David G.

Thank you Trevor. It is a fun build, I agree. Those are some nice looking wheels. Thank you John. I'm pretty sure I found your build when I was researching mine. There aren't many of these out there, even within our community. I will keep your tip in mind, though I'm inclined to leave the stacks as they are. After all, I'm really the only one who will likely see the build after it's completed. No need to worry about hijacking my threads John, I do enjoy the information and conversations. Thank you Daniel. Actual magnesium wheels! That would have been cool. It does make sense though as slot car wheels would have to withstand actual torque while the wheels on our static builds do not. It's probably not a lot of torque but torque none the less. Thank you all for your comments. David G.

Hello Everybody! It's time for a little update. Remember those aftermarket wheels? Well a little cleanup and some Rustoleum chrome paint has them looking pretty good. A test fit with the aftermarket wheels. Lookin' good! These look much better than those wide whites I had on it earlier! As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post a comment if you wish. David G.

Thank you Len. I guess we end up having to square the corners that were cut to simplify it. David G.

Thank you Jim. Plannin' muh work an' workin, muh plan, as the saying goes. Definitely worth finishing that one John. It would be a true one of a kind. David G.

Hello Everybody! For as much fun as it is when threads take on a life of their own, I think it's time to bump this one back onto the rails. Now that the upper body has been assembled and reinforced, I've started filling the sink marks. It's going to require some work to get the area where the rear quarters meet the rear deck to look anywhere near decent. But holy moly, the sink marks! It seems that every time I shoot one down, two more pop up! As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post a comment if you wish. David G.

Thank you Carl! I do pride myself on my problem solving abilities. David G.

The glass canopy looks great Bobby. When I built the Herbie version of this kit, I achieved much the same effect using flat black brush paint and a silver Sharpie. It's not as tidy looking as yours but I think it got the job done. Do you plan to add some chrome trim to the window surrounds? Most of the U.S. Beetles had chrome trim around the windows and it add a little depth and visual interest to the finished model. Unless of course you're building this one as a Cal-looker. cheers, David G.

David, I just can't get over how proper those seat inserts look with the gold speckles! The effect just really brings the whole interior to life. The window tint looks great too. David G.

If you're interested Fabrizio, I did a WIP thread on it when I built it. I made some upgrades to the Polar Lights snap kit. Here's a link if you'd like to see what I did. That's a great idea Jim. I'll have to keep it in mind for future use. David G.

Great wheel and interior detail, the chrome came out great! David G.

Thank you Len. That is a strange series of changes. Wow Keith, that's impressive. And I thought I was organized by keeping my current builds on my Work-Shelf. You take organization to a whole different level... multiple levels! David G.

Thank you Ricky, I'm glad that the actuator looks okay. I'm always a little worried that the mods I build will look clunky or "tacked-on". I plan to use the stacks that came with the car. I'm not confident in my ability to effectively work in a different set at this point. Thanks Andrew, David G.

The wheels have to turn asymmetrically to go around corners. The outer wheel has a longer distance to travel than the inner wheel and has to turn faster to cover the larger distance in the same time that the inner wheel travels the shorter distance. The diagram below shows why. In this diagram the lines "r" and "R" would represent the path of the wheels through a turn. The outer wheel "R" would have to travel a greater distance around the circle than the inner wheel "r" would. To do that without dragging, it would have to go a little faster to keep up with wheel "r". The inner and outer wheels would have to travel at different speeds or "asymmetrically". There would be a difference in speed between the inner "r" and outer "R" wheels. In mathematic terms, a speed "differential". An automotive differential is a set of gears that allow the inner and outer wheels to travel at different speeds. It's essentially a mechanical algorithm (a topic for another time). Sorry, I don't mean to be a smart-aleck. It really can be a tricky concept to wrap one's head around. I hope that this little science lesson helps. Cheers, David G.

Hello Everybody! Thank you all so much for your interest in this project. It makes the work of taking and editing the photos and writing the captions worth while. (03) The first two colors have been masked and shot on the chassis. I hate molded-in exhaust. Detail painting the molded-in exhaust. Installing the rear chassis section (the trunk floor insert) I discovered some clearance problems. I've indicated a gap showing where the locator tabs are supposed to mate with the depressions in the side rails on the main chassis. The interference is coming from the exhaust pipe and the fuel tank both wanting to occupy the same space. I've already started grinding and filing the exhaust pipes. This is a view from the other side of the chassis. Circled, are the depressions where the tabs on the trunk insert are supposed to fit. The arrow shows the two exhaust pipes that need ground down to allow clearance for them to do so. Once these adjustments were made I had no trouble getting the trunk insert to fit between the frame rails as it was supposed to. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to comment if you wish. David G.

Beautiful color combinations and paintwork! David G.

I remember the WIP on this one Ken, I'm glad I finally found your Under Glass posting for it. Fabulous work, as always! Excellent photos too. David G.

The front suspension is fantastic! Also the engine-turned panel! It looks like you found a good method for doing that. David G.

Nice rescue! David G.

A great looking build, the color is perfect! I also like the upside down VW tail lights. David G.

I built the Polar Lights version a few years ago so I'm interested in seeing how this one builds up. David G.

Thank you Ken. Hmm, could be. I don't know much about Jay Leno other than he's a comedian with a passion for collecting cars. David G.

Thank you Daniel. I agree, it it a good kit. It just seems like they left some bits out in this version. David G.

Dang! That was some rough masking work. It looks like the paint will clean up well enough though. David G. Thanks for the link BTW!

Hello Everybody! I'm really enjoying the build on this kit. I'm finding it easy to want to work on this one. Though it's a little difficult to see in this photo, there are locator dimples in the bottom of the rear wing. According to some few of the photos I've seen on line, there is supposed to be a mechanism that changes the pitch of the rear wing. It looks like the kit is engineered to have one also but there is not one included. It looks like if I want one, I'll have to make it myself. There are very few photos of the car showing this mechanism so I had to wing it... (sorry, I just couldn't resist). This is what I came up with. I added the plastic sleeve as an attachment point for the actuator but it looks a little too clunky for my tastes. With the wing in place I can see that the sleeve on the bracket just won't look right to me. It's time to come up with a replacement. Aren't paperclips wonderful little things? A slip of styrene and a little work makes a slotted insert for the wing actuator to pass through. It does look like something was intended to be placed there. Which makes me wonder why there isn't something included in the kit. That looks much better. And it actually works pretty well. I may do some fine tuning on that before final installation. But so far I'm pretty happy with it. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to offer a comment if you wish. David G.

Thank you Geoff. Yes, I did luck out getting those wheels. It's hard for me to imagine why Monogram did what they did with the kit wheels. It was a choice of some kind because they certainly would have not been limited by manufacturing constraints, given the depth of some of the mag wheels offered in other kits at the time. There may still be some aftermarket replacement wheels available out there. The aftermarket has grown quite a bit over the last twenty years. Thanks for your comment Geoff, and thanks for following along. David G.