GeeBee

Front seats in primer, looks like the headrest was never there Rear tailgate in primer Inner panel in primer

The Softon Plus is a lot smoother than P38 Shay, and not so hard once dry making the sanding process a lot easier, I've used P38 for years for car bodywork, but this one is much nicer to use. Did a little more in the hobby room last night before shutting up for the night, got the seats sanded then filled with Bondo, then sanded to shape, the rear tailgate and body got sanded, and while looking for more items that needed modifying, the dashboard came in for a little, removing the molded in radio, making it look like a blanking plate that would have been there if a radio wasn't fitted, the body will need to hole filling where the aerial is supposed to go

A little black wash on the cylinder heads before the engine was fitted, not that you see the cylinder heads once the engine is fitted Engine was fitted into the chassis, like the 601S saloon I built earlier this year, I cheated and fitted the inner wings to the bulkhead and fitted as one unit, it just makes for a cleaner job once the painting is done, the instructions call for the bulkhead to be fitted first, then the engine goes in followed by the inner wings

Thank you, I did a little more to it today, after working on the Universal and waiting for things to dry, I picked up the van and carried on work on it. As you can see from the photo's I have, the Van version doesn't have a rear wiper on the tailgate, or fog lamps on the from bumpers, the hole where the rear wiper arm goes was filled in using 2 part bondo, and will be sanded smooth when it's dry. and the seat do not have the headrests fitted, so they had to be removed Once dry the back of the seats will get the gaps filled by 2 part bondo and sanded smooth, the inner tailgate panel had the hole where the rear wiper motor fits on was filled with styrene rod, and will be trimmed once it's dry The trim pieces that run the length of the upper body panels were fitted but on the rear wing there is a small hole that the locating pin fits into, but even when the trim is fitted it leaves a very small hole that can be seen in the rear wing, this was filled with 2 part bondo, and will be sanded smooth when it's dry

Very nice, I have a few Jeep kits to build, hope mine come out as nice as yours ....

After doing a bit of work on the Universal I'm building, after cleaning out the airbrush and tidying around, I picked up some parts for this one, and the noticed the part that needs to fixed to the inner wheel arch inside to load bay, in real life the rear shock absorbers fix to the top, but also there is a small bracket for the rear seat to fix to so the backrest can be folded down, of course the van doesn't have them, it probably wouldn't get noticed, but as I'm a stickler for detail, they had to come off, so they were cut off and then sanded down, not it looks like they were never there ... These are the one's for the Universal I'm building :- These are the modified parts :- Seat backrest stop removed :- More like the real thing now ....

i put a small blob of super glue on a small piece of cardboard and then dip the end of the cocktail stick in the glue and then touch it to the part to be mounted, I usually mount the stick where it either won't be seen once the part is mounted or it there is a pin or tab where it's going to be mounted, I'll put the stick there, the joint isn't that strong, but strong enough for the part not to come off when I'm airbrushing, but not so strong so the part is easy to snap off without damaging the part.

Spent the day airbrushing all the smaller parts, they were done in either Gloss black, satin black, aluminium and steel,

Let the parts dry overnight, pulled the masking tape off the interior side panels, just the door handles etc to pick out in flat black, I'm happy with the results

Done a little to the bodyshell, but I really want to get the interior correct, I'm waiting on some photo's and other reference material from one of the members on a Trabant forum.

Welcome aboard, I've been to Des Moines a number of times, great city, lived for a short while up in Ankeny back in the late 90's

Well the weathers gone a little BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH over here, so time to spend a little time indoors, managed to get all the smaller parts in primer and sorted into the colours they need to be done, gloss black, satin black, aluminium etc. The front seats are molded as two parts, but when fixed together it leaves a gap all around the back on the seats, so they were filled with 2 part polyester putty and sanded smooth before getting a couple of coats of primer, followed by a couple of coats of Humbrol # 62, Matt leather thinned out with standard lacquer thinners, Once dried, the seats will be masked up so the seat faces can be painted in a darker shade of brown.

Good luck Harry, I was having problems with mine last year,it's no fun, hope you get them sorted soon

Sorry no, I've been away from the model room with car shows, got another one in a few weeks, been taking some time out to get the Cruiser up to scratch, but I'll be back at the bench very soon ....

Another buy off eBay, I really should check my database before putting bids on models, I've already got 2 of these in the stash .....

I left the side panel to dry up overnight, fixed it into position using masking tape, I'm pretty happy with the fit, just need to get some plastic card to make the other side and the floor, I'm going to get using the boot floor and the rear panel of the back seat as a template, then I need to work out where to bulkhead needs to go, for that I'm going to have to make up the front seats and see where the bulkhead needs to go, the holes for the rear parcel shelf support brackets were filled with plastic rod and fixed in place with superglue,

Thanks Fabrizio, the Van version has now been added under it's own topic http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=103486&hl=

Got the passenger side side window filled and got a little body around the edges, then got to thinking about the interior, the van version is just paneled on the inside, so the Universal interior side panels needed to be modified, so they were cut out and filled in with plain plastic card, I need to get down to Hobbycraft and pick up some more so I can do the other side and floor, two holes that are the mounting holes for the rear parcel shelf brackets need filling in,

I know Tom, didn't say I was going to go with that livery, but I am struggling to find other sign written Trabbi's on the 'net

After finishing Revell's Trabant 601S and work commencing on the 601 Universal, after breaking one part and having to borrow a pair of wiper arms that were too badly molded in the Universal kit to use, again I picked another Trabant Universal off the shelf and borrowed the parts until the replacements arrive from Revell. With the bodyshell sitting on the side, I got to thinking about building the Lieferwagen (Van) version, after someone mentioned it on one of the Trabant forums, I found some styrene sheet that was the correct thickness, and used the side windows as template, drew round the widows on the card, cut them out and trimmed to fit within the side window recesses, they will need a little filler around the edges as in real life they are part of the side panel of the bodyshell thay didn't get cut out to make the Universal (Estate) version of the Trabbi, so there shouldn't be a gap around them, a little bondo should do the trick. I still haven't made my mind up what sign writing, if any will go on the side, as at the moment I really can't find too many photo's on the net of the real thing, so after fitting the other side panel and getting it in primer, I will crack on with the rest of the build and decide what I'm going to do with the body.

Yes, I'm sure they were used by more companies than just the German Postal service, I will get it in primer and crack on with the rest of the build before making my mind mind up. Been doing a bit of reading on the 'net, the van version was either made at the factory by putting the sheet steel in a rubber gasket and fitting them as they would have fitted the windows, easy to take them out and pop in a set of windows to make it into a Universal, or not cutting out the side windows after they panels had been stamped out, remember the side would be part of the bodyshell and would have been made out of steel, mine will replicate version two.

I bet you nearly fell off your chair when you first ready that Shay, I would like to do some sign writing on it, but reference photo's on the 'net are not really forthcoming, you could buy them as you could a standard Trabbi and could be painted in regular colours, I'll keep looking for idea's on the 'net while I'm building, the German Post Office used them in Universal and van form, and the colour is a standard RAL code, RAL 7047.

Finally got all the parts ready for a coat of primer, then they can be sorted into the colours they need to be airbrushed, The front wipers were so badly molded, that I had to open another kit, luckily I have another four Trabant Universals in the stash, so while I wait for the replacement parts to arrive from Revell, I took them out of one of them, I also broke one of the rear parcel shelf support brackets getting them off the parts tree, again I took one out of another kit. With the bodyshell from the spare kit sitting on the side I got to thinking about converting it into a Universal Lieferwagen (Van in English), so using the side widows as templates, I got out some styrene card and drew around the windows, as in the real thing that's what they did at the factory, they just filled in the aperture where the windows in the Universal would have gone, a little sanding and they fitted in perfectly.