VW Dave

It's disgusting, dirty and downright awful.....I love it!!

Thanks very much for the kind words, all; coming from all of you it means a lot. In the 1:1 car world it can be hard sorta justifying our hobby to the folks who 'used to do it as a little kid,' so it's nice to receive feedback from those who really get it.

Matt's just looking for a reason to buy 8 more Mercs.

He's not actually a doctor...........but he did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once. Welcome aboard, Mike.

Thanks very much, Randy. I love Chumley's picture, btw....he looks so serious.

The 288 GTO has long been one of my favorite Ferraris style-wise; it just looks tougher than any other IMO. Very-very nice job on the build, and that color is a heckuva fresh approach.

The Hasegawa '66 is a nice kit, and it is a curbside, but I agree with Randy; the PL kit is better suited to a Herbie replica. The closed 'ragtop' from the PL kit really doesn't fit any other bodies too well anyway, although I do recommend cutting the mounting tabs off of the part & filling the holes in the roof before painting the body because they are visible once the top is in place. I'm using Hasegawa's '67 kit to do a decent replica of my 1:1 '68. My car has early 'Euro' bumpers, and simply shaving the horn grilles off the front fenders put me a lot closer to the real car. Dave - If you need any spare Beetle model parts, feel free to drop me a line. Randy - If your real Bug has full overrrider/'towel rail' bumpers, the Tamiya '66 kit has great ones that will most likely fit the bill; here is the front one on my Gunze '56:

After a couple years of shelf-warming followed by a couple months of progress, little Schultz is finally going to his new home today. Our VW club's summer picnic is today at Pam & Doug's house, and we will be leaving this little guy behind when we head home. He'll be in good company - here he is with 'little Rudy,' the other replica I did for them back in 1996: All of the build photos are here, feel free to take a peek: Schultz

Good save and a clean build.....accurate or not, I like it.

Took the words right outta my mouse, brother Matt. Great job, Zoli! Up 'til now I was torn between doing a 'Joe Dirt' replica and a Bonneville racer out of my Daytona....now there's a third idea swirling around in my head(and a spare set of Hela's on my shelf too).

Ken - It sounds like you're saying that those of us who do not participate in contests are actually hurting the hobby, rather than enhancing it. There's more to this hobby than contests and trophies IMO; I can name at least three people from my HS that dropped the hobby after losing at a contest because they were not as good as another builder. I find that doing things like a 'make it & take it' event for kids at our local auto museum is much more rewarding that some small trinket or trophy that will only serve to collect dust on a shelf(or take up space in a box). Compared to a contest, an interactive event like a 'make & take' is much less threatening to a rookie/aspiring builder.....there are no losers, just winners. This is one of the three tables we had filled at our first event in the winter of 2005. Notice that even the Ford GT and Porsche Carrera GT can't keep the kids & parents(and even grandparents) from their models:

Jody - Thanks very much for the kudos. The Met is called 'Dudley,' and he's a cool little car for sure. The yellow truck is a '59 Willys FC-150, appropriately named 'Stubby'....a strange duck indeed, and I can see it being mistaken for a 'Mog: If your grandfather went to a big VW show up here this past weekend, it had to be Terryville(CT)....I was too broke to go, but I like driving the Manx there(I'm usually one of the rare few that actually drive our buggies there ). Pam & Doug had the black '56 Beetle there this year; if you're looking through any photos your grandfather took while there, just look for the sea of plaid. interesting note: the plaid fiberglass waterskis they display with the car are original 1950's skis, and they did indeed come in plaid; they were my mom's, and she learned to ski on them as a teenager at my grandparents' summer cottage in the Adirondacks.

Randy - You've got the right idea: Pugs rule. We've got 2 of them, and my mom has one. From left to right: Phoebe & Ralphie(ours), and Pixie(my mom's). Back to the model..... Schultz now has plates, thanks to a little photoreduction and the kindness of a stranger. I had a useable pic of the actual rear plate in my PC, but not of the plenty rare '64-64 NY World's Fair souvenir front plate.....and they were away for a show when I discovered that fact, so no pics could be shot. I Googled a little and found my new buddy Mitch, a fellow New Yorker, who has an impressive NYWF memorabilia collection. I emailed him the details of my project, as well as pics so he wouldn't think I was totally nuts, and he graciously sent me some nice photos of his plate to use. His plate is a lot less faded than Schultz' real one, so the model is doing a bit flattering for the old guy.

I've only done wide whites on 2 cars so far, but brushing on Floquil acrylic worked very well for me both times.

I really don't do any major sculpting, just small repairs and filling....the basic putty is indeed good for that. I just use the #11 to apply it as it's much more precise than a fingertip; I can really make sure it gets into small crevices and such.

For the Tamiya 'basic' 1-part putty, I use my handy-dandy X-Acto #1 handle and an old #11 blade to apply it. I keep a small stash of 'too-dull-for-regular-use' #11 blades just for that reason.

I'm lovin' the 55's stance, Steve...but the roadster really speaks to me out loud. The finish you achieved on the body and the banjo steering wheel are just the ticket IMO.

If all goes according to my plans, this little guy should be wrapped up this weekend. His name is Schultz, he is a replica of my friends' unrestored '65, and he is the second replica I've done for them. Visit My Website And here's a look at the real car(with my Manx lurking in the background): I started with a Tamiya '66 Beetle kit, and had to change a small number of things for the sake of accuracy: The wheels and hubcaps were pirated from a Gunze-Sangyo '56 Beetle. The steering wheel had to los its horn rim, as '66 was the first year for it. I also filled the radio in, as the real Schultz was a factory 'radio delete' car. My friends are huge collectors of 50s-60s plaid items and use them in their car show displays, so I made a plaid cooler for little Schultz's back seat(along with my 'trademark' photoreduced box of the base kit I used): In anticipation of the project's end, and because my friends are away on a trip, I borrowed the other replica back from them for photos with his new brother. Here's 'little Rudy,' which I did for them back in May of 1996. This was a Gunze kit with a lot of Tamiya parts added for authenticity: Here's the real Rudy and Schultz, along with three of their other toys(and my Manx):

Thanks for the kind words. Giving the car personality is one of my main goals....OK, it's been the only real goal so far, as there has been no real build 'plan.' Cars with history behind them, that have seen many different places and have stories to tell have soo much more heart than fresh, assembly-line cars. This line from the Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop has stuck with me ever since I first visited their site: 'Like a romantic painting, when you look at it, a great HOT ROD will tell you just enough of its story to grab your emotions and let your imagination take you as fast and far as you want to go. ' I can only hope to build stuff as cool as Lyle's.

I agree....the Magnum motor would be a nice touch. Here's the XV Motorsports' car I saw at last year's Goodguys East Coast Nats here in NY: And here's the new HEMI, looking right at home in that E-body Mopar: Hey Len - your avatar pic, is that from So. Glens Falls NY? I'm about 30-40 minutes from there, and a lot of folks I know from there reminisce about that place.

Ever since I bought a cast-off 'glue bomb' body shell from a local guy.....(cough-cough)a couple of years ago....I've been aiming to make this little car into a true representation of the early post-WWII hot rods: nearly every part will be salvaged from 'pre-owned' models, and a little weathering & distressing will make it really look the part. After a long while of off-and-on building(mostly off ), I recently made some progress. After seeing it in person the other day, Matt T. said I reall,really needed to share it with the rest of the class. Here's a preliminary mock-up picture, to kinda illustrate the ride height and wheel style I'm after: There's a handful of pics and running commentary in my Fotki; feel free to take a peek: Visit My Website

I picked up my first copy of the new Merc kit earlier this week, and Matt T. requested a few pics of the kit's innards. I may have missed one of the small parts trees and the tires(2 full sets to choose from in this kit), but the rest should all be there. http://LOOKIE HERE

Not Matt, but he did ask me to shoot the pics: http://public.fotki.com/VWDave/my_model_ca...revell-49-merc/ I omitted one of the small parts trees and the tires, but the rest is there.

Actually, it turns out there were three more. Not to worry, Tom....after a visit to the local auto museum on Tuesday, and showing him the one I bought, Matt T. rescued of 2 of the remaining Mercs.

The box indeed two-sided; the red and blue ones are on either side of the same box. I was shopping at my local 'Great Wal of Mart' for other stuff this evening, and saw that they had 3 on the shelf. (they had 2 on the shelf after I left. )