Hughie Hogg's VW Beetle (DOH)

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

On to Hazzard County project #10: Hughie Hogg's Volkswagen!  

The first thing I discovered was that it was NOT a true convertible.  Rather, it was a chop-top, as evidenced by the sedan-style windscreen, and the bottoms of the window posts still remaining.  

The second thing I had to learn was the difference between the classic Beetle and the Super Beetle.  I have no doubt this is a "duh" to most of you here in MCM, but I don't come from a major automotive background.  Now that some of you were kind enough to educate me, I see clearly that Hughie's ride was most definitely a Super Beetle with the roof cut off.  

 

After much more research and guidance from y'all here in MCM, I realized (after much frustration) that I was going to have to kitbash THREE different kits to do this.  

1) Aoshima Beetle 1303S for most (not all) of the body and the bumpers 

2) Revell '68 Beetle for the chassis, engine, windscreen, rear body vents, tail lights and much of the interior

3) Revell VW Cabriolet for some of the interior and some of the body details

I thank all of you for your immense patience as you educated me through my research and prep! 

 

I should also mention part of my research was to go through every Dukes episode in which this vehicle appeared, pause the DVD whenever a good view appeared from any angle, and photograph the scene.  I then had the photos made into prints to use as I build.  Maybe low-tech, but it works for me.  

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

The excellent Revell '68 chassis actually fit the Aoshima body *mostly* well.  Only two issues to face.  First, it needed widening on both sides with a .040 strip (easy fix). 

The bigger problem was that the aft wheel wells and engine area didn't fit.  So I took a saw and cut partway into the plastic at that area so that the aft area could be bent upward, and then fit quite well, considering.  

 

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Final step for now was scratchbuilding the large McPherson struts.  The struts themselves were made from plastic tubing, then the springs made by wrapping metal wire around an appropriately-sized plastic rod then trimmed to shape and installed.  Not perfect, but hopefully close enough for this project.

[Casey]

Try wrapping the wire around a machine screw to make the coil springs. That way, each coil will be equally spaced apart from the next one.

I would also suggest buying a razor saw (or two, they come in different tooth counts) and you'll get much better control while cutting.

Neat project, and good on you for turning three kits into one. ?

[slusher]

Real nice interesting subject. I am very interested in watching your kir bash build..

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

9 hours ago, Casey said:

Try wrapping the wire around a machine screw to make the coil springs. That way, each coil will be equally spaced apart from the next one.

I would also suggest buying a razor saw (or two, they come in different tooth counts) and you'll get much better control while cutting.

Neat project, and good on you for turning three kits into one. ?

Perfect, thanks!

[espo]

First, very impressed with your research on the subject. The way you have done the floor pan gives me an idea for a future project with a Type 1. The nice thing about putting your ideas out there is that there are many here with actual 1:1 back grounds to help on the details. Look forward to watching your build on this. 

 

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Okay y'all, I must apologize for shelving this for a couple of years, but I've had a LOT to deal with, including a wedding, some health stuff, plus just got totally burned out on this due to the intensity of what I had to do to it (FAR more than I originally planned).

Time to get this thing done.

Major body modifications.  Had to take pieces from the two Revell bodies and graft them to the Aoshima to reflect the correct vents, trims and such.  Flat windscreen framing on the hardtop was too narrow, so I widened it with an insert of plastic, above and below.  I'll worry about the windscreen itself later.

The hood was a nightmare, part of the upper section being scratchbuilt.

 

[iamsuperdan]

That's a lot of work!

But so far, it's looking really good.

Weird choice by the studio, to chop the roof off a Beetle. It's not like Beetle Cabrios are hard to find. The hardtops are significantly cheaper though, so that's probably the reason. I wonder what happened to it after filming. Probably scrap.

 

 

[espo]

Impressive slicing and dicing on the body work. 

[milo1303s]

That would be a 1302 super beetle with a flat windshield 71 or 72 in 73 they went to the curved windshield like the aoshima kit

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Thanks for the kind words!

Got to splice the chopped door posts from the classic body onto the Super's convertible body.  Always better to cut and graft too much, then cut it down to size.  Then a bit of grinding and sanding to blend it all in.

 

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Now the interior.  The Classic's side panels seemed best, except I liked some of the details on the Revel Cabriolet better.  Solution: graft the details onto the better panels.

The Classic's seat bottoms are terrific, but the Revell Cabriolet's seat backs are the closest to the real thing out of the 3 kit choices.  Again, graft them together.

 

[slusher]

Nice seats!

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Thanks for the kind words!

Noticed that more of the back end had to be totally redone.  Fenders are totally curved, as the tail lights are not embedded in the structure.  So, they have to be totally altered.  Also the panel below the engine door, has to be totally flat and not contoured. 

 

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

On to the wheels.  I had a choice of 4 different sets of Beetle tires, all of varying widths.  I thought the closest to what I see on the TV show was the ones from the Revell Cabriolet Beetle.  The outer wheel hubs came from a most generous overseas donor (thanks Les!).  However, they needed some work to fit the selected tires.  As for the inner wheel hubs, they needed their center holes enlarged to fit the suspension I used. 

 

 

 

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

What an unbelievable battle with the body of this little beastie!  I thought it would be so simple; get a beetle and chop the top off as per the TV show.  Ha!! 

Finally just about have it straightened out with the myriad of alterations.  Then to add the (presumably) canvas cover over the area behind the back seat.  Used 0.015" strip for the edging, then 0.005" sheet for the rest. 

Then, following photos of the actual thing, mark where the bolts/snaps/whatever they used are located, drill holes with a #74 drill bit, insert .020" rod, trim and sand to shape.  More primer, and now I'm finally starting to feel relieved!

[Bainford]

Superb work!

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Thank you!

Here's the next problem:  The Aoshima Super Beetle has the super-modern dashboard and steering wheel, while both the Revell kits had the older, classic style dash and larger wheel.  Which to use?  I sorted through all the footage I could from all six episodes it appears in, and almost no clues....except a couple views like the one below.  Definitely the classic dashboard.  Looks to be the large wheel, I'm mostly certain.  Had to widen the classic dashboard to fit the wider Super Beetle, though.

 

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Ever notice how often the kit vinyl tires come nice and glossy, when the real ones are usually quite the opposite?  A good treatment of sandpaper all over helps, then later a scraping of the tread through sand-dirt outside the front door.  The wheel hubs are painted, then detailed including a light wash of watercolor sludge with soap to make it stick.

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

Gettin' there, folks!

First, windscreen had to be made from scratch, since the windscreen frame was significantly widened from the Revell Classic VW kit.  Thankfully, it's flat, so, not impossible.  Started with the original windscreen, traced it, then added the appropriate fill plug, on paper.  Then, cut the new shape from packaging from something-or-other that my lovely wife bought (no idea what, it was in the recycling).

 

Next, the bumpers.  Closest option of the 3 kits is the Aoshima, except these represent the slightly later style with embedded lights. 

Removed the chrome with bleach, grind off the rubber strip (too wide), fill the light slots, add a new rubber strip.  Prime, spray black, mask the rubber strip and spray Alclad chrome.

 

[Moparman18064]

Really nice grafting and fab work

[milo1303s]

nice work and yes the dashboard is different between 72 and 73 Super beetles cause of the rounded windshield and the 1 inch or so in length over the standard 70 down beetle !!

[Andrew D the Jolly Roger]

The rest of the glass is from the Aoshima kit; just gotta cut the forward sections off and discard the rest.  Once black is applied for the rubber lining, I use BareMetal Foil for the metal bits.  Then, all the glass is tinted with a special blend of Clear Floor Polish, food coloring and acrylic thinner.

 

Now, here's how I make headlights.  I take the appropriate size acrylic rhinestone/gemstone.  Make sure it's acrylic and not glass.  Use sandpaper to remove the facets, then "paint" with clear floor polish.  Voila.

 

[slusher]

Those head lights look very nice!