Volks-Sled

[Joe Handley]

I picked up one of the Revell ‘68 Beetle at Hobby Lobby yesterday since I never bought one before and decided to make a Sled out of it. So far, it’s been lowered, sanded off the welting between the fenders and valances and bumpers, and drip rails. Haven’t filled in the handles, emblems, other random openings and still debating what I want to do with the side trim and door hinges at this time.

 

Oh, heads up, discovered that they done have the gaps for the door tops molded in place when I started to remove the drip rails, if somebody else wants to do this, cut the door openings into the. Body before you start sanding so they can be used as a guy for your #11 blades!

How I lowered the from should be obvious if you compare the top and bottom spindles and uprights!

Wasn’t sure about the rear suspension, so I did the same there too....

Here’s where I am at the the time, early in the AM .

[slusher]

Really nice start Joe..

Edited July 26, 2020 by slusher

[Joe Handley]

10 minutes ago, slusher said:

Really nice start Joe..

Thanks Carl!

[Lowlife ! !]

 

A sled is a cool style for a bug, should look great !

But they are hard to lower, using different wheels / tyres that are smaller will drop it more ?

[Joe Handley]

4 hours ago, Lowlife ! ! said:

 

A sled is a cool style for a bug, should look great !

But they are hard to lower, using different wheels / tyres that are smaller will drop it more ?

I’m going to stick with the existing rolling stock, though I did just cut the part that the wheel goes onto the suspension part off and glue them back on at a higher position like a dropped spindle would allow for. Rear driveshafts will look off if some looks close enough though.

[Joe Handley]

Well, It’s Filler Time?

went at the Bug and my Lunchbox with some Tamiya Filler, may have enough filler primer on my Clod to be ok there, need to wetsand the snot out of it though first.

[Joe Handley]

Still letting the putty dry on the Bug and Tradesman, did get the ‘39 Ford Headlights figured out!

[Spottedlaurel]

Rsourceful use of the '39 headlights. I remember when people used to put Ford/Willys style front ends onto these, but sometimes compromised the look by retaining the standard Beetle lights.

Good luck with getting it as low as you can. Are you going to add the camber they get on the back end when dropped a lot?

[Joe Handley]

53 minutes ago, Spottedlaurel said:

Rsourceful use of the '39 headlights. I remember when people used to put Ford/Willys style front ends onto these, but sometimes compromised the look by retaining the standard Beetle lights.

Good luck with getting it as low as you can. Are you going to add the camber they get on the back end when dropped a lot?

Thanks! This will be as low as it’s going, as though it were at a static, driveable altitude for this build.  To be honest, I not sure if this model year develops much, if any camber when lowered, and I honestly don’t know much about Beetles in general.

[Joe Handley]

Well, it’s been a while since I posted on here for this build, I wasn’t happy with how the bodywork I was doing with the putty was turning out and decided recently to get another kit and started fresh for the body mods, so far I’ve redone everything but the ‘39 Ford headlights with Bondic YV Resin and have also changed the transition from hood to license plate awning and rear fenders to tail light assemblies, filled in where the tailpipes came through the valance since I plan on trying to copy EV West’s electric conversion for Air Cooled VWs.

 

And how it was as of early this morning.

 

 

[OldNYJim]

Cool build!

Even after googling I’m not totally sure what a Volks-sled is - like a lead-sled, but a Bug?

[Joe Handley]

40 minutes ago, CabDriver said:

,Cool build!

Even after googling I’m not totally sure what a Volks-sled is - like a lead-sled, but a Bug?

Thanks Jim, and exactly!  My original thought as a back story was that this was an inherited car that the young recipient made their own cruiser out of, but I may amend that a bit in a way that now that this person is an adult with a good job, they can do some mechanical updating on the car and by making it an EV, it would be quicker and more drivable in modern traffic, easier to keep clean from a visual standpoint, and just one more thing to make it stand out at shows.

[OldNYJim]

Way cool!  Thanks for the explanation Joe!  It’s looking great!