Blue Beetle Model A Restoration

[Tom Geiger]

I'm still on my Monogram 1/24 scale Model A binge!  Reference of my shelf above so far....

A few weeks ago at the Diversified Scalerz show I found this lost puppy in a vendor's junk bin.  Recognizing it as an original issue Blue Beetle I quickly bought it.  

Here she is mock assembled for a photo session.  Dirty and all the chrome appears to have evaporated. Tire mark forever etched into the bed.

Aside from it being molded in a nice blue plastic, that finish was beyond saving due to the abundance of surface glue applied by our over ambitious original builder.  We might have been able to track him down by finger prints!

And here we are today.  After a lot of sanding and fussing, the body and chassis received a few coats of Duplicolor Primer and I decided to try Testors Extreme Lacquer Star Spangled Blue which looks perfect on this body.

 

Here's the roll bar that is unique to this original issue.  A friend asked me why I was playing with this old glue bomb since the "Blue Bandito" was reissued with a lot of the original parts... well, just because!  I do own one of that kit and will use some new parts where old parts are not restorable.  But I drilled out this roll bar and inserted some straight pin, and have it super glued thick so I can sand it down.  Why? Just to see if I can!  If it doesn't look right, I'll use the new part.  Also note that of the four cars in the top photo, only one of them started with a new kit (the yellow woody pickup)! The other three are restos from sad and humble beginnings!

And the one part that wasn't reproduced is the Caddy script valve covers!  Here they are with the plugs drilled out to accept wires and Alclad applied.  I also have cleaned up and have new Alclad on all four original wheels and exhaust headers.   This project shouldn't take long.

 

Edited November 1, 2019 by Tom Geiger

[OldNYJim]

I’ll be watching Tom!  Cool looking build so far!

[gotnitro?]

Looks great 

[David G.]

Looks like a fun project, you're off to a good start.

David G.

[afx]

The Blue Beetle and the Little T might be the greatest kits of all time.  I never get tired of seeing them built.

[slusher]

WoW Tom awesome paint!!

[Tom Geiger]

A wee bit of progress...  engine is complete, and I wood grained the bed.  I can still see the tire burn spot. I'll have to strategically place the swim gear!

 

[OldNYJim]

Looks great Tom!  Nice savin’ ???

[Tom Geiger]

8 hours ago, CabDriver said:

Looks great Tom!  Nice savin’ ???

Thanks Jim!  I should be done by now but the two tone bucket seats are kicking my tail!  There is no decent color separation line, just got them back out of the stripper tank to try again.

[OldNYJim]

Thank God for stripper (singular)!

[Tom Geiger]

And we are up on wheels as of last evening!   It sits well and I'm happy with it.  The body and radiator shell are just sitting on it for the photo.

I can tell you that the parts in the recent Blue Bandito kit were retooled because they don't play well with parts from the original issue kit. I had to use the new kit axles since my originals were destroyed, and the mount points on the old wheels are different.  I do have the old wheels on the back, but gave up and used the new kit wheels on the front.  The tires are old originals and I painted the white inserts since they were messy.  

One set of carbs still need to be put on.   And I will start over with two pairs of seats, hoping to get two usable ones in the process.  The seats are tiny and should be white and red two tone.  The color separation lines are faint and very hard to mask, resulting in my current issues.  Otherwise this one is ready to button up.  

[Chariots of Fire]

A man after my own heart, Tom!  I also appreciate redoing old builds.  There is something about resurrecting one that is a lot of fun.  This L-700 was a gluebomb at one time.  The glue was so dried out it literally came apart by itself.  I added the body and crane after the cab and frame were put back together.

[ewetwo]

Nice Tom. 

[Tom Geiger]

I am trying to get the Blue Beetle off my bench.  I had the body all painted and ready to go onto the fenders. I found the decals that were on the real truck.  (Moon Eyes and Thrush woodpecker)

They were from the Revell 1950 Ford pickup custom version.... some folks already have cringed!  Yes, I put them on the model and hit them with decal fixative.  They shrivelled into useless little messes!   That's when I remembered... some RM kits of that era had decals that weren't compatible with fixatives! It wasn't on the decal sheet itself, it was mentioned in very small print on the instruction sheet.  As my decal sheet was in my decal file,  I had no warning but I should've remembered!  I had the same issue with the Checkers decals from their '37 Ford pickup a few years ago!   Doh!

The decals made such a mess that they wouldn't just float off with water.  I wound up sanding the body and prepping for paint again.  

Then I decided to mock up the body on the fender unit / chassis that already has the engine mounted. The engine goes in one way, as there are not only mounts, but the rear suspension snaps into the transmission.  I taped the firewall to the body and... tight fit!  I remember having this issue before with this kit series and I attributed it to the firewall hitting the wired distributor I had added.  Should I just force and wedge it in?  No, I decided to make the body fit better.  I figured if I took 2 scale inches out of the panel right behind the door, it would fit like a glove.  So I start cutting my body... a bit of man handling and I break the friggin body in half!  Grab second body... I managed to do the modification. Body now fits like I wanted it to, just a lot of putty and clean up on the new seams...   then...

I realize that I have taped the firewall to the outside of the body like on a lot of kits.. guess what?  It goes INSIDE the body!  Argh!  Now I've ruined two bodies.  Never giving up, enter in body number three (isn't it grand having a bunch of the same kit?!) which has now  been prepped and primed and ready for a color coat.  Back to square one, but recovered!

Remember, it's not how you screw up, it's how you recover!   And I'm still hoping to drive it off the bench by year's end!  

Edited December 17, 2019 by Tom Geiger

[Khils]

17 minutes ago, Tom Geiger said:

Remember, it's not how you screw up, it's how you recover! 

If needed Tom .....I have an available body if needed to replenish a donor kit ( mold color may be different)    LMK!

    - Kevin

[Tom Geiger]

55 minutes ago, Khils said:

If needed Tom .....I have an available body if needed to replenish a donor kit ( mold color may be different)    LMK!

    - Kevin

Thanks Kevin!  I have a couple of them so I'm good!   ?

[cobraman]

I see what you were talking about in the section with my 62 Ford. I like the color you are using.

[Tom Geiger]

A bit o' progress!  And of course for every step I have to fix some screw up!   The two tone on the seats are not perfect but as good as they are gonna get!  At this point, the body is ready to be glued to the chassis.  Once that's dry I can get the radiator shell onto the car. The way I do it is to have the body mounted, then tape the hood to the body.  I position the radiator shell to the front of the hood, then tape it to hold while the glue dries.  

Another day or so!

[Tom Geiger]

Yea!  The Blue Beetle is now completed and is in the Under Glass section!   And a note after reading through this thread.  I was not successful in restoring the original roll bar hoop.  I wound up using a new one from the Blue Bandito kit.