empinut

Thanks for the interest guys. I've never documented a whole build, so this will be fun. Yes, the paint is the Tamiya mica red over their light silver base. Hard to mess up that combo. I will be going for a traditional resto cal-look, sort of a DKP club car (even though their cars in the 70's were rarely metallic. Front will be lowered about 4 inches and the rear about 2. The rims will be porsche fuchs...crableg 4.5 inches up front with period skinnies (135ish) and 6" fuchs in the back with street slicks. I will show them next week. I will not super detail the chassis...just paint....but will slap together another 48ida monster engine with lots of photoetch/braided line detail like the last tamiya beetle i made. thanks

instructions decals

one is completely unbuilt, one is a glue bomb. guess which one cost more. Both bought within the last 6 months. This is why I really wanted the kits...tires/wheels/carbs... the body: IMC psychadelic surf buggy....groovy!

I had previously painted the tamiya 66 beetle a metallic red. With the TeeVee winding down, it was time to get this beetle on the move. narrowed the front beam: To lower the front end, I also removed the trailing arms and rotated them up plus remounted the front beam up a bit. To lower and narrow the rear, I moved the spring plates in slightly and rotated them up a hair. In order for the new lowered beam to fit, i bit of the trunk interior needs to be reworked. One side is hogged out. I'll fab up new panels to close up the gap. I decided to remove the rear seat in order to get to the rear inner panels and to make painting the seat/rear engine compartment tin easier: little detail paint on the engine, plus I will use a dog house cooler/fan shroud. Fuel pump will be relocated and pushrood tubes added using the locator dots allready molded on the case. Bare metail foil on the valve covers next, plus painting the fan shroud & cylinder tin. Taking pics as I go along is new to me. I'll watch the hits and replies and if there are just a few, I'll just post the finished model so as not to take up space. thanks

Almost done, started playing around with some new materials to add some details I have never executed in the past. Hard to see but i added a dipstick and clutch cable (with wing nut!). I also remounted the wheels so the flames were directionally correct. thanks for looking. More pics at link. Visit My Website

rusto-licious Dave! suggestion...dump the back a scale inch or 2 and you may like it a little better. In real life you are a spline or 2 too high. Remember, rust buckets like to settle a bit! The BRM's you have were originally mastered by an old friend of mine, Dennis Chung. A long while back he had the guts to repop the '58 issue 23 window original issue Revell bus in all it's multi panel glory. His small company was called "think small models" IIRC. Dennis also had a family restaraunt to help run, so he pops in and out of the hobby. A few years back he said he was selling off the last of his white metal BRM castings. Herb Deeks also cast these up (with no credit to Dennis as far as i know)...I saw his catalog and ordered some from him, but his castings had terrible pin holes. These are 1/24 scale BRMs and I have a few sets left. They also look great on the 1/24 bus's but I think they actually scale out to 16" rims. Plus they are a little on the flat side. That is why I created the BRM master I have. keep up the great work, Bill

very cool! love the color.

nice!! Love those sharpies! so I can expect an update on the barn door soon?

Thanks to those who gave input. If I knew where the lint escape actually went, I would probably do it, but since I am on the 6th floor and there is retail on the 1st floor, I think I will pass and err to caution. The windows in the apt are both the size that I could not set up a makeshift release point for the overspray from the booth. I am home on the weekends, so I will paint at home in my garage and transport the painted parts to be assembled. There is also the possibility of painting at the apt in our very large and empty parking garage, but the dust may be an issue. Either way, I've now got building time on my hands and I will make do. thanks Bill Murrieta

Had a couple of questions regarding safety of a spray booth and use in an apartment complex. I am utilizing an apartment as a weekday home away from home for business, 3 weeks out of each month. During the weekdays that I am there I will now have loads of time after work to actually build...yes I WILL now be able to finish all of those vw projects i started! The apartment came with a neat little 8ft wide by 4ft deep open closet for placement of a washer and dryer (that I will not be needing). This "closet" also has a small electric water heater that is sitting on a large shelf on the right side. This open area looks like an excellent spot to place a spray booth (harbor freight?). My questions (pardon my ignorance)..... Is it safe to use a spray booth in an apartment? Near an electric H2o heater? It is on the 6th floor....would there be problems with using the apartment lint escape for the exhaust from the spray booth? I would be using only tamiya spray lacquers, so would this cause a fire hazard? The only outlet in the closet is the large utility hook up and the 220 plug(?), no regular wall socket (110?). Can I use this 220 outlet or do I need to use an extension cord? thanks for your help! Bill Murrieta

Update on the resin T3 Notch. I do not like the way the paint came out :cry: , I will respray but probably in white. I touched up the side door window trim just to see how it came out after spending a lot of time using strip styrene. Painted & mounted suspension is on gloss black pan. Decided on my BRM rims that have been cast & alclad, I may or may not paint centers black. (check tangtang2 on ebay for these rims). Spent a bunch of time on some 356Porsche bumpers to approximate a T3...close enuf :?: Head & tail lights from a diecast notch temporarily mounted. thanks for looking. Bill Murrieta

Jared, here is a pic of the radar rims I mastered. Bill

thanks Marcos, i will get it done this year! regarding the rims...I have mastered the BRM's in 1/25 scale. There have been other BRMs that were mastered in 1/24 scale by Dennis Chung (sold in white metal) and copied and sold by others. I have had mine cast. I also have mastered the radar rims you might be talking about that AFXnScale cast & were selling, as I have never seen anyone else selling them. I tried 4-5 times at making the radars, that was the best I could do. Check out my fotki for more background on the rims. http://public.fotki.com/empinut/models/vw_parts/ Bill Murrieta

i think the company that did the opel also did the late model VW bay window bus. I remember checking their kits out but with the exchange rate and shipping it came out to about $85 US. I thought that was a bit high for their quality. Love your meter cheater!, I wish they would reissue that & the moon mixer. Bill Murrieta PS Is the pierpont inn still on the coast in ventura? My wife and I spent our honeymoon there 25 yrs ago. We had the cheapo wedding! Back in the 70's the pierpont inn was the place that many a playa from los angeles took their mistress'! We also lived in carpinteria for 2 yrs...boy do I miss spot burger.

thanks for explaining. i was trying a couple of different ideas with the rear fender beading on the back valence. originally I made a valley with a razor saw and and placed a strip of plastic to be painted or sharpied black in the future after painting. Then one of the strips was ruined during body prepping so I removed it and thought about using chart tape, but I did not like it. so I then placed a new piece of white plastic strip in the valley on the right side to replicate the piece like on the left side. I just did not primer it yet, but I am going to give the total body a new shot of primer today. I may still use the chart tape on top of the fenders under the rr side windows. thanks for noticing!, I really appreciate everyone's comments and suggestions. here's a pic of the color combo I will replicate.... I am still deciding between Porsche crableg rims and BRM's !? Bill Murrieta

IMO, (which we can debate until the end of time, so your opinion will probably be different) a modeling Holy Grail is that ONE kit or model that you want the most, but can not seem to find. The first grail I ever had was the 1958 23 window Revell Samba Bus. The box art was beautifull and the kit was the only accurate VW bus out there at the time. I looked for this kit in the back of scale auto, at garage sales, in toy magazines and other places (i did not know toledo existed back then, nor could I afford to get there) in the 80's and 90's. Funny thing was, I finally found one at a good price, the same year I started on ebay, but I did not buy it on ebay. Once ebay started, it seemed like every "grail" I searched for was only a click away. Well, I have been on ebay since the start and I get to toledo every couple of years, but there is this one kit that I know is out there, but is just impossible to find. maybe one day..... BTW, what is your true ONE and ONLY, Holy Grail? Bill Murrieta

Thanks for the encouragement to finish this. I hope I do not mess this up....the notch is a resin kit mastered by Tapani R. (sp) which I purchased through a contact, Risto P. (sp). Just recently Juha A. (sp) updated the molds. I will order another one from Tapani to prep for casting. I have been working on this for about 3 years off and on. At one time Randy at Perry's resin had a copy also, but he just did not have the time to clean it up. I do not know if he sent his back or what he did with it. If Randy wants me to clean it up for casting, I would be glad to do so. I have spent numerous hrs reducing the thickness of the casting and reworking the panel lines and trim and such, just because I figured we will never see a kit of the type 3. I have pulled apart the diecast maisto, and although it looks good from about 5ft, close up it has a lot of little things wrong with it that I could not live with. I have owned 2 real Notchbacks, stripping one to bar bones and restoring one, so those little things wrong with the maisto would drive me nuts. Hey Bill, there is a really nice 1/43 Type 3 ghia by Minichamps that is not too hard to find. You need to convert the tamiya ghia to the Razor! In reality the trim on the side panels was aluminum and the rubber beading between the fenders and body was black. I guess I am confused by what you are asking maybe. Wish my carving and trimming skills were better, i'll do the best I can with this one. Bill Murrieta

i have always admired your builds. glad to see u back on 4 wheels. Bill Murrieta

back on the bench, primered 2 more times and sanded...this is ready for another coat of grey. Redid the side window trim and some of the fender beading. Tested the molded on side trim and did not like the results, so I will add my own after sanding the original casted trim off...besides I want to add side markers. added the trademark T3 rear valence panel to cover the exhaust. since you will only see the drivetrain from the bottom, I have decided to utilize a porsche turbo. thanks for looking. Bill Murrieta

sorry for the late replies...big business month keeping me off the bence last week and the rest of this week. gonna take some r&r (yea right!)in vegas this weekend so no bench time till next weekend. the ramp bed is actually from an original racers wedge that i parted out. i got a great offer for the complete model (it was in perfect condition) sans the wedge (and at that time the model king wedge repop was not anywhere near being announced), so I sold the 67 truck and kept the wedge. I added sheet plastic to re-work the rear wheel cut outs. the engine will go in the back of the wedge as I added a second bus frame. I finished the heavy duty trans/axle set up and am mulling over a few diff engine ideas. thanks for the posts, I'll post update pics as soon as I can. Bill Murrieta

sorry Doug, I got my names mixed up. Bill

thanks for the kind words...i was hoping you guys would like it. i totally forgot about the flame pattern until andy pointed that out. thanks andy (lol). it only took me about 4 tries to get all 4 wheels to touch the ground as the original kit is not exactly engineered flat and I had to be a smarty pants and scratchbuild the suspension-tranny. I do not know if i have the patience to go through that again at this time. By the way andy...you have any other vw resin kits coming out? i was thinking the same thing about the halfshafts but what the heck...they are chromed and they fit the boots I made....it's gonna be a trailer queen anyway. hey bobby, ya got me thinkin about that the baja bug again...i put it away, but now have pulled it out again. I am tossing around 4 builds on the "lazy susan" bench at the moment. thanks again Bill Murrieta

Thanks! the spray on carpet is Scale motorsports red. Love this stuff! http://www.scalemotorsport.com/default.asp?paint

T3 Notch...laid down some carpet (spray on) and finished the armrests. Chassis is Porsche 911 based (ultimate fantasy). If you have seen the newest Hot Vw's magazine Cal Look edition this month, you will see a feature on an awesome Notch with the color, wheels and stance I will use on this one. Body close to having body work finshed on crewcab T2: thanks Bill Murrieta

ready to start detailing. Bill Murrieta