1956 Volksrod

[wisdonm]

I'm finally going to build my Volksrod. I'm starting with this partial kit. Parts are missing. It says it's made by Mr Hobby, but it is exactly like a Gunze Sangyo kit.

 

 

I started by removing all of the fenders and running boards. This labor intensive job took almost a full football game to do.

 

Edited July 6, 2017 by wisdonm

[Chuck Most]

Ill be watching this one.

[RodneyBad]

I Gotta admit.

I HotRodded VWs do look perty Cool.

Keep up the good work.

BTW: Football game, With or with out O/T?

[Terror]

Is this the same one in the gallery?Or another?I wanna see how you did the chop.Cool work,Don.

[wisdonm]

Zukiholic, no OT.

 

Yes it's the one in my gallery, Terror.

 

I think it's written somewhere, that all custom Beetles must have a top chop. Cool. Except that a Beetle is one of the hardest chops to do. You have to add sections to the top both horizontally and laterally. This gives the top an ungainly look. It usually looks too wide and too long.

 

I tried a different way. It can only be done on fender-less cars. I wanted a four inch chop. So I got out my 1/8" blue tape. If you cut on the outside of the tape, it is pretty close to a four inch chop.

 

 

Since the tape doesn't stick too well to the many contours, I give it a light coat of paint. Then I remove the tape and cut at the paint lines, which don't slip or fall off.

 

 

I removed four inches from the windshield and door pillars. I also cut on a line from the bottom edge of the rear window to a tangent of the rear fender opening. To make this work, I also had to do a cut in the lower corner of the front windshield pillars so that the windshield pillars could be bent inward. This way no material is added to the roof. The door pillars are also bent inward to meet the top.

 

 

This gives you a four inch chop and a totally stock roof. The whole roof is moved forward three inches. All of it is behind the rear seats and is not noticeable. As long as the car is fender-less. Although the wheelbase stays the same, the car is three inches shorter. All of it is taken from the very rearmost of the engine compartment sheet metal.

 

Edited July 6, 2017 by wisdonm

[RodneyBad]

Ingenues way of doing a chop and A Darn good looking one Too.

[Terror]

Thats why I wanted to see it.It didn't look the the average chop down to me in the gallery pics. thanks for the help,man.Very nice...

[Greg Myers]

Nothing like a "mail slot" chop. Nice.

[Chuck Most]

Nothing like a "mail slot" chop. Nice.

Amen to that!

[wisdonm]

I am going to turn around the front axle so that it has leading, instead of trailing, arms. This stretches the wheelbase about 14", and just looks cool. I have done this three times in 1:1, and it was easier and took less time than in 1:25.

 

On the left side of the front suspension you will see someone's cruel joke of a suspension. Square shocks??? On the right side you can see the modified top shock mount, scratched the missing bottom shock mount, and a scratched round shock absorber. At the cut line you can see that I added a piece of styrene to both replace the material that was lost from sawing and to slightly widen the front track.

 

Edited July 6, 2017 by wisdonm

[spud]

Nice job on that front suspension. I have built several Beetles and, you're right, the suspension on all of them suck. Will be watching this one.

[wisdonm]

Here are the first pixs of the body in primer. Needs more sanding and some panel lines scribed.. The front wheel opening covers were harder to make than in 1:1. I first glued the 0.015" sheet covers with liquid glue, then reinforced the inner joint with plumbers epoxy putty.

 

 

 

Edited July 6, 2017 by wisdonm

[montelsc]

Here are the first pixs of the body in primer. Needs more sanding and some panel lines scribed.. The front wheel opening covers were harder to make than in 1:1. I first glued the 0.015" sheet covers with liquid glue, then reinforced the inner joint with plumbers epoxy putty.

Looks good so far

[wisdonm]

I can't decide whether to remove the chrome side molding or not. I will remove the molding on the nose, but not sure about the sides?

 

I have worked on the dash. I added a turn signal lever, multi-guage, and a column mounted tach. I clipped the steering wheel because I could.

 

 

The speedometer is a kit decal. The other two are just printed on plain paper and glued in place with white glue. The dash gauges have benzels made from thin slices of aluminum tube. They are held in place and filled with white glue for lenses. The tach is a tapered end piece of chrome sprue. Once again a gauge face, printed on plain paper, was glued on and then covered with white glue, to simulate a lens.

Edited July 6, 2017 by wisdonm

[runsw/scissors]

I love this forum. It's almost like we get to try new ideas, even those we've never thought of, when we don't have the time. Can't wait to see whats next.

What great ideas. I sometimes think I learn more here than at my workbench. Keep up the good work.

[wisdonm]

Thanks RW/S. I don't think anyone else is watching.

 

I made an exhaust system today. It has four 50" equal length header pipes caped with four motorcycle mufflers. Let's just say the sound is sure intensive.

 

 

Edited July 6, 2017 by wisdonm

[RodneyBad]

Dash looks Super..

Great looking Exhaust..

This is gonna be One Bad Frakin lookin Bug

[crazyjim]

Very interesting build that I'm going to keep watching.

[Sixties Sam]

Lookin' good! I like the exhaust pipes!

Sam

[wisdonm]

I think the rolling chassis is finished.

 

 

This kit is unusual in that only the seats, shift lever, pedals, and hand brake are the only interior parts attached to the chassis. All the other interior parts are attached to the body shell. The front seats have been lowered 4 inches. Handling is improved by lowering the center of gravity of 200-400 pounds. I sit as low as possible in all of my race and street cars, for this reason. The shift lever has been raised, but it still has a short shift kit.

 

Edited July 6, 2017 by wisdonm

[Guest JamesDE]

This is looking really sweet! Nice job on that chop...

[Tony T]

Looks great so far! The dash looks great. Love how you did the gauges, and the exhaust.

[kopperkart]

I like how you handled the chop and will borrow your painted cut line idea.

[wisdonm]

With the chassis done, I moved on to the windows. I thought, because of the top chop, that I would have to make all new windows. Boy was I wrong! Since the roof is 100% stock, I knew that the original back window would work. Imagine my surprise, in spite of the four inch chop, when the side windows fit also. The only kit window that had to be modified was the front windshield. It needed about 3/16" trimmed from the bottom. I also cut and removed the front half of the left side windows so that it will look like the driver's window is rolled down.

 

 

I wanted to do a dark tint to the windows. I have heard about all kinds of horror stories about what doesn't work. I remember seeing black food coloring in the wedding section of Walmart's craft department. It cost $1.50, so I figured I'd try it. It is thicker than acrylic paints. I emptied the contents of the one ounce Wilton black icing color into a plastic dixi cup and filled the rest with Future floor polish. I stirred this witch's brew until it was not lumpy anymore. Be very careful. This stuff stains. Look at the pix of my hand if you don't believe me. (Yes. I am wearing Nomex.That's another story.

 

 

I wanted a lighter tint for the windshield, so I only painted the inside. The side and rear glass gets the Limo tint, by dipping the whole part and getting dye on both sides. Check out the piece held by the tweezers.

 

 

I had inserted it in the dye at an angle. The light color is where only one side is tinted. The dark section has dye on both sides. After dipping, I placed the parts on Popsicle sticks. This gives the parts a place to dry that will wick away excess dye, but not pick up lint from paper or cloth.

 

You can see, the windshield is mildly tinted, the driver's window is open, and the rest are limo like.

 

 

I put the left over dye in a sealed glass jar for another day.

Edited July 6, 2017 by wisdonm

[Terror]

Glad to see this done.I've been wondering about food coloring for a year or two now,but not brave enough to try it.Don,do you think spraying it on with air brush would be a cleaner solution and maybe a more consistant,lighter tint coat?Nice work as always.Oh, you sure thats not bank dye on your hands?

Edited December 3, 2010 by Terror