Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

1951 Beetle...


Lowlife ! !

Recommended Posts

Picked this up recently ( from Doomcrew on here, cheers mate! ).... ;) ..... Its Revells 1/16 VW Kafer...

16984563679_86a0ba0d02_zpsa5j3n9op.jpg

For some reason I cant find a single kit that has been completed on these forums, it looks a great kit, so I will let you know how it goes together... Im not going mad with this, but its got to be slammed ! ! Still looking around for wheels and tyres although I have some that I may use... Possibly going for some more accessories too, roof rack, that kind of thing !

Pics soon as Ive just started the engine......... Lowlife ! ! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now, IF ONLY Revell-Germany would do this very same subject in 1/24 scale!!!!

Art

New Job for you Art? B);)

Martin,

the kit will go fine together. I built mine Yeeeeeears ago, as it was the first issue on market. I made mine a custom "Ovali". The only Thing are the hinges from the doors if i trust my brain´.

about the authentic thing...the beetle...no words. its a mix of three years (1950/51/52)...perhaps my brother writes some words about it.

Looking forward, what you're doing with it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys, ( and I will take extra care with the doors thanks Dominik ! )

Slowly piecing the engine together, I was watching some utube clips on 1951 beetle engine builds, so im following this, and am going to try and add a bit more detail to the little lump ! The covers should have a single bar which is molded in on the kit, so I removed this and added metal pieces instead. Painted up the main parts (except the gearbox which is a temp handle to hold the engine with ! ) The next bits are more fiddly but should be fun ! More soon......... Lowlife ! !

bug1%20001_zpsqyk0coih.jpg

bug%20002_zpsxkpifo10.jpg

bug%20004_zpsoofszq6i.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beautiful work on. I'm building a dub right now and my kit provided little to no real detail on the heads and block, was the detail on yours there to start, or did you add to it? If so what did you do and how? As you can see mine is rather basic, I couldn't figure out how to detail out the heads. Any tips or help would be amazing.

post-14997-0-44753700-1430345448_thumb.j

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jim, Mike, thanks guys ! :D

And Jacob, bear in mind this is 1/16 scale so the detail is fairly good already ! I only spent time cleaning up any joints, then added the metal valve cover clips and black washed the details in. As far as advice goes, try utube or flickr etc etc and search for pictures or videos of what your building, copying real engine pictures are the best way to get the details right and will help you out more than I ever could ........... I will be adding to this soon, and will show each step, so hopefully this will help you too !

I hope this does help you out, anything else just let me know ! ;) Lowlife ! !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice work on the valve covers. I can't wait to see more work on this. My friend has an original release, I tried to buy off him. He's not a modeler, and will never build it. :(

Jacob, what you have is the OLD Revell '68 Beetle engine. It is a bad engine, from a bad kit . My suggestion is to glue the deck lid shut, (From the exhaust, though it looks off-road, though... :mellow:​ )or get the Tamiya, or new Revell engine and go from there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah Jason I'm doing a Baja so I'm kinda stuck showing, just trying to do the best I can to improve it. It's am older kit that was given to me. It is a Revell just not the 68. It's a generic 60s, the kit is slightly confused as to what it should be. It's titled as a 60s beetle and is a full or hippie bug complete with the peace and flower decals but the kit includes a roll cage, after market bucket seats and the mold was set with a 70s style fuel door up front. Kinda why I wasn't afraid to start chopping on it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys...... :) ....

Lucas I really like your version, its very tempting to do a rat bug with this !

And Shaun yes it would be nice to run a TDR full race 2 litre in this, but im trying to keep it fairly out-the-box, just detailed a bit !!

Bit more done on the engine, the kit goes together well so far and is fairly accurate , ive not painted the exhaust yet although it has a metal tail pipe added ! Also added a couple more metal brackets and mocked it up for a pic ! Just detailing the carb next and scratch building a distributor cap as the kit ones wrong.

More soon .... :D ..... Lowlife ! !

003_zpsq3xvam6t.jpg

001_zpsul4tqg5i.jpg

Edited by Lowlife ! !
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty cool, that this "old baby" is on someone's workbench :) When I see your fine work, I probably have to restore mine -_-
I like the valve cover clips - good idea!

about the authentic thing...the beetle...no words. its a mix of three years (1950/51/52)...perhaps my brother writes some words about it.

So I was forced, to tell something about the authenticity and here I am. I will do it in short sentences.

The body of the Beetle is definitely a 1951 - only in 1951 they had those ventilation things between the front fenders and a-post. But if it's a 1951 Beetle, there are some details wrong:
- the fenders were produced from 10/1952. To see on the oval grille underneath the headlights. Earlier Beetles had them round and only the left fender had a hole for it (because the horn is located behind). The right fender didn't have a hole.
- the same with the bumpers. Before 10/1952 they had ribbings in the bumper and the vertical things ("Hörnchen") where smaller.
- the rear lights are wrong too. Before 10/1952 it hadn't this lens in the top of the housing. They were more round than oval.

You could say "Ok, then Revell brought us a 10/1952+ Beetle!?". Ehm. No. Barely, but no ;) The dash board is correct in this form up to 10/1952 (afterwards it changed into the dash board of the Beetle with the oval rear window - with tiny differences). Also the dome lamp is incorrect - take a look at the cover picture: it's located between the two rear windows - after 10/1952 it's located above the drivers door till the production stopped. Main different: the ventilator windows in the doors are missing. They appeared first in 10/1952. By the way: the exhaust changed to it's typically double tail pipe and the air cleaner changed completely different (similar to the younger Bugs in the 1960s).

If someone wants to build the Beetle correctly, he has to choose, which year. Before or after 10/1952. Based on this date, the changes are clear to see. Nevertheless: I built mine out of box - 20 years ago. Didn't care about the details although I'm owning a 12/1952 Beetle..... Stupid.

@Greg

I don't really not know what the model kit has. Can't remember. Have to take a look underneath. But I know, that hydraulic brakes marching in 10/1952 into the Beetle's life :)

Edited by christian-w
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Man, I forgot to mention something: the antenna. Please, please don't put it on the spot, where the box cover shows it. It never was mounted on the left corner in front of the wind shield until the early 1960s.

Another tiny detail: the "Wolfburg" emblem on the front hood. I can't see it clear enough to judge: is it black/silver on the cover? It should be colorful :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for clearing that up Christian, interesting that the manufacturers can produce a model with inaccuracies like this ! Thought they based the model on one original car ?

And Greg, im not sure bout the brakes either, but stay tuned and they will be shown when I get around to adding the wheels / suspension !

If anyone wants to show their completed builds of this kit on here, feel free ! ........ Lowlife ! !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think a lot of the inaccuracies occur because they use multiple cars, or pictures for reference, and not all are the right year.

Worst case scenario I know of is actually a toy, but a good example. The Ghostbusters Highway Haunter.

The rear is a '50-ish cabriolet, the body a '67, the windshield and interior a 1303 Superbeetle, and it has ugly 4-lug wheels.

7431383542_9000c6d680_b.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Martin ...

Thank you for the invitation to present "our" Beetles. I want to say another word to the kit: it's not that bad anyway because it's a good scaled Model kit and everything could be opened. There is a lot of room to make it better or historically correct. Who knows, what kind of "Bastelbude" (don't know a English word for it - a car, which is built out of other cars to get one) Revell got for the forms.

I built mine a lot of years ago - and stupidly out of box. In that times I didn't take care about correctness :unsure: . And colors :o ... But it's on my schedule this year: to restore it and make my Bug out of it. A 12/1952 - therefore I have "only" to change the dashboard.

445_8.jpg

445_7.jpg

445_3.jpg

This is how I built model kits ~25 years ago. Sorry. I know. It has a lot of potencial B)

Edited by christian-w
Link to comment
Share on other sites

ha ha love the pic above........ :lol: .......

Thanks again Christian, your bug looks great !

Im liking this kit more and more, its generally well detailed and so far fits together very well. Ive added a carb with metal linkage, (fan assembly not finished yet ) fuel pump etc and im just starting to wire it all up now. Heres a quick pic of the bug engine now, more soon...... Lowlife ! !

002_zpsazoauiol.jpg

Edited by Lowlife ! !
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...