Der Beetle Bus

[Psychographic]

Thanks for the comments everyone, they are greatly appreciated.

 

Another "One step forward, two steps back" on this body. The ratio for the epoxy primer is, 3 parts primer, 1 part activator, and 1/2 part reducer if needed. To spray this through the airbrush, my ration was 3-1-8. I did a test piece from the kit and it worked fine. Unfortunately, I had some MEK trapped in the plastic of the rocker panels that I'm guessing was affected by the extra reducer in the primer. These areas bulged out pretty badly. As I thought I had trapped the gasses in the sealed rockers, I drilled a small hole in each panel and within a minute the bulges were almost level.

I'll give it a day or two before sealing up the holes and re-priming. For a small little body, this thing is a lot of work.

 

Edited September 16, 2016 by Psychographic

[bobthehobbyguy]

Sorry to hear you had an issue with the paint. Glad that you've got a fix for the problem.  Looking forward to seeing this in color.

[Psychographic]

While waiting for the body to dry out, I thought I would try to screw up some more parts with paint.

 

[shaunmza]

Some Butterflies.

 

 

Thats amazing!

[Psychographic]

Round two of paint for these parts.

 

I'm about to either fix the paint on some of the parts I did in Alclad, or ruin them. I'm going to repaint the front and rear suspension and possibly the zoomies. I didn't let the black set up enough before I sprayed the Alclad and the parts got a slight "Frosting" to them and look more aluminum than chrome. They are too fragile to strip, so I'm just going to do another coat of black and Alclad. Wish me luck, as I don't feel like making new parts.

 

You can see the difference between the zoomies and the blower.

 

 

[mustang1989]

Nice effects Dave! This thing is really turning out to be one cool and wild ride so far. Looking forward to more.......

BTW I went out and bought my second Beetle bus kit. My thoughts are focused on lengthening the van body some. Where it goes from there I don't know yet but I've got something in the works after watching all this come together.

[Psychographic]

Round 3 of painting interior parts. I'll hit these with some flat clear in a day or two.

 

 

The Alclad re-do on the suspension parts was a success!

 

Edited September 23, 2016 by Psychographic

[Chuck Most]

I can guarantee this- when you bring this to a show you won't see fifteen others just like it. 

Loving the project, and it's great to see you back. 

[Psychographic]

I started to assemble the engine when I realized I forgot to paint the oil and trans pans. Good thing I only got as far as far as putting the timing cover and water pump on. I also just noticed that I made the transmission pan sideways, oh well, I've never claimed to be the sharpest tool in the shed!

 

[bobthehobbyguy]

That paint scheme is really cool. Keep up the good work.

[slusher]

I really like how you painted the seats and door panels nice touch..

[mustang1989]

I can guarantee this- when you bring this to a show you won't see fifteen others just like it. 

 

and I'll second that!

[Psychographic]

That paint scheme is really cool. Keep up the good work.

I really like how you painted the seats and door panels nice touch..

Actually I screwed up the paint, the fades are backwards. This was a paint scheme I used when I raced RC cars and originated around 1989. When I painted the black something looked wrong, I thought it might be because the original used fluorescent colors. When you guys posted, I thought I would try to find a pic of one of the RC cars to show you, that's when I noticed what was wrong. Unless I want to repaint all the parts I've done so far (which I don't), I'll just have to live with it.

 

Here's one of the cars from back in the day with the correct color scheme.

 

[OldNYJim]

What class of RCs did you race David? 

[Psychographic]

What class of RCs did you race David? 

I mostly ran Dirt Modifieds with stock motors,and Sprint Cars with modified motors.I owned a lot of other cars for fun.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Psychographic

[cobraman]

I really like what your doing with this kit.

[Psychographic]

The pans are painted, now I can start assembling the engine.

 

 

I got the flat clear on the seats and door panels. I left the center of the door panels shiny to represent a painted fiberglass panel.

 

 

I've also got the rockers in primer and ready for the white base.

[Davewilly]

great looking interior paint job!  Looks great!

[Psychographic]

I can't believe the body made it to a base color! I'm sure now that it's white, I'll find a few flaws that need addressing. I used the Duplicolor that comes prethinned from Advance Auto. It's not the best lacquer, but with how hard it is to find lacquer anymore, I can live with it.

 

[Draggon]

Well that interior was a surprise! I like it backwards better. 

[Psychographic]

Almost a rolling chassis.

 

 

I'm glad I repainted the suspension parts, the rear looks much better as the Alclad crazed the enamel underneath and gave parts of the rear a cast look. Considering how bad it looked, I'm very happy with how it came out.

 

 

I had to drop the body on to get a look.

Edited September 19, 2016 by Psychographic

[cobraman]

Super cool ! Makes me smile .

[Psychographic]

Stage two on the paint is done.

 

[Psychographic]

Stage three.

 

 

Stage four.

 

 

Later today I'll put a coat of clear on the body to seal the fades in case I screw up the graphic. I'm not sure how I'm going to go about putting the black on yet, as I'll be using DuPont,s (I guess it's Axalta now) urethane striping paint. I've had a sample of their black for a couple of years now and don't know if it will flow well enough to brush the entire graphic, I might have to mask and spray the solid portion of the front and then brush the streaks afterword.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Love it.