Der Bettle Bus Challenge

[disconovaman]

Well, I'm back from our monthly club meeting and I thought I'd share our next club challange theme. The Der Beetle Bus! Now for some of those who haven't seen this kit, I'll admit that I wasn't excited about it and had it not been for my buddy I probably wouldn't have thought twice about the model. That said, I'm glad he took a chance on this kit.

 The Der Beetle Bus is a reissue and has all kinds of cool parts inside even if you didn't build the kit you can use the parts for other projects especially if you like building Gassers or Street Freaks.

I knew if I was going to build the kit it would have to be reimagined so I inlisted the help of a fellow club member to take on the design and mock-up. After 4 or 5 ideas this is where it begins. On a side note the other ideas are being built as well. With this kit I believe the possibilities are many. 

A cab over dragster, a Gasser, a pick-up with separate bed or an elcamino of sorts with the cab attached to the bed, fill in the windows, chop the top or cut the top completely off. That's just some of the ideas mentioned.  Just a cool little kit to chop up and do it your way.

I'm Starting on this kit from the current state it is in now which has been severely chopped and kit bashed. I could use some imagination from some of you guys to help get it rolling. Any ideas will be considered  and appreciated. Thanks alot in advance! 

[DumpyDan]

ya this is a cool idea, I bought one only because I didn't when they were first out in the 70's.  Hope you send along more pictures

[mod3l Lover]

      Anthony,

   Can you post a pic of the box on that one?

I'm trying to figure out what that kit is.

    It is very cool in that configuration!

   

    Build on, me watching,

        David S.

[mod3l Lover]

    Please disregard, I found a pic of it!

That's the kit with arms in it!!

 

       David S.

[disconovaman]

I should've posted the box art in the introduction,sorry about that...So just in case anyone else couldn't remember the kit here it is.

[Intmd8r]

I like your version much better than kit stock - keep up the good work!

[disconovaman]

Thanks!  This is the inspiration for the build. 

[AC Norton]

....normally, this type of kit would have NEVER graced my stacks of cars, but I bought one when they were released a couple of months back. its such a neat little thing, that I had to grab one and may another at one point. possibilities are endless for project ideas, but even box stock with nice paint and decals would do the trick too..the Ace..

[bobthehobbyguy]

Cool project. Ithink either a vw or corvair engine in front would be cool. 

[disconovaman]

I agree! Here are some pics to hopefully explain what has been done thus far. Kinda hard to know without seeing the "before chopped body" but you can get an idea from the box art. The roof is a separate part and can be cut to fit the chopped body at a later time. The idea was to eliminate the rear wheel all together so the front wheel house would become the new rear wheel. Anyway it reminds me of that saying "If a bullfrog had wings"....  because of the half-a-bed look that it's got goin on. Lol! I thought about adding a dragster wing, like that from the Wild Willie Boris dragster but I really don't know what to do with it.

Maybe a 60's hippie van style paint job? Or a right hand drive Us mail hauler? 

[disconovaman]

I thought about maybe creating my own decals for the build and covering the entire lower section with mural-art style graphics. Here are some examples of what I'm thinking about. 

[Modlbldr]

Wow! Gotta get me one or two. Keep it going. I'm loving it.

Later- 

[Intmd8r]

You’re going to put some sort of wheelie bars on this, right?  Looks like a good headwind would flip this on its lid lol.

[disconovaman]

Definitely adding wheelie bars... the ones in the kit are pretty cool! I like the look of the exposed front-end so I'll be fitting the radiator back there along with some electric fans as well. This one hasn't even made it downstairs to my workbench yet. I'm just brain storming so far anyway.

[disconovaman]

  On 8/2/2016 at 2:18 PM, Intmd8r said:

You’re going to put some sort of wheelie bars on this, right?  Looks like a good headwind would flip this on its lid lol.

 

 

That's funny after you commented on the wheelie bars I was mocking it up and I didn't have the front wheels on and when I let go of it the thing stood up on it's back wheels! The weight of the front wheels are what's literally keeping it on the ground. Yeah, you're right about a good head wind Lol!

[disconovaman]

Maybe a set of pro stars and side Zoomies?

[Modlbldr]

No!  Completely changed the whole look. Not for the better to my way of thinking.

Later- 

[disconovaman]

  On 8/2/2016 at 6:44 PM, Modlbldr said:

No!  Completely changed the whole look. Not for the better to my way of thinking.

Later- 

LOL! Duely Noted... I promise not to use the Pro stars and I have chrome headers I'm going use. Thanks for the Opinions keep them coming! 

[Modlbldr]

Oh good! I can rest easy now. Lol

Later- 

[Art Laski]

Very cool, Anthony! I like what you did with this.

[disconovaman]

Earlier I had a phone call from my buddy who did the chop and he's been working on some other ideas he had for the beetle bus. He sent this pic to me. He's actually had two cases of these kits come to his house in the past month (12 kits per case) and he's thinking about ordering another case. Lol!  Oh and FYI if you buy one and happen to "Katch the Kat" a little game AMT likes to play sometimes where kits are Molded in Clear metallic colors, this one is Apple green. 

[mod3l Lover]

   Can you maybe take some pics of your club

meeting when everybody has their builds to

show for us?

   I know I would really like that, this sounds

like a very cool club project!!

 

      David S.

[disconovaman]

I sure will, Thanks... the way the guys were talking they're each going to build more than one. So it should be a good turn out. I'll be back to work on mine soon. I just have to figure what else to do with it. 

[mod3l Lover]

   Well it's looking very cool so far.

I'm just loving this! It might even

inspire me to finish my "Baja Beast"

build that has been sitting for a

very long time now.

 

    David S.

[OldNYJim]

What a GREAT thread!  Every one of these ideas gave me a "I wish I'd thought of that!" feeling!  So cool!  Please keep us posted on this contest!