Herbie The Love Bug

[Duntov]

Michael:

Some really nice work here for sure.....I like that you corrected the inaccuracies - it really helps with this car since it is so diminutive.  With respect to the fuel gauge..... I had a '61 model and it had no fuel gauge as well --- but it did have a small handle ("L" shaped piece of rod actually - up in front of the trunk wall under the dash... that activated a 1 gallon reserve of gas when you ran out of fuel!!!) ---- keep up the good work.....  I like your treatment of the kit!!!

Regards

Bill

 

Edited April 20, 2017 by Duntov

[Slotto]

Great attention to detail. It's great how you added the radio to the dash and removed the square guage.

[crowe-t]

Steve & Bill, thanks for the nice words!

I painted the interior and started gluing it all together.  The seats, roll bar, door panels and dashboard are painted Testors Acryl Neutral Gray.  I added a couple of drops of Aircraft Interior Black to the Neutral Gray for the floor mats and lightened the Neutral Gray with Flat White for the carpeting.  The carpeting is embossing powder.  I added Bare Metal Foil to the door handles, arm rest...  I foiled the steering wheel and the moldings on the dashboard.  For the speedometer I first painted it Testors Acryl Silver.  After it dried I sprayed on some Tamiya Flat Black and then used a toothpick dabbed in Windex to expose the silver on the raised details.  Windex will remove Tamiya acrylic paint but doesn't remove Testors acrylic.  The speedometer's numbers were made by dipping the end of a toothpick in some flat white and dabbing it on, sort of like dry brushing, just to give a slight indication of the numbers.  Testors Clear Parts Cement was applied over the speedometer to make a lens.  It's not too noticeable in the picture but it's there.  I removed the chrome from the exhaust and heater exchange pipes and painted them with lightened Neutral gray.  A friend who has a VW Beetle said these pipes should be a light gray.  I removed the tail pipes and replaced them with 1.6mm styrene rods which I drilled holes in the ends.  The kit's tail pipes had a seam down the middle and weren't quite round.  The tail pipes are painted with Alclad Aluminum but I might cover them with BMF.  The engine is also painted Alclad Aluminum.  The details in the trunk are painted.

I'm in the process of polishing the clear coat on the body so it should be done soon.

Thanks for looking in!

Mike.

IMG_8358 Small by Michael Scarola, on Flickr

IMG_8370 Small by Michael Scarola, on Flickr

IMG_8363 Small by Michael Scarola, on Flickr

IMG_8367 Small by Michael Scarola, on Flickr

IMG_8372 Small by Michael Scarola, on Flickr

IMG_8374 Small by Michael Scarola, on Flickr

Edited April 27, 2017 by crowe-t

[David G.]

Looks good, nice interior work!

Engine looks great too but I seem to recall that the box on top of the generator (voltage regulator?) was usually black. I could be wrong, but that's the way I remember them on my old Bugs.

David G.

[crowe-t]

Thanks David!  

I've seen that 'box'(voltage regulator) on top of the generator in both black and silver in pictures of different 63's so I'll most likely leave it the way it is.  I do have to do some more detail painting on the engine but I'm not going too crazy with it.  

Mike.

[iamsuperdan]

Excellent work on this one! I have the Tamiya '66 Beetle kit that I'm planning on building into a Herbie. 

I need to start remembering the little details that you're finding, instead of just assuming the kits are correct. 

 

[Brizio]

Looking good!

[Model Mayhem]

Excellent work, and fantastic attention to detail.

[crowe-t]

Thanks guys!  I'll do some more detail painting on the motor but it's not as important on this build.  

I had to do a touch up on the body's clear coat so it'll be a few more days till I can finish polishing it.  

Edited April 30, 2017 by crowe-t

[VR6 BeelzeDub]

Any updates? Great thread with a lot of useful info/tips! I love these detailed threads w/before and after photos. Well done, I really want to see more

[crowe-t]

I had a little problem with the paint and had to strip the body.  I'm waiting for the new paint to arrive.  The hood and trunk are OK so I didn't strip those.  As soon as the paint arrives I'll paint the body and put the decals on.   

Edited June 8, 2017 by crowe-t

[crowe-t]

Here is a link to the completed model in the Under Glass section.