Foxer

Cool .. will be following along this ambitious build.

Gorgeous! I can't get over how good that spoiler looks .. like it was made for it!

The chrome touches on the interior are perfecto!

WHO'S tired? I'm amazed how good that came out. All those edges, like the back of the roof look very well defined!

The boot looks good. I don't know why, but I love this car. I've heard so many bad things about it I've avoided ever buying one. Might be settling to watch you build one!

I like those wheels too, whatever they are!

Very subdued and tasteful paint .. beautiful!

Very well done! This looks so natural..

Body work is looking fantastic!

oh my .. ..maybe some super-jumbo milk shake cups-a-light..

I think that always becomes the ultimate discussion on this puppy, George .. to chop or not to chop. I keep looking at the one I started and like the "top hat" look, that tall top sitting on the low "brim". I think any chop would have to me mild. 2" max if that much. Remember too, the 1:1 car was a daily driver in it's early years so not chopping the top could have been just practical.

I love the look of this car and maybe some others will appreciate it also. It's been around since 1954 and now with second owner Skip Rapp. The story of this vehicle can be found here. Here is a build currently on th ebench, though off to the side at the moment, of something inspired by this car..

I find it interesting that something that old, ie. the hot rod frame, uses disk brakes. Cool build.

Finally a Vic with the mid chrome circle done! Looks fantastic in that smooth black. Are there any interior photos we might see?

The last shot looks like major interior fun fodder...

Looking good.. can't wait for the new cam photos!

I do most all painting as the last thing on my building list, but then, I HATE painting with a passion! Since I LOVE body work, there's no paint to stop me from reworking anything on the body at the last minute!! I suspect this all may have much to do about your take on model building... for instance ... Mr. Obsessive, as the name applies, is obsessed with doing everything in the proper order exactly as the instructions say.. paint comes last! and Zoom Zoom is a trained car designer.. the body IS the model and I'd venture he might have painted bodies with motors still on the trees!! hehe,, all in fun guys..

That's a good looker! Nice job on the detailing.

I wouldn't consider myself a expert, but this is the closet kit to a split window I know of. The window split would have to be fabricated, of course, but the overall size is the same. The outer edges have a tighter taper also. Someone here had a WIP thread making a split window some months ago. He added the split but don't believe the outer shape was modified. The dash is also different, but this should be a pretty easy change as they are all pretty flat. I don't think there's much else. The bumpers look the same although I've seen some split windows with a small recess in the center of the bumpers. These may be only the real old ones. I'm sure we have some VW people here knowing more than I. Overall though, I think the Gunze kit is a pretty nice curbside. Some details are a bit heavy, but it looks good when built and detailed.

This bug came with my wife, along with a German Shepard that called the back seat her own! It was unique in that it had a semi-automatic transmission. You had to shift it, but there was no clutch petal. I found the "clutch" was handled by a vacuum line off the carburetor when I added a 2 barrel and plugged in the transmission line to where the distributor advance line normally went. The transmission shifted "violently" and I eventually bent the main shaft of the transmission. Apparently, the transmission used a lower vacuum than the distributor! Anyway, using a Hasegawa Volkswagen Beetle Type 1 (1967) kit, I updated it to a 1968. The bumpers were the new ones with a different cross section and a black, recessed stripe at the center. I had to scratch build these from sheet plastic and covered them with BMF. This was my first attempt at making something from scratch and got me back to building again after it came out well. Along with my wife's next car, a new Rabbit! This one needs some reworking before it's in the public view! I was carving leather at the time and made a dyed, carved leather scene to cover the glove box door. The model was painted to match this piece.

This is modeled after the '54 Bug I owned while in Germany in 1967-68. I was in the Army and this served me well with little cost .. it just kept running! It was rolled 3 times, but just edged over on it's side. We just turned it back over and kept going! I don't think the oil was ever changed since the drain plug was worn and couldn't be wrenched off. I just kept adding fresh oil to replace what was burned off. I used the Gunze Sangyo 1956 Volkswagen Oval Window which required little backdating to a '54. Following is a photo of the original taken near the end of my ownership. The wheels went through a few changes including a period where they were were mounted backwards. They were "deep dished and WIDE track"! They returned to normal and the hubcaps never made it back on. I modeled it after a few rolls, but before the hub caps were lost with a bit of faded paint and weathering. The USA plate was made in Photoshop and printed on decal paper. The plate is made from an aluminum soda can with Grandtline bolt heads. This was completed about 15 years ago as I was coming back to modeling and there are some things I would add or touchup, like the window trim and the fender mounted mirrors. The color is off also and I now have some factory matched paint, Maybe some day..

Ah.. Herbie may be another one I can look for, thou that may be harder and more expensive to find. Speaking of taillights, I'm also scrounging parts for a '69 Bug I had and so far it's looking good. The taillights were new in '69 and I found some in a Revell kit I think it was. My wife had a '68 which I have already built from a Hasegawa kit and those taillights were pretty close to being correct as far as I remembered.

Welcome to the forum, Mike. Seeing you're a New Englander too, be sure to fill those rocker panels with tar and grease to combat the salt!

Now those are subtle differences .. SO Volkswagen! Those are pretty easy fixes to do, but I'm debating how far I go. The light color didn't have a need for repainting and there's not much paint left. If I get another supply of paint I should fix those two points. I did check my stash of VW kits and none have the correct wheels. The one Gunze-Sangyo Bug I had was built into a '54 that I had in Germany. I see the wheels are totally correct with no slots. I appreciate the offer on the wheels and might take you up on it if you do locate any. I am going to see if I can locate a Gunze-Sangyo kit first though as I like the way that one builds up despite being engineless. The High-Tech version with engine is way too expensive from what I've seen. And, much thanks for the heads-up on this, Dave.

This is stubbing! The smooth black and those wire wheels really set it off!