VW Convertible WIP

Seat cushion springs?

Excellent fabrication work!

Let 's see who's paying attention. Guess what this is/will be:

While adding hinges can be simple, that isn't the case when you have a bug hood. Due to the space and angles/curves it gets "fun" quickly.

But, while not a thing of beauty these do at least work.

Thanks Duster- Glad you enjoyed the cookies, thanks for the kind words, and Happy 2013 too!

So guess what I've been up to?

It's just a start since the door jambs will be involved. I have started by making some door sill plates though. Again, please excuse the camera.

Mummmm Goob , chomp chomp,..

...  AHHH  thanks; that hit the spot.

OH and the Seat work, is genius, adjustment levers!!!  as well as all the work is very cool

AND...

Finally lil adjustment levers were made from brass wire and drilled out styrene tube.

Making a place on the floor pan meant plugging the kit seat locators. I went with tube and rod to mimic the rubber caps that cover the seat bolt acess holes.

A quick mock up shows the mods are visble in place.

Going back to the rear,  the bumper was done the same as the front.

Now if you care to comment- there's fresh baked cookies on the table. But only if you care to comment.

So I'm looking at the interior and realize that it being a convertible, things will be easy to view. Then it hits me that the seats have a decent shape but are of course simplified. A lil brass, some soldering and styrene helped that along though.

Also fab'd a new rear apron for the decklid to sit upon as well as the driprails.

Thanks for following along Duster!

So turning attention to the rear I set about to modify how the kit mounts the engine/trans package. First the square block 'firewall' had to be cut down. Then some additional inner quarters needing adding and finally the chassis horns which actually support the real drivetrain were rebuilt so a strap 'peformance trans mount' could be added.

"Slow but steady, makes for a really long build!"

MrSquid2U

 

 

While it took a while I'd like to think it was worth it.

 

Well Yeah -for sure

Thanx DogFish and as we all know the bodywork is never done and still continues!

Though there are many spotting diferences in the years between Bug parts one thing I've never favored was the later 'crash bumpers'. Well some whittling can improve that and then getting rid of the clunky mounts.

That's the rear bumper as a comparo.

On the real deal those flatstock bumper brackets pass through grommets. I first tried covering the kit bumper mount holes with some 'grommets' but they were out of proportion so I filled in the holes some and it all looks a bit better.

New brass bumper brackets on reshaped bumper through kit holes:

First attempt at making grommets that covered up the kit holes didn't work so those holes were filled in thus:

And the results:

While it took a while I'd like to think it was worth it.

Nice body work also!

Thanks Dogfish. I appreciate it.

Set about to mate the trunk to the body. I found the kit trunk width just a bit narrow so I carved the sides off and widened the platform first.

Then fashioned new side walls from styrene sheet.

And so far it looks like this now.

You might notice the new apron area with it's hood/trunk,,,,um,,whatever, latch.

You're doing a fantastic job!

Duster, Watchman "Lee",

Thanks for the kind words gents. A thread is more fun when folks take the time to comment- So I appreciate it.

And yes, I masked off the VW emblem atop the hood just to save it from getting clogged with primer. Revell did a nice job on that!

BUT,

There was always something that bothered me about where the front fenders met the front quarter panels. It simply wasn't 'right' and tried as I might I couldn't reshape it to my own satisfaction. At some point I realized if I had the hood out of the way I could better reach these areas.

Although it was cut out carefully with a lil PE 'saw' after recontouring I had new gaps to plug.

Another reason I opted to open the hood is that the kit gives you a basic trunk to work with.

It's hard for my borrowed camera to capture the new contours, but they are better.

So there's some progress and meanwhile I'm working on the trunk rain gutters and front apron. It looks promising and should allow a spare tire in there too!

Thanks for dropping in and as always comments and critique are welcome.

That's looking good, mate.  Can't wait to see more!

Will there be anything left of the origial kit?  Perhaps only the emblem.

I like it   nice work on the upgrades

Watchmann

Looks Great, Squid!  I always enjoy watching you put stuff together.

Thanks Watchman!

So, who saw this one coming: Even though the starter is up and out of the way I found the kit 'lump' offensive in it's own fashion!

The lump was removed and styrene used to fill the new gaps. Then a starter, solenoid and mounting bracket made up.

Looks Great, Squid!  I always enjoy watching you put stuff together.

Looking outward from the transaxle I never did like the axle shafts or where they reached the backing plates. Old Revell kits seem notorious for pieces being concave. Most likely to help them be released from the molds, but it adds to that soft look of details and components.

So out came the tubing and replacements were made while the backside of the backing plates were simply sanded flat and then made more circular overall..

The kit engine has no mounting flange/surface to mate with the transaxle. This not only differs from the prototype but makes for a sloppy joining and appearance. Some styrene and brass fixed that and now slides into a union with the transaxle.

Although I had spent some time dressing up the cast axles I still didn't like their looks. Some aluminum tubing for drive flanges and then some whittled up styrene tubing for CV Joints/boots, now mate to aluminum tube axles.

I hope that some of you might enjoy following along and welcome comments or critique.

Velocity stacks (on the carbs) look cool but aren't very practical on a street car. So I took a spares box unknown part and fashioned some air cleaners.

Also whittled up a new coil, alternator and modified the kit pulley a bit.

Looking ahead to wiring the engine I just didn't see working with the kit distributor. So I made a new performance dist. from aluminum and styrene. Sorry for the borrowed camera which just won't get crisp shots on the small stuff.

Moved back to the new dashboard. When you remove the real dashpad there is a 'lip' underneath it. To replicate this feature on my smoothed off version I beveled the upper edge and then laid in some styrene rod which was sanded and contoured finally.

In the engine components I saw a rather softly molded oil filler cap coming off the generator stand. It's a rather obvious feature of the engine so I turned up an aluminum replacement.

Moving to the front bumper I replicated what my old bug had. Recessed turn signals which got rid of the stock units atop the front fenders.

DMK,

 It's aluminum rod, tubing and plumbing solder.

Thanks.

Whittled up some mufflers and the tailpipes. It all tucks up into the body and then exits in the stock locations.

What did you use to make the exhaust?

It looks good.

PatW.-Anytime you have had experience with the subject matter it can translate into a better model IMHO. Having restored real cars for 30 plus years I often find myself flooded with memories as I look at a kit and then enjoy setting about to replicate some of that in miniature. Thanks for the compliments.

The kit engine needed a proper performance exhaust. So far I've cobbled up the system less mufflers and tips.

Hope to hear from some more of you dropping in for a peek.