Andrew D the Jolly Roger Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 On to Hazzard County project #10: Hughie Hogg's Volkswagen! The first thing I discovered was that it was NOT a true convertible. Rather, it was a chop-top, as evidenced by the sedan-style windscreen, and the bottoms of the window posts still remaining. The second thing I had to learn was the difference between the classic Beetle and the Super Beetle. I have no doubt this is a "duh" to most of you here in MCM, but I don't come from a major automotive background. Now that some of you were kind enough to educate me, I see clearly that Hughie's ride was most definitely a Super Beetle with the roof cut off. After much more research and guidance from y'all here in MCM, I realized (after much frustration) that I was going to have to kitbash THREE different kits to do this. 1) Aoshima Beetle 1303S for most (not all) of the body and the bumpers 2) Revell '68 Beetle for the chassis, engine, windscreen, rear body vents, tail lights and much of the interior 3) Revell VW Cabriolet for some of the interior and some of the body details I thank all of you for your immense patience as you educated me through my research and prep! I should also mention part of my research was to go through every Dukes episode in which this vehicle appeared, pause the DVD whenever a good view appeared from any angle, and photograph the scene. I then had the photos made into prints to use as I build. Maybe low-tech, but it works for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew D the Jolly Roger Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 The excellent Revell '68 chassis actually fit the Aoshima body *mostly* well. Only two issues to face. First, it needed widening on both sides with a .040 strip (easy fix). The bigger problem was that the aft wheel wells and engine area didn't fit. So I took a saw and cut partway into the plastic at that area so that the aft area could be bent upward, and then fit quite well, considering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew D the Jolly Roger Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 Final step for now was scratchbuilding the large McPherson struts. The struts themselves were made from plastic tubing, then the springs made by wrapping metal wire around an appropriately-sized plastic rod then trimmed to shape and installed. Not perfect, but hopefully close enough for this project. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 Try wrapping the wire around a machine screw to make the coil springs. That way, each coil will be equally spaced apart from the next one. I would also suggest buying a razor saw (or two, they come in different tooth counts) and you'll get much better control while cutting. Neat project, and good on you for turning three kits into one. 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 Real nice interesting subject. I am very interested in watching your kir bash build.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew D the Jolly Roger Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 9 hours ago, Casey said: Try wrapping the wire around a machine screw to make the coil springs. That way, each coil will be equally spaced apart from the next one. I would also suggest buying a razor saw (or two, they come in different tooth counts) and you'll get much better control while cutting. Neat project, and good on you for turning three kits into one. 😁 Perfect, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 First, very impressed with your research on the subject. The way you have done the floor pan gives me an idea for a future project with a Type 1. The nice thing about putting your ideas out there is that there are many here with actual 1:1 back grounds to help on the details. Look forward to watching your build on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew D the Jolly Roger Posted April 16 Author Share Posted April 16 Okay y'all, I must apologize for shelving this for a couple of years, but I've had a LOT to deal with, including a wedding, some health stuff, plus just got totally burned out on this due to the intensity of what I had to do to it (FAR more than I originally planned). Time to get this thing done. Major body modifications. Had to take pieces from the two Revell bodies and graft them to the Aoshima to reflect the correct vents, trims and such. Flat windscreen framing on the hardtop was too narrow, so I widened it with an insert of plastic, above and below. I'll worry about the windscreen itself later. The hood was a nightmare, part of the upper section being scratchbuilt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamsuperdan Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 That's a lot of work! But so far, it's looking really good. Weird choice by the studio, to chop the roof off a Beetle. It's not like Beetle Cabrios are hard to find. The hardtops are significantly cheaper though, so that's probably the reason. I wonder what happened to it after filming. Probably scrap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 Impressive slicing and dicing on the body work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milo1303s Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 That would be a 1302 super beetle with a flat windshield 71 or 72 in 73 they went to the curved windshield like the aoshima kit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew D the Jolly Roger Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 Thanks for the kind words! Got to splice the chopped door posts from the classic body onto the Super's convertible body. Always better to cut and graft too much, then cut it down to size. Then a bit of grinding and sanding to blend it all in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew D the Jolly Roger Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 Now the interior. The Classic's side panels seemed best, except I liked some of the details on the Revel Cabriolet better. Solution: graft the details onto the better panels. The Classic's seat bottoms are terrific, but the Revell Cabriolet's seat backs are the closest to the real thing out of the 3 kit choices. Again, graft them together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slusher Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 Nice seats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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