Dale W. Verts

Suhweeet! Dale

Packard? Dale

Man, I didn't spend this much time on these things when I worked on real bugs... Got some engine detail done today, and touched up the wheels. I was intending for this thing to set lower, at least in the front (I've already dropped the spindles all that I can). I was going to go with a shorter front tire, but my wife says if this was really her car then she likes the stance the way it is. So there. My bodywork is not perfect, but I did fix (hide) some issues that the model had, and some that I created myself. Built the bumpers (I'll get them better next time) and molded the lights and turn signals into the body. The color is flat-white. It'll get cleared after I use my wife's choice of decals. Gonna be weird. Haven't decided exactly what to do on the interior. Being a convertible it needs to be nice. But I HATE interiors. Fabricated dual-port manifolds. POORLY fabricated. Carbs are resin Webers. The Alternator is a rather feeble piece also. I just need more supplies before I can build stuff that looks real- I need to order lots of styrene! I need to work up a throttle linkage as it is a prominent feature on 1:1 Beetles with dual carbs. Then I'll wire the thing and add the coil. Headers will finish it off, and for this and my current '32 WIP I need to build them myself. There it is. Criticism is welcome. I swear. Thanks for lookin'. Dale

Thanks for the input guys. I'm working on a motor for my wife's bug, and I've got hours in the little thing. Okay, so we're supposed to learn new skills and get better and better at this hobby. It's supposed to be fun doin' this. I dig it. But it just seems really weird to me that something like the MOST POPULAR CAR EVER BUILT doesn't warrant better tooling. And nice, detailed heads and jugs make all the sense in the world to me. I'd like to build a modern RE dragster with a blown/fuel Type-1 engine or a vintage midget (ran cool on alcohol). No cooling tin at all. Don't think that detail wouldn't be everything. What we need is a dual-port engine. Carbs are available everywhere but I had to build my own DP manifolds. Resin-cast manifolds would be cool. We need the aforementioned dual-port heads. Jugs with pushrod tubes. Bolt-on style valve covers. REALLY need those. Properly-placed fuel pumps. 12 volt system (alternator). Transmissions are better, but are mostly swing-axle. From '69 on bugs had IRS rear ends. If we're talkin' detail, then the difference in the two trannies is everything. And it isn't all about my wants for a modern, souped-up engine. A PROPER 36hp engine would be cool too. My limited work the last few months with models has shown me many issues with different cars, but there are parts available to fix most anything. On my VW I'm doing what Bill does- manufacturing parts myself. And I'm not very good at it. Yet. I have an affinity for these little cars having owned about twenty of them before I grew up. A bunch of Baja Bugs, and one street-legal monster that turned low-12's in the quarter for about a third of the money it cost to do the same thing with a Chevy. Dale

I don't know what it takes to tool up new castings, but I see a lot of interest in air-cooled VW's on different forums. The lack of a good, late model DUAL PORT Type 1 VW is amazing to me. I'd buy ten of them. No, I'd buy TWENTY of them if they were done right. And with the amazing detail I see in resin I know it could be done. There's so many projects that I haven't seen done yet that would incorporate good engines- Rail Buggies, Dragsters (blown, injected, the works), and my personal goal- a 70's vintage USAC midget (or two, or three) with the proper fuel-injected bug motor. I've bought several extra Meyers Manx kits just for the engines because they are the most detailed I've seen . And even they're badly wrong- my pet peeve being they don't actually have cylinder heads. This is just LAZY tooling. Every decent model that I look at has CYLINDER HEADS. Jeesh. All the VW motors I've seen are also old-school single-port motors with carbs and intakes that are seriously lacking in realism and detail. The Manx has a little "stick" with a ball on top for a carb and manifold. Of course, it's CHROME... Also, no outlets for cooling in the fan shroud. Air-cooled motors that don't have enough detail to show a cooling system. Hmmm. Let's see someone leave a radiator out of a kit with a Hemi. Am I being selfish? Sorry. I need another cup of coffee. Dale

Neat, Betcha it's quick. Dale

Looks like he had is set-up a little "loose". Neat. Dale

I have four more 32's, two 34's, a handful of Model A's, some T-buckets, Willy's, etc.etc. How's THAT for an order...? Dale

Thanks Pappy- you guys make me feel like a teenager (not necessarily a bad thing). A fifty year-old teenager. Dale

I'll do my best. How many "firsts" can you have in a week of buldin' model cars? Dale

It rocks. That simple. Dale

Paint just about burns my eyeballs. That's a GOOD thing. Dale

Man, nice rig tbill. My late brother did amazing things with rattle-cans years back. Cheap paint takes patience. I have about forty cans from full to almost gone from when I built wood arrows for folks- Thought I'd have to throw it away, but now I'm sure I'll use up most of it. Dale

Everything misterNNL said! Dale

Thanks for the confidence-building folks. And for the link Dinky. The Roaster tubes just don't feel right for this car, if you know what I mean. LOVE the '32's myself. They just look MEAN. The Roaster car is gettin' a nasty flathead whenever I get to it. Like Doug says, you can do so many things with them. Pretty far out. Dale

I'll probably pick up some solder today. What I have here is too big. Thanks. Dale

Better and better. Dale

Looks like a neat project to attack. Good luck with it! Dale

Man, thanks guys. I'll be springing for "real" paint soon. I've been using up old Wal Mart and Krylon rattle-cans. You know how they work- shoot, sand, cuss. Sand some more. Shoot again. Cuss again. Repeat... Dale

I've been seeing more and more F1 cars. Think I need to try one of these. That paint is sweet. Dale

Goodness gracious... Man, that's NICE. Dale

I know they're a dime-a-dozen, but this one is MINE. Still struggling with what I want it to look like. I dropped the nose some, and the motor is from the "Rat Roaster" kit. I need to build headers, and I'm not sure whether to bend styrene or try solder (input welcome here). Still, I'm havin' a lot of fun with these things. And with twelve weeks down with a broken ankle I should get pretty good at this. Or go completely nuts. Dale

That should be better. Dale

So, help- how do I kill this thread? Dale

Well, photobucket is all the sudden giving me fits. It keeps posting the wrong link! But thanks Bruce. Dale