David G.

Hello Everybody! It's time for the next Love Bug update. My research revealed that the car in the Love Bug movies was painted in VW's pearl white. I decided that Tamiya's TS-45 Pearl White should work well enough. I initially painted the pearl white directly over Tamiya's light grey primer. To my eye, the result looked a little more silver than white. As shown on the trunk lid. This was not quite what I wanted so I tried putting down a coat of Tamiya TS-26 Pure White with the Pearl White over top of that. Though not perfect, the result was much more in line with my expectations. I decided to paint the rest of the body using this method. I think the color is a little too bright but once everything is put together it should look fine. That's it for this round, more updates soon. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to share your opinions tips and observations. David G.

Excellent work Jeremy! Isn't it a great feeling having another go at those nostalgia builds? David G.

Thank you Randy! I'm pretty much done with this one... finally! ...and I'm currently editing my end-of-build photos. So here's one of those photos to answer your question regarding the antenna mount. During my research for this build, I did see several similar mountings for whip antennae. Though I think their ends were attached to the rear bumper or a second body-mounted point. The antenna itself is a 17 gauge guitar string stuck into a base from the parts box. Thanks for the question Randy! I'm always happy to share information and tips. David G.

Great looking resin work! Back when I was building model railroads I usually simulated bodies of water by painting a shallow basin where I wanted the water to be. To simulate the water at varying depths as it would be seen from the surface, I used various and blended shades of browns and greens. Once I was satisfied with its appearance, I would pour some acrylic gloss medium on top building it up to level in thin layers allowing each to cure between pours. Your method seems like it would be much quicker and and seems to add a natural looking depth to the water. Something that's difficult to do well with paint. David G.

Most impressive work David! David G.

Hello Everybody! Now that I have some of the other events and occurrences in my life settled and dealt with, I've found some mental energy to finish up with some of this build's loose ends. As you may remember, I tried adjusting the angle of the gumball beacon on the roof using a bit of styrene tubing. It wasn't an ideal solution but I thought I could live with it. After a few weeks of living with it, I decided that I could no longer live with it and corrected that angle issue the way I should have done in the first place. I removed the beacon and filed its base to allow for the slope of the roof. I like this much better! I also attempted to correct another problem that was bothering me. The window decals. When I originally placed the decals I used Micro-Set and Micro-Sol as I normally do. However two of the decals on this side immediately developed this unwanted texture that just wouldn't go away. All the other decals laid down and smoothed out as expected except these. *All* the other decals, the ones on the body and the ones on the glass, behaved as expected, except these two. I found some Walthers Solvaset and thought using that might make a difference. It did not. Given that the undesirable texture seems to be limited to these two decals and and seems to follow a pattern, I'm guessing that there was some kind of contamination on either the surface or the decals themselves. I guess it's one of those things I'll just have to live with. If anyone has any ideas as to what's causing this, please feel free to share them. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post any comments you may wish to share. David G.

Dang, that's one sharp looking paintjob Greg, and the color combination is killer!

Hello Everybody! It's beginning to look like this will be a quick build, in spite of all the adjustments I'm having to make to get the parts to fit the way I want them to. With the engine assembled and installed in the chassis, it's time to start test fitting some of the other bits. If one looks toward the front of the chassis a misalignment of the front axle can be seen. As the front suspension assembly snaps into the chassis in its default position, some alignment issues become evident. A bit of filing and tweaking corrects most of the crookedness. This, and the inherent looseness of the metal axle should give me a good base and allow me to make any minor adjustments required during final assembly. Testing the ride height and wheel alignment. The ride is a little high but I can live with this. That's all for this round. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to share your opinions and observations. David G.

Thanks for your kind comment Niko. Color schemes are a big factor for any build but more so for a Fifties era car when paint options were one of the main selling points. I'm very pleased with the magnets so far. I've already started mentally planning uses for them in my next three or four builds. David G.

Thank you Dirk. The kits are still out there and they're not usually too pricey. Some builders have also used Tamiya's 1966 VW Beetle with aftermarket decals. David G.

The painted wheels and dog dish caps look great with the raised whites. The stance is perfect. David G.

Good call on splitting the glass canopy Greg. I seem to remember some fit issues with that from my experience with this kit. The body work looks much better too! David G.

Roadster hotrods are traditionally simple. A running chassis, motor and body are all that one needs, chrome wheels and a nice paintjob are options. The one you've built here captures that elegance very well. Nicely done! David G. Nice display case BTW! I think I recognize some of those builds.

Thanks Carl! David G.

Beautiful masking work! Clean and tight, nicely done. David G.

That's one great looking little roadster Jim! You seem to knock these out rather quickly, what to you do with them when they're finished? David G.

Thanks Jim. I do like the way that they are working out so far. I think I'll be using them a lot more often in my future builds. I mean I do have 300 of the little buggers! ...well, 296 now. But at the rate I build that should still be more than a life-time supply. David G.

If you're referring to the movie from the early 2000's Carl, I didn't see that one. Thank you Brian. I heard that too. At least one of them had a Porsche six-cylinder. I also read that over the course of the first four movies Disney used up about 50 VWs. Thanks Jim. It'll not be nearly as nice as your most recent VW build but it will be just as much fun. Thanks Bob. Aside from the distributor/fuel pump flub and the weird intake manifolds, it's not a bad rendition of a VW engine. There aren't many out there, strangely. David G.

Hello Everybody! It's time for a quick update on the '57 Ford. I've installed the micro magnets in the body and doors. Now it's time to check the alignment and adjust as needed. This is just a crude test fit to check basic alignment and function. Assembly is just a mockup at this point. As always, thanks for following along and always feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and insights. David G.

All pinecones aside, it certainly can be a bummer to have a paintjob go badly Len. But I've had the second attempt often go exceedingly well. So well in fact, that I'm often glad that I goofed up on the first one. It's like there was a "bad one" in the system that needed to be pushed out of the way so the good one could come out. "Dirty Pinecone" It would also be a great name for a biker bar on the outskirts of Eugene Oregon. Seriously Len, I hope the paintjob goes well for you. David G.

Sweet body work on this! I hope you get a chance to finish it. David G.

The body rust and trim look great! David G.

The terrain looks good. Nice composition, good visual interest. The foliage and other features are coming along quite well, I especially like the little dock. David G.

Alas, Dean Jones & Buddy Hackett are no longer with us. Michelle Lee is still around but she declined to appear. It is a fun build so far, quick and easy. Thanks for following Len. I'm glad to see you back on the boards Dann. Thanks for your interest. David G.

Hello Everybody! This is the Polar Lights snap together kit of The Love Bug, the main character from Disney's 1968 movie by the same name. The car, more commonly known by the name Herbie is based on a Volkswagen 1963 Type 1 Deluxe. All the Volkswagen corporate emblems were removed by the movie studio to prevent copywrite infringment and the model kits follows suit. The kit itself is of good quality and engineering, as are all Polar Lights snap together kits I've built so far. Though simple in nature, Polar Lights kits lean more toward the complex end of the snap together spectrum and sometimes straddle the boundary between snap together kits and more traditional kits that require glue to assemble. This means that Polar Lights snap together kits can be assembled well enough without glue and paint but to achieve the kit's full potential, these kits should be regarded as simplified glue together kits. And I build them as such. This is the VW Love Bug, AKA "Herbie" kit by Polar Lights. Because everybody loves Herbie! The engine went together quickly and just as Herbie is a representation of a typical VW, this engine is a "representation" of the typical VW engine. This is of course painted and detailed. Just one example of why this is a "representation" of a VW engine rather than a scale model of one is the distributor. It looks like a fuel pump. There are a few other inaccuracies but as a whole, it does the job well enough. As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post any comments you may have. David G.