CabDriver Posted October 6, 2016 Author Share Posted October 6, 2016 Thanks bud! Kinda girly, but the tinted windows and chrome and Hemi should help a little Meanwhile, I spent some time designing the graphics I wanted for the sides of the bus, and cut them from some masking material: Then masked up and sprayed the base yellow color with Tamiya acrylics: I'm going for something inspired by the waffle-looking pattern on an ice cream cone over the top of the yellow - so I designed a pattern and cut out a mask for that too - just gotta wait a while for the yellow to dry so I can lay this down without it damaging the paint Meanwhile, I've been stripping some of the chrome for 3 days now and bleach isnt touching it - need to ponder on that a while and work out what will work... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatorincebu Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 You must have a lot of patience. To cut out those stencils, like that. Awesome work thus far! Be Well Gator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted October 7, 2016 Author Share Posted October 7, 2016 (edited) You must have a lot of patience. To cut out those stencils, like that. Awesome work thus far! Be Well Gator Or I cheat and use a cutting machine OK, so I gave the yellow 30 minutes or so to dry and added the 'mesh' mask to both sides Airbrushed some unthinned Tamiya Clear Orange (it's pretty thick but I didnt want to risk it seeping under the mask, or to have to leave the mask on too long) And then carefully peeled the mask back off both sides: Now I need to let the orange and the yellow set overnight so I can mask the letters and spray a black edge over them. I think I want to have a gloss black outline around the letters but leave the orange/yellow parts a kinda matt finish so it looks a bit more cone-y. We'll see how it looks afterwards though... Edited October 7, 2016 by CabDriver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disconovaman Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 What!!! This is Ssweet! I like how you kept the German theme "Der" in play! And the cone lettering is a brilliant idea! Nice work, it's turning out great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 This is lookin' wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiild!!!! Yes!!!!!!!!! I like it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted October 7, 2016 Author Share Posted October 7, 2016 Thanks guys! Did the black outlines this morning... The edges need a tiny bit of tidy-up with some thinners, but I'm pretty pleased with how it came out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psychographic Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 I like it. I also have a suggestion for you about burnishing your mask. In areas such as your door handle where you didn't get a seal between the mask and body, cut a slice on the mask, burnish it down with a toothpic. This will leave you a gap, cover that with some masking tape, or if it's a complex design cut another mask, then from that cut the section you need to fill the gap. BTW, there is no such thing as a "Girly" color! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted October 7, 2016 Author Share Posted October 7, 2016 Great tip, thanks David! I'll try that next time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 Looks fantastic ! You guys are setting the bar kind of high ! : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davewilly Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Coming along very nice! Graphics look cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted October 13, 2016 Author Share Posted October 13, 2016 Thanks Ray and Dave! I had a busy few days, but today I got chance to work on a little detailing project that I wanted to do. I sanded off the molded in detail from the centre console of the interior because I wanted to try and scratchbuild a speedometer. Bear in mind this piece is TINY, so it looks terrible in the photos but I'm pretty pleased with it in real life... So, I painted some styrene sheet with flat black paint, designed a VW-style speedo and used a vinyl cutter to scratch the numbers through the paint down to the bare white plastic: I made a few at different depths so I could see which numbers looked clearest - they ALL look a little fuzzy zoomed in this close, but from a foot away they look pretty realistic. Plus, noone will be able to see this properly anyway when it's assembled. Next I got a pack of googly eyes from Michael's, and cut the back off to make a nice clear dome for the glass I used the black part of the googly eye to make a coloured centre section to go on the dial - much like a real VW speedo. Here they are getting some primer before ice-cream pink spray Next, I cut a small retangle of the thinnest styrene I could find, ran a black marker over it and made what in real life would be a recess for the odometer, stretched some styrene sprue as thin as I could get it to make a needle and assembled with some clear paint to hold it all together Then I affixed the 'glass' with some more clear paint, and once it's set I'm going to run a silver marker around the edge to simulate a chrome ring Basically a pointless exercise given how hard it'll be to see, but I wanted the challenge of making a speedo with an actual needle on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted October 13, 2016 Author Share Posted October 13, 2016 (edited) Next up, I figured an ice cream truck would need an ice cream machine, so I invented the Mr Ice - the finest ice cream dispensor that you can put next to a hemi that'll still work I made it from flat styrene sheet, use part of the packaging for a headache tablet for the concave recessed part, bent some styrene rod for the nozzle and added a handle. The lettering is vinyl, and I'm hoping that when painted and Alcladed it'll look as though the words are embossed in the machine. Also, in an effort to get the engine a little further along, I wanted to get the wiring done. The stock kit distributor is ok but it was pretty small, so I cut the top off and used some drilled out styrene bar to make a new one. I cut lengths of wire and superglued them in place, and once I've painted the distributor itself I can glue that back onto the bottom of the kit part and attach to the engine. Edited October 13, 2016 by CabDriver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psychographic Posted October 13, 2016 Share Posted October 13, 2016 Nice ice cream machine, and that speedo is incredible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gatorincebu Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Way cool and some real creativity going on here! Be Well Gator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Nice progress James. Can't wait to see all of this imagination and creativity come together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted October 20, 2016 Author Share Posted October 20, 2016 I didn't forget about this! Just had a busy week. I had the idea of a pearl pink frame, and some hot pink interior parts, so after a little rummaging at Duane Reede I found a nice pearl hot pink nail varnish. It took probably 10 goes to thin it down enough to clear through my airbrush, but I managed to get the frame, seat and instrument console painted tonight eventually I'll leave that to dry overnight and then I can get down to getting the chassis assembled and getting this thing on it's wheels! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disconovaman Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Nice! Did you use the air brush to paint the body? The color looks like 50's pink.. quick story, my 4 year old asked me to build her a "General lee model" but she wanted it pink so I took the new snap General lee and painted it Hot magenta with 50's pink interior. She loves it! The red part of the flag was cut out and I used electric pink metallic. The colors work well together. I actually like many shades of pink. We have an ice cream truck (box truck) that visits our neighborhood It's yellow and not nearly as cool as this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted October 21, 2016 Author Share Posted October 21, 2016 (edited) Nice! Did you use the air brush to paint the body? The color looks like 50's pink.. quick story, my 4 year old asked me to build her a "General lee model" but she wanted it pink so I took the new snap General lee and painted it Hot magenta with 50's pink interior. She loves it! The red part of the flag was cut out and I used electric pink metallic. The colors work well together. I actually like many shades of pink. We have an ice cream truck (box truck) that visits our neighborhood It's yellow and not nearly as cool as this one. Cool story Anthony! I used Tamiya rattle cans for the base colors, and then Tamiya acrylics through my cheapo airbrush for the graphics. I'm just a beginner at this stuff, but the Tamiya acrylics are very forgiving of my beginner's skills. Speaking of which, started mocking the chassis together today (this little thing is cute!) and got some Tamiya flat aluminium on the chassis Meanwhile, the canopy was bothering me - I wanted to work out how to get some fabric-looking texture onto it, so make it look like it was made of cloth. The plastic part is ok, but it doesnt have any sort of texture to it. Then it occured to me - the clear plastic transfer material that you can get to help apply vinyl graphics has a similar texture to what I was looking for... Needs a little trimming, and I'm not sure how well paint will stick to it, but I'll give it a shot! Edited October 21, 2016 by CabDriver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disconovaman Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 You're the best beginner I've ever seen. I've never used Tamiya paints... too expensive for me. I like the canopy and I assume there will be pink and white stripes, on it. Two pink and one white or two whites and a pink? I'd test it first to see which looks the best. I'm also excited to see the interior coming together. I'm planning on fabbing an interior for one l'm working on. Keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CabDriver Posted October 21, 2016 Author Share Posted October 21, 2016 (edited) You're the best beginner I've ever seen. I've never used Tamiya paints... too expensive for me. I like the canopy and I assume there will be pink and white stripes, on it. Two pink and one white or two whites and a pink? I'd test it first to see which looks the best. I'm also excited to see the interior coming together. I'm planning on fabbing an interior for one l'm working on. Keep up the good work! Thanks for the kind words Anthony! I'm thinking two pink and one white on the canopy - what do you think?I did some work on the engine tonight, made another distributor (after the carpet monster apparently ate the last one when I wasnt looking) and got those giant stacks mounted on there. Looks CRAZY And did a quick mock up to see how much room I have for everything here... I ordered some pink flocking for the carpet of the interior, and I've been toying with ideas for some custom pedals - maybe something cone shaped might be fun? I'll need to make some sort of fuel tank too - the one in the kit is HUGE, and sits inside the back window which is where the (fictitious) driver would have to squeeze in to be able to sell ice cream out of the side window More fab required... Edited October 22, 2016 by CabDriver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobthehobbyguy Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Cool. The creativity being used for all the Beetle Bus projects has been amazing. Wonderful job on the graphics and scratch building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobraman Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 Your ice cream bus is very cool, but then it would have to be ! : ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disconovaman Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 2 pinks and a white were my thoughts! If I may, can I recommend putting some sort of divider (firewall) between the engine and the rest of the interior? Maybe the glass from the kit and tape off the window and paint the rest silver so it matches. As for the gas tank, I thought the one from the kit looks like a moonshine still... lol! I'm thinking you could mount something under it past the rearend. It's neat to see the stages as it progresses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang1989 Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 This is looking pretty swell here James. Great creativity at work on your build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davewilly Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 looking good! and that speedo is fantastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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