Harry P.

How it all began. First year of official production (1938). Notice the suicide doors and the shape of the hood opening. Also notice how little the car's overall design changed over the years. Of course, WWII interrupted Beetle production almost as soon as the car had appeared. During the war, military versions of the Beetle were produced in limited numbers, but due to the war (and the bombing of Germany's auto plants), actual production of civilian Beetles didn't really get rolling until the late '40s. And the rest, as they say... is history!

He also "borrowed" pretty heavily from Tatra for the basic design... so much so that Tatra sued. Of course, once Hitler annexed Czechoslovakia in the early part of the war, that lawsuit was, uh... "dropped." But after the war, Tatra took up the case again and was actually awarded compensation for their stolen design.

Nice work. But I suggest a black wash on that grille to give it a lot more realism.

Beautiful work! Very realistic. You got some skillz, man...

I had to make a return trip to the local "lumberyard" and pick up the raw material I'll need to build the roof... Here I have taken the thinner strip from the above photo and cut the roof pieces to shape... wider in back, tapered towards the windshield posts. I pre-curved these pieces by placing them in boiling water for about a minute, then bending them to shape against a ship curve and holding them to the curve with a rubber band until the wood dried. I also carved a header piece to fit tightly against the top of the windshield frame, which has a slight arc to it side to side. The header, the front ends of the top pieces, and the little reinforcing corner blocks are glued in place with CA. I'll let all of this dry overnight, then glue the rear ends of those roof pieces down to the tops of the rear side body panels. The door posts are just placed in position here (not glued)... I just need them here to force the top pieces into the correct arc. Once I glue the rear of the top pieces I'll remove the door posts... at that time the glued top pieces will hold the correct arc to later receive those door posts once I attach the doors to them.

You mean Bob Seger. Pete Seeger. Bob Seger. Big difference. Just sayin'...

Carl, I'm pretty sure the violin on "Paper in Fire" was Lisa Germano. She was a member of Mellencamp's band until the mid '90s when she left to do her own solo thing. "Our Country" was released in 2006 or so... so the violin was played by a different girl. That Kid Rock song is pretty slick. Almost too slick... like maybe it was written specifically for use in commercials? "Hey, Kid... can you come up with a catchy tune that we can use in a series of TV ads?" "You bet I can!"

Gloss black... And finally, Spaz Stix...

I know the original, don't know of any cover.

Sorry. I missed that. Oops.

What does this have to do with the topic?

And live at Walter Reed Army Hospital for the wounded soldiers and their families. No rock star nonsense, no lasers or light show, just the band. The chick on violin is great... and the guy on the white guitar looks like John Lennon!

I know.

Well, that's not good! You shouldn't have to go to those lengths to fix a problem that should not exist in the first place. Anyone else have this problem with their kit?

Keeping the old ball and chain happy is Job One. Welcome aboard.

Yep, heard about that. Death by impalement on a pipe organ. What a way to go!

I think 120 million might be on the low side...

Geez, no wonder you're so cranky! Just kidding. I can imagine how tough it must be to deal with chronic pain and conditions like that, and I know it's no fun. I thank God I got away relatively healthy (so far).

Maybe you're looking in stores that don't carry it. Not every LHS carries it, you know.

While I'm waiting for my brass hinges to arrive from Hong Kong (they're coming via the "slow boat from China, apparently... ), I'm keeping busy doing all sorts of boring but necessary chores, like prepping the chrome parts for Spaz Stix. These door handles and window cranks needed a lot of cleanup of flash and sprue attachment points. Not exactly easy, considering they're each about the size of a grain of rice! Here they are, cleaned up and mounted on a scrap of wood "handle," ready for gloss black and then Spaz Stix.

Believe it or not, I've been designing it in my mind for quite a while now. It's coming, but it's going to be more a simulation than an actual structural thing, due to the way I'm going to build the roof. But it'll look "right."

Very unusual. Nice job on that, although I agree the decal on the hood was a mistake.

That's "Our Country" by John Mellencamp and his top-notch band, with Little Big Town on backing vocals. Sort of an updated cousin of Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land." Chevy used it in their TV truck ads for a while. Very cool song, IMO. Lyrics that are actually uplifting and meaningful, not like most of the krapp that passes for "lyrics" in so much pop music these days.

No, it's not a model, it's a real car. This is Auto ID, not ROM.