feretzrus Posted July 24, 2016 Posted July 24, 2016 Started with Gunze Sangyo kit. Has anyone else thought about this with this kits? "I would love to get my hands on the guy who thought making the seats and door panels out of the same rubber as the tires was a good idea!" I got around this little frustration by molding and casting the seats and door panels in something more friendly to paint. (I did this with the Gunze Beetles too.) The fit between the door panels and body wasn't great either, so they had to be modified to the extent of moving the (separate) door pulls and window cranks back 1/8"! Otherwise, a smooth build. Yes, the color is factory stock, straight off the color chip sheet....
Chuck Most Posted July 24, 2016 Posted July 24, 2016 Nice! You're really cranking out those VW's!I don't think I've ever seen the GS Ghia built up until now, only the Tamiya. I always wondered about the soft vinyl seats and door panels myself, but I've always had good luck painting them with Duplicolor automotive paint. Most of the Testors/Model Master lacquers seem to work pretty well on them, too.
Harry P. Posted July 24, 2016 Posted July 24, 2016 Beautiful model! But you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by getting a can of automotive vinyl spray paint. That's the stuff they use on 1:1 interiors as a much cheaper alternative to reupholstery.
Dann Tier Posted July 25, 2016 Posted July 25, 2016 Fantastic job again! -I hear you on the rubber parts issue. that stupid Dodge Challenger kit has that BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH in it as well.
TarheelRick Posted July 25, 2016 Posted July 25, 2016 Have always loved the Ghia and this one is an excellent example.
Volksfan Posted July 25, 2016 Posted July 25, 2016 Nice ghia, it looks very sporty sleek with that finish.
aurfalien Posted July 26, 2016 Posted July 26, 2016 OMG how awesome.Funny my best friend and I were talking on how he missed his restored Gia from high school (80's).How cool a model, nice man!
feretzrus Posted July 27, 2016 Author Posted July 27, 2016 Hmmmm.....Interesting opinions on the "rubber interior" topic. I guess what put me off trying to paint the rubber at all wasthat eons ago I tried building the GS Bug and painting the seats with standard Testors and all it did was flake off or barelystick at all. Perhaps there was some sort of mold release on the rubber? I ended up molding/casting the rubber parts inresin, a material I had much more confidence in. Thank You for all of your input Gentlemen!
Daddyfink Posted July 27, 2016 Posted July 27, 2016 Oh so nice! I always wanted a convertible Ghia, but, could never get my hands on one without spending a fortune, even in the 80's!
robertw Posted July 27, 2016 Posted July 27, 2016 Looks great. Built the same kit a few years ago and ran into the same problems as you described in your write up. I used some Tamiya primer under paint and it worked on the vinyl interior (I left the seats as they were). The Gunze sports car series were fun builds and often the only choice if you wanted that particular car in your collection but all unfortunately came with the vinyl interiors. The Ghia was the only one that I built that had interior fit problems. I'd love to see these kits available again.
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