Mr. Metallic

First up... The Yellow Beetle For those that don't know the history on this tooling the Blue Beetle was the first version and debuted in the mid-60's along with the Little T, Little Deuce and Woody Wagon. It was released twice, and then the tooling was modified in the late 60's into the Tom Daniel designed Boss A Bone. Then in the 70's the tooling was modified again for the Early Iron release. It received yet another freshening in the 80's, and then was released in the 90's in the 70's street rod configuration. A few years ago Revell decided to backdate the tooling to the Blue Beetle configuration by retooling some lost parts as the Blue Bandito (Blue Beetle is now a registered trademark for another product, hence the name change). Ok, now that I've set the scene here are the issues the tooling changes has presented me with the yellow version. Gone are the 6 carb intake and Cadillac script valve covers. Also gone are the great wheel/tire combo, and a few other BB specific parts. Most of this is easily rectified by stealing the parts from a Bandito kit (so the chrome brightness all matches), except the Cadillac valve covers. R/M didn't resurrect those for the Bandito. Fortunately I have a set from a BB to steal. The big issue is that the yellow version now comes with the interior and other formerly white parts now molded in tan plastic. Fortunately I have a decent molded-in-white interior bucket I can use, along with an up top. Once you take a look at the initial mockup photos you can see the problem with using all these different molded in white parts presents, they all have different opacity. Hopefully that can be rectified by painting them all white. A necessary concession to these mostly No-paint builds I have going. My rules, I can break them. Anyway, enough talking, here's the first mockup

"No, not those mop-tops"- To quote a DJ in the film That Thing You Do (love that movie) This post is to bring together a few builds in my ongoing affinity for the early Monogram hot rod kits. If you recall, last year I built alternative molded in color versions of the big 4 kits. One of them was the Red Beetle, which was built by combining original Blue Beetle specific parts with the molded in red parts from a Boss-A-Bone builtup (the horror, I know ) Since then I have been intending to build alternative versions of the Beetle, using every color Monogram (later Revell/Monogram) offered kits based on this tooling in. That list is as follows: 2 shades of blue the Blue Beetle came in, Red (done), yellow, silver, and lastly the light blue that they released a few years ago as the Blue Bandito. I also have the obscure Japanese motorized knock-off of the Blue Beetle that is molded in an almost purple color. Since these will be mostly "box stock" builds with the kitbashing necessary to backdate the kits to the Blue Beetle configuration I decided to combine them all in one thread rather than a separate thread for each color. For 2022 I challenged myself to try to put 12 completed builds on my shelf over the course of 12 months. that may seem aggressive, but I knew I wanted to sprinkle in a few on these Monogram hot rod based builds through the year, so it seemed fairly reasonable to me. The year started off well enough, but the summer has really put my behind on that goal. With 5 weeks until our Fall KKIM meeting I thought I would try to build as many of these Beetle variants as I can before then. Hopefully you'll come along with me for the ride.

I looked through my Fotki and apparently haven't taken any pictures of it. Maybe I'll dig it out.

On first glance it looks like pretty standard build of the Revell 3W with a wheel/tire swap, but I knew better than that coming from your bench so I kept scrolling and am glad to discover the amount of well done work you did to the underside. Extra points for the W motor!

Nice slick hot rod. Just the right parts choices, as always from your bench. I found the Extreme (former OneCoat) turquoise on the rack recently, and don't remember it being in the line originally. First time I remember seeing it on a finished model.

It's great when the early Monogram hot rod kits get some love, and you did a great job adding just the right parts. Well done.

Well I'm glad you shared it because it's a treat. Not a lot of finished hot rods shared on this board, especially to the level you always bring it. Love the color and the W motor.

Nice builds Tim, but the RPU is stunning. About 15 years ago I started turning the Vamp Van into a closed cab pickup, maybe I should drag that out again while you and Roger are providing inspiration.

Great job Alan. I have developed an affinity for this kit as well, with a build (including improvements) similar to yours coming up. The first BAB I came across I turned into a Red Beetle. I have so many builds based on these Monogram hot rod kits in the pipeline.

Perfect stance, and great color combo. I love the detail of the red frame peeking out from under the bodywork.

Didn't realize they were brining good money. I was buying these up when they were cheap, especially the prepaints. But don't worry, the price on these should normalize since Round2 is finally reissuing this

I have that kit, but not familiar with the breakdown. I assume you should just be able to cut the top away from the bottom with either a saw or preferably with the backside of a #11 blade.

Like you, Batman has always been my favorite "superhero" as well because he is grounded and relatable. Can't relate to being an uber-rich guy, but he could exist in the real world. Since super powers don't really exist I've always had a hard time relating to comic book characters with super powers. I don't agree with Rusty's opinion at all. I thought it was a great portrayal of the character. Kind of returns him to the detective part of the character. And my wife is not a fan of the superhero genre and she thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking forward to more from this universe with the upcoming tv show and sequel.

Are you sure the A sedan delivery has the Buttera frame under it? I swear that's the early 60's Revell tooling You are correct about the "34" being undersized because it was designed to fit the Buttera frame. I'll be following along because this conversion is starting out pretty cool.

Here, let me help Mike... @Greg Wann

When this kit was new Replicas and Miniatures of MD offered an improved top. Maybe he'll bring it back?

Leo is right, if Norm still has viable molds he will usually pop out a couple if you ask. I think he is on vacation right now, so give him time to respond. FYI- the Revell 5 window kit has a 40 dash as well.

I always struggled trying to build this body in my head as a 60's showcar, but 70's street machine may be the way to go based on what I see here. You're certainly making it look good.

Stance looks great. I know I've seen those photoetch seats around before, what is the source?

That inspiration car is stunning, but his cars usually are. I especially like the color. Looking forward to watching yours progress.

Nice clean build. great color.

I'm sorry you're having so many issues with this. I have the same kit, with the intent to build it as a Bonneville support vehicle. You're top chop proportions are right on.

This is quite a project to take on. Kudos to you both. Counting down to the barrage of requests from people who can't follow your simple rules in 3,2,1...

I had some similar thoughts to you awhile ago. Started working on completely smoothing out the body and turning it into an LSR type car. I still have it somewhere. For now I'll live vicariously through you and watch you build something cool out of this odd design.

I wish one of the aftermarket paint companies would offer color matched paints to the 60's Testors/Roth/Pactra/AMT paints, especially the metallics. Retro is hot right now, so they should capitalize on it as well just like Round2 and Atlantis are. Vintage paints to match vintage plastic.