OldNYJim

My question though, Mark, was if someone will figure out how to print an STL file on that little kid-grade printer. Now THAT would be cool

Great tip, thanks David! I'll try that next time!

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!

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...

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...

What a gorgeous build Tim! I've always admired your builds and this one's no different - love it!

Join the party Dave! Only a small update, but I got the paint on, ready for the graphics!

What a great build! Love the weathering, and it's beautifully built!

Great save on the paint!

Looks GREAT! What a cool idea! Is the rear end a lot wider than the body currently?

Oh wow, those graphics are incredible!!!

Successfully got the first color down! Went with Tamiya Racing White, which is actually a nice creamy colored off-white I'll let that set up, then I'll be masking the bottom half to make the top half a nice strawberry ice cream kinda pink shade, before a single coat of clear to protect them both and then I can airbrush the letting I have planned on the sides. Meanwhile, I can get started on the engine - this is the same shade as the upper part of the body will be

Made a headliner this morning - it wont really be visible when this thing's assembled anyway, but I couldnt stand all the nasty ejector pin marks in the roof Then I laid some silver inside the body, asked the inside and got some primer down. First colour coat next! I'd usually do the body last, but because I'm doing a two tone paintjob and I'll be doing some graphics after that I'll lose a few days letting this thing dry before I can do the next part so I'm getting a jump on that now

Roughly - I'm going to build it pretty much as per the instructions, just with some accessories! Ding ding ding! We have a winner! It's gonna be an ice cream truck!!! I'm going to find room in the back for an ice cream machine and two tone it in suitable pastel-ly ice cream truck colours with some vintage looking dragster style signwriting down the sides

Oh wow! Someone sure does like cuttin' stuff up huh?

I think those wheels look great, actually! This thing's really coming together!

What a cool build! So many Beetle Buses on here lately!!

I'm thinking two tone, retro colors with some cool vintage airbrushed lettering on the sides...I'm excited to get it in paint so I'm trying to get the external bits all mocked up so I can get it in primer and start getting some color on there!

Next part:

Welcome Chris! Looks ok so far - just needs a little more to smooth out those little blemishes and you'll be about there, it looks like! It'd be cool to see a mock up of what you're building there if you have one already!

That's one stunning Porsche Dale! Beautiful colour and immaculately put together so far - good luck with that tricky masking! Looks amazing so far tho!

Next up, I needed to install the front glass to see how that was gonna work out - the fit feels a little vague at best, so I added some small diameter styrene bar to help locate the glass better - I may devise a little clamp to help hold the bottom in place too Next up, I wanted some melting dripping looking sun visors for the interior, so I cut a couple from some thin styrene sheet, made some wire mounts for them, glued it in place and made a couple of locator holes in the top of the body Anyone got any guesses on what I'm building here? I have a 'contraption' to make and install in the back of the bus along with some other thingies and doodads, but I may need to assemble the engine to see how much room I have to play with before I can get too far with that...

The wheel arches would probably need some work too - especially the back one which is opened out. Anyhoo, I'd been waiting for some paint and plasticard to arrive so I could start on this properly and it finally turned up. First order of business, add a melty VW badge to the front ... ...and scratchbuild a licenceplate and surround for the back. I'm going to leave the roof off the body for the moment (it's a seperate piece that allows you to build a pickup I guess) but it will be attached permanently before paint.

Thanks for the heads up on this Cameron - what an amazing build!! Beautiful craftsmanship

Ohh, that little blue rod is gorgeous! Is there a build thread for that?