VW Dave

To echo two of the above posts, I use 5-minute epoxy and the little square Testors paint bottles to make sure the wheels are straight when the glue sets up.

In case anyone doubts that the wee Manx is truly 'one of a kind,' here's my favorite part: I convinced Bruce Meyers himself to donate a personalized scribble to the project.

Update: I made a typo in the ticket price previously. They are 2 for $1, and 25 for $10. Between Facebook and my local friends & co-workers, sales have been pretty brisk.....but a little lukewarm here. I'm hoping the price correction makes a difference, and another bit of info might be helpful as well: if anyone wins the Manx or the 'car guy' birdhouse but isn't really into it, I have a couple of people ready to make an offer. I'm covering postage for ticket stubs and for the prizes myself, so that every penny that comes in goes to Hadley's family. The drawing date is still 'TBA,' but I'm aiming for Saturday December 1st so that the winners and family can receive everything in time for Christmas.

Love it!

I like it!! No, he means '74; the US market didn't get the Rabbit(Mk1 Golf to everyone else) until '75, but it was around before then in other countries. My family's earliest was a '76, followed by a '77 shortly after

Asking $2.5 million for that car is about 3 years too late; the market has definitely softened

Bumpity-bump

To increase the value and your chances of winning, I have reduced the ticket prices: 2 for $1, and $10 gets you 25 tickets. Yesterday I visited Hadley's grandparents and broke the news of the raffle to the family - "it's on now."

...and it was a very generous one at that. Thanks big time, Mike, for 'breaking the ice' here at MCM.

Seen it before, but I'll never get tired of it - very cool!!

'Wow' seems like an inadequate term here, but that's pretty much what I'm saying out loud. I really love the safari window details and the wrapped steering wheel spokes. ...any chance you'd offer any more of those PE safari frames for sale?

As this is a family-friendly board, I can't post what I said when I first saw this. Awesome job on such an offbeat VW! I would love a resin copy if it were available.

For 'flower power' decals, check your local stores for fingernail decals; I got a package of about 100 various 'peel and stick' flowers & peace symbols for a little over a buck

Like others have said, the colors look good but the texture is a bit heavy. The rust holes down low look good, but they are a little large overall; I'm a big fan of making lots of small holes first, then opening a few up into larger ones. My secret is to thin the panel from behind with a Dremel cutoff disc, then I slowly run over the area with a ball-shaped milling bit with a light behind it until the material just starts to blister and break through. A small dental-style pick tool works great for popping those body 'blisters' and modding them into bigger holes. Here's my in-progress '55 Chevy stakebed truck with the small holes coming through:

I agree. My brother's '85 S10 had a carbureted 2.8, and our neighbor's '86 was TBI'd.

A few of my "non-car guy" co-workers have started the ball rolling...made my first official ticket sales on Sunday.

African or European?

Had a small hiccup with PayPal, but it's all good now.

I absolutely love this model!

Not my favorite buggy kit(I have one that's a parts donor), but you did a great job on it

Well, the powers that be here at the MCM forums have given me the green light; for that I am eternally grateful. The raffle will run approximately 10 weeks from now - maybe 12 weeks, if the responses are favorable. I'm figuring that the proceeds of the raffle will be a welcomed gift for the family in time for Christmas, and the Manx will be equally welcome in the home of the winner. Speaking of winners and prizes: my good friend Scott, a car guy and woodworking whiz kid, has agreed to donate an item for a 2nd prize drawing: one of his cool custom-made birdhouses, topped with a tin roof made from a vintage NY license plate. Pictures to follow ASAP. Tickets are 2 for $1, and $10 gets you 25; the raffle's PayPal address is hadleys.heart2012@gmail.com Include your mailing address with payment, and I will mail your ticket stubs. Don't have PayPal? Have any questions? Feel free to drop a line to my email address: plasticman1432@gmail.com Thanks in advance for your interest and help!

Thanks again for the positive comments, all; I'm very proud of how this little car turned out, and it feels good knowing that the end result is a little dent in the family's financial shortfall. Here's a funny thing: the baby's family doesn't know yet that I'm doing this....going to visit them on Monday. Roger - I have yet to do anything with the Imp; still hoping to iron out the details with the real Imp owner's wife, but she still maintains that the 'kid down the street' can build her the model for literally pennies.

Ron at Early Years Resins offers a very nice set of 'wide 5'(pre-'68) pattern VW wheels that can be tailored to fit any application; they come with separate centers and rims that can be trimmed to your desired depth, and he includes nice copies of the Fujimi 356 Porsche brake drums too. http://earlyyearsres...wheelstires.htm

Just sent a PM to an admin....stay tuned, and I'll let you know if I can post the info publicly or not. I have the raffle's official PayPal address set up, but the Facebook and Fotki pages are not 100% ready yet.

Thanks for the kind words, all; I'm hoping that plenty of folks would be into having that sparkly little gem on their shelf....I know I'll have a bit of a hard time letting it go, but I'm excited to see where in the world it goes. Glitter Blast isn't what I used - The paint I used is actually from Plaid's Martha Stewart line, but I'm sure there's plenty of similarities; IMO buggies just don't look 'right' without big flakes. Jim - That is indeed one of those frames, and yes they are a bit spendy....but well worth it once you see it up close. He even does one to fit the Revell Imp.