more wind noise than usual?"

Driver: "Nevermind that, the body just flew off!!!!!"

With warmer temps up here, I'm itching to finally get the clearcoat on the body. So I stopped procrasitnating and tackled the mouldings today. Here's the process. I first flattened the poorly-rendered OOB mouldings so that they measured a tick under .040" and were better to see for drilling. I then marked and drilled the .025" pin locations with the body secured in scratchbuilt cradle. I test fitted the pins to make sure that drilled holes were square. I laid the mouldings on top of the pins to mark the gluing locations... I cupped out small reliefs on the backside of the mouldings for better purchase of the CA. I fitted the assemblies and tested the "draw" on the pins to see if any of the holes needed to be reamed a bit laterally (only two needed touchup).

I'll experiment with airbrushing the Molotow before installation. If not, after clearcoating the body I'll fit them standing off like I did on the running boards, and brush paint.

The moulding pin alignments on the front and rear quarter panel downward curved sections might need to be tweaked, but so far so good. The next time I'll opt for an AlcladII chrome finish as it seemes to be safer to handle after application.

I'll totally believe you if you call me crazy.

More to come.

Hello!

     Who in the heck do you think you are, Ferdinand Porsche? That has got to be an example of getting in the " Groove" and doing it awesomely Right! I totally dig what you are up to!!

Great technique!

Thanks for the kind words everyone!  This definitely helps in keeping me motivated on this marathon build.

The body colour test spoon I had airbrushed two months ago with Future/Pledge revealed miniscule spiderwebbing under direct lighting, so I opted to use Tamiya X22 instead... but, it gave me a fright when I airbrushed it to the engine cover: As it was drying, a wierd yellow and white haze surfaced, and then completely disapated. What the heck was that?

I finally finished the engine cover module: Clear coated with Tamiya X22, installed a license plate light in the hollowed out housing, fitted the license plate and release lever. I also applied decals to simulate the air cooling vents as would be used on a convertible (a popular performance mod for Beetle sedans back in the day). The difference in colour from sunlight to interior lighting is remarkable:

I practiced my chrome moulding idea/method by applying the .040" half round to the running boards with pins. Primarily I wanted to note if the process had any pitfalls or could be tweaked before I proceed to apply them on the body.

I first drilled holes in the r/boards and inserted short sections of .025" rod, making sure they were somewhat loose. I used these to mark and then glue the pins to the half round "mouldings":

I secured the pins with dumdum to keep the mouldings standing-off from the r/boards, and then applied the Molotow. After 48 hours I pulled the mouldings tight using the pins and glued them from behind:

Result:

More to come.

TechEd29

 

 

mustang1989

Not a single detail forgotten here. Love the exhaust too btw.

 

 

Thanks!

Sweating the details drives me nuts sometimes... but it's so satisfying when they turn out better than expected.

J.

 

Super build techniques buried all throughout this thread! It'd been awhile since i stopped by. Enjoyed the read and the policia stories over coffee this morning. Awesome work!

Your attention to detail is outstanding. You are doing a fantastic job on this build. 

After several failed test attempts at tape masking the thin moulding strips on the rear tailight assemblies for Molotow chrome application, I reverted to using thinned Elmers white glue much as I did to mask the front VW emblem on my Pinball Van (build thread here: https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/4/t/190133.aspx).

I first applied two tape strip "handles" and then brushed on the thinned Elmers on either side of the strip. After three hours, I brushed on the Molotow:

Using the handles helped immensely with removing the Elmers mask. I then hand-painted the housings with the Sea Blue body colour:

Not perfect, but I'm still pleased given how hard it is for me to build and paint with my hand tremors. I'll fit the gaskets underneath the housings prior to installing on the rear fenders... body still needs to be clear coated first.

More to come.

That will work!  Great idea!

Progress, millimetre by millimetre, and an idea sucessfully tested.

Fabbed front sway bar mounted, clamps painted:

The simulated rubber gaskets under front turn signal housings turned out okay. The assemblies will be glued from inside the fenders via the pins:

Mockup:

As usual, I got an additional kit as insurance for goof-ups. But in this case it also served as a proof of concept test for the chrome mouldings.

As stated earlier, I was not pleased with how the chrome mouldings were rendered on the body, and how difficult it would be (for me with my tremors) to finish them sharply, even with masking becasue the raised profile of the mouldings on the body was really shallow in spots. I had some half round .040 rod that is v/close to scale for the mouldings on a 66, but the gluing process of a moulding already finished with Molotow chrome on the painted body would be just as much a challenge as masking etc.... so I'm gonna try to install them just as they would be on 1:1 car, with pins. I'll cut the mouldings to length and use .025" styrene rod for pins that will be glued from inside the body. The goal is sharp visible edge. Here's my proof of concept test outcome:

More to come.

Glad I chose to turn the swivel portion of the mirror out of thicker material... turned out okay.

After final sanding and separating from the spindle, it'll be ready for brushing on the Molotow chrome (ref. test piece). My experience has been that the Molotow takes a long time to dry before safe handling, so I'll likely leave this step until close to the end of the build.

More to come.

Front Sway Bar WIP:

Made the rubber bushings for the clamp mounts to the lower control arms.

Trial fit for gluing:

Sidebar: The photo above reveals one of the unfortunate results of mounting the axle beam higher on the frame head in order to acheive a realistic front fender gap (Tamiya OOB was too high). The top of the axle beam mounts now fouled the bottom of the luggage compartment module above, preventing that modules proper installation on the chassis. I had to remove some material from the beam etc. to get everything to fit.

Talbot Berlin Race Mirror WIP:

After taking a closer look at the back radius of the Tamiya passenger mirror I planned to use as the swivel section on the mirror housing, I decided it was too thin. As such, I'm making one that's closer to scale by "turning" one out of 1.5mm styrene. Found out that I have to wait longer for the spindle glue to dry... started to wobble when it got warm

More to come.

mustang1989

Not a single detail forgotten here. Love the exhaust too btw.

Thanks!

Sweating the details drives me nuts sometimes... but it's so satisfying when they turn out better than expected.

J.

Not a single detail forgotten here. Love the exhaust too btw.

Here's what I worked on, off and on, over the weekend.

During the last year of owning my 64 Beetle, I saved up and bought a Talbot Berlin racing mirror, like this one:

It made the car at least, another 20 MPH faster... really

To stay true to the personal nature of the build, I'm fabricating one for the Rallye Beetle... as close as I can, anyway:

The passenger side mirror that came with the Tamiya kit seems to have enough radius on the backside to use as the swivel part of the mirror. It'll go on the flat end of the bullet:

Got a couple more gravel tires grooved. Counted thirty strokes of the file for each groove...whew. Also cut shallow reliefs at the "bottom" of each tire to simulate the weight of the car on the tires when they're mounted:

Mockup test bending the front sway bar that Tamiya did not include. I'ts 0.8mm aluminum rod.

More to come.

Two hours work = +20 horsepower!

Drilling for aluminum pins to help with gluing alignment to the heat exchangers:

Gluing the little pipe clamps required some gymnasitics:

Start 'er up!!

The rear bumper bracket depth that Tamiya had in mind was way too far out, so I tighten them in to scale depth. I needed this to get an accurate length on the tail pipes from the glasspack (7.5" - 0.3215" for 1/24):

Interestingly, the larger pipes slide right over the smaller ones and look killer, if not exactly practical... becasue they'll take some low end HP out of the stock motor

An odd thing happened though. When I went to accellerate, a bunch of blue ink came spewing out of the tailpipes... oh, wait.

More to come.

mustang1989

Such great attention to detail and the paint work on that car body is just all that AND a whole bag of party mix.

Exceptional work.

Thanks, Joe.

I'll admit that I'm slowly losing my patience in terms of wanting it all finished. There's still a long way to go, and summer camping trips are around the corner.

Though, I am enjoying all of the deja vu moments of remembering working on these cars as a dealer tech in the 70s.

Cheers,

Juergen

Such great attention to detail and the paint work on that car body is just all that AND a whole bag of party mix.

Exceptional work.