W-409 Posted September 14, 2023 Posted September 14, 2023 Volkswagen K70 was originally designed by NSU, it was planned to be available to the public together with the NSU RO 80 which was already in the lineup. But as VW bought NSU's production in 1969, the plans changed and K70 came available in 1970 on Volkswagen's brand, it being the first ever water-cooled, front engine, front wheel drive car with Volkswagen logos on it. Volkswagen K70 stayed in production until 1975. Here in Finland K70 was sold through the Volkswagen dealers, but it was pretty expensive car compared to other family sedans of the same size. Probably that's why only under 1000 K70s were sold between 1970 and 1975 around here. Well, some of you who know me might think why am I building a model of a front wheel drive Volkswagen. It's not quite my style. Well, in April we went to Essen, Germany with my dad to see the big classic car show "Techno Classica". At the same time we visited a hobby shop in Düsseldorf where we stayed the night and saw this one on the shelf. 1/43 scale kit by Heller and yet the box said that it has 37 parts. I thought that's pretty many parts considering how small scale the kit is, so I thought I'd give it a shot and see if I can build a decent scale model out of it... The kit looks surprisingly good. Yes, the molds are old so all details are not that sharp and there is quite a bit of mold flash to clean up, but I consider that normal. Anyway I think it's possible to build a somewhat presentable scale model from this kit... The body needs some work before primer, but the first problem that I noticed was that the trunk lid was bent: Luckily that was an easy fix as it straightened out after I glued the tail light panel to the body. Wheels required some cleanup before primer and paint... Here they are primered and painted with silver... Next thing will be to figure out how to make the chrome hubcaps... Tires are plastic and they are glued together from two halves. Some sanding was required to hide the seam on the tire tread but they came out OK. Here they are with a coat of primer sprayed on them. Let's see how this thing ends up - My goal is to build it factory stock and I'm trying to have it finished before the end of the year. Wish me luck. 5
Richard Bartrop Posted September 14, 2023 Posted September 14, 2023 I didn't even know anyone had ever released a kit of the K70. Thanks for sharing!
W-409 Posted September 19, 2023 Author Posted September 19, 2023 Thanks for watching. It's not that common kit or at least I haven't seen too many of them built. The hubcaps were covered with BMF. I had to be pretty careful when trimming the extra BMF away because the wheels on this 1/43 scale kit are so tiny. Then I added some black wash to the holes on the wheels. Not perfect, but they are so tiny that in person they look surprisingly good. 1
Matt Bacon Posted September 19, 2023 Posted September 19, 2023 Really interested to watch this. I’ve done a few of these little Hellers, and they are sweet kits. Good shapes, reasonable detail, and a pleasingly quirky set of subjects from around Europe… best, M.
milo1303s Posted September 19, 2023 Posted September 19, 2023 I have this kit in my stash somewhere can't wait to see one built !!!
ea0863 Posted September 19, 2023 Posted September 19, 2023 It's coming out great! And yes, keep in mind the photos are 5 times the size of the real thing and don't sweat the small stuff BTW, this has a very similar look to the Audi 100LS of that period. I wonder if they shared any lineage, or if the Wankel engine was every considered for this car.
peteski Posted September 20, 2023 Posted September 20, 2023 That is a very interesting project. I also never knew about this car or the model. When I was a kid, we had a VW 1600TL (the fastback). I have a Matchbox diecast of it and some N scale (1:160) models, but I wish someone would come out with a 1:24 version in a kit form.
beeRS Posted September 20, 2023 Posted September 20, 2023 Interesting project. I never knew of this car, let alone the kit! Nice work so far. Those wheels look great.
Blueprint Posted September 20, 2023 Posted September 20, 2023 I think I have a Majorette diecast of this car somewhere...
Spottedlaurel Posted September 20, 2023 Posted September 20, 2023 Great to see one of the Heller kits being built, you're making very good progress so far. I've done two, the Austin Princess and Alpine A310. Both simple but good-looking with a nice level of detail. I was hoping to find one of the K70s when I visited France this summer, but sadly didn't see any kits anywhere. But I did see a 1:1 example in an old garage: 4 hours ago, Blueprint said: I think I have a Majorette diecast of this car somewhere... Me too, managed to find one earlier this with some other Majorettes: 1
W-409 Posted September 24, 2023 Author Posted September 24, 2023 Thanks for the interest everyone! This is a fun kit to build because you don't see too many of them done. And it looks like it can be built into a pretty nice model. The tires were painted flat black from spray can and then I shot a coat of flat clear on them. With the wheels glued on place I think the wheel & tire combo turned out pretty good. 1
W-409 Posted November 5, 2023 Author Posted November 5, 2023 Not much of an update, but after a vacation in SoCal, I'm back on the bench. I removed all mold lines and mold flash from the chassis and then shot with primer and paint. The color is Tamiya's TS-102. Light coat of clear is still needed before I can go ahead and start detail painting.
W-409 Posted November 12, 2024 Author Posted November 12, 2024 Well, it's been a while, but this thing is still around. While parts for my Pinto Funny Car were drying, I thought I'd continue this so I could get it finished some time. Actually, I'd like to have it done before the end of the year, but we'll see about that... Chassis was clear coated with Tamiya sprays. Then it was time to try detail painting it a little. Well, the chassis is really poor as far as molded in detail goes, so there's not that much to detail with paint. But, I tried my best and this is what I came up with. It will be good enough for this project. 2
milo1303s Posted November 13, 2024 Posted November 13, 2024 Great your back at this kit can't wait to see it finished !!!
W-409 Posted November 16, 2024 Author Posted November 16, 2024 Thanks Bob, it's interesting to see how this turns out as that was kind of the challenge I wanted to take when I bought this: "Can I make a simplified 1/43 kit look presentable?". Wheels and tires were glued on place next. Their fitment was really good. Then I painted interior floor with flat black and started building the interior. Right now I'm painting door panels and dashboard, but seats are already installed... 1
W-409 Posted December 7, 2024 Author Posted December 7, 2024 Got the door panels done. They were fairly simple, but the small scale of this thing made painting a bit trickier. Chrome trim was done with Molotow, otherwise paints are just regular Revell / Humbrol Enamels painted by brush. Body required some work before primer. Panel lines were really shallow in many places so I re-scribed them, but unfortunately the scriber slipped a couple of times so I had to smooth those out with putty. I think the plastic feels softer than what I'm used to, maybe that's why. Front end of the hood had also a big sink mark that had to be filled with putty. After that, the body was ready for primer. I only wanted to spray a light coat of primer so that I would not hide all the details under paint. Well, BMF will be tricky in any case but that's not a problem for now. 3
Matt Bacon Posted December 7, 2024 Posted December 7, 2024 Looking good! Very glad to see this one heading towards the finish line, and that colour looks magnificent! best, M.
W-409 Posted December 15, 2024 Author Posted December 15, 2024 Thanks Matt! Despite being a little different than what I normally like to build, and being small 1/43 scale, this is a fun kit to build. So far I haven't had any major fit issues, either. The body is now painted and clear coated. Color is Tamiya TS-102 Cobalt Green out of spray can, and on top is a coat of Tamiya clear. Now I'll let it dry for a week so that I can be sure it's properly dry before I'll start polishing it. Also I got the chassis and interior done. It's really hard to take any decent photos out of the dash, but it's mostly semi-gloss black with gloss black details. 4
milo1303s Posted December 15, 2024 Posted December 15, 2024 Looks great !! Can't wait to see it finished I might have to build mine now !!
W-409 Posted December 22, 2024 Author Posted December 22, 2024 Thanks Bob! Despite being a bit simple and smaller scale, this is a fun kit to build. So I'd say go for it. Now that the body had dried for a week, I polished it. Never been a fan of polishing paint jobs, but in the end the result is usually worth it. This was especially tricky one, because all of the body panels are so tiny. Luckily I was able to do a decent job with the polishing, and also not polish through the clearcoat. Next up will be BMF. 1
W-409 Posted December 24, 2024 Author Posted December 24, 2024 Next the crome trim was done with BMF. It was definitely not easy as everything is so tiny. I've done better, but considering how small this thing is, I think I can live with it. The chrome trims on front of the hood and on back of the trunk lid were especially tricky, because there was no trim molded to the body, so I just cut a thin strip of BMF and tried to install it the best I could. Then I installed windows. And here the body and chassis are already glued together and I'm actually pretty close to finish. To be honest I'm not completely happy about a few things on it, but it's mostly because of simplicity of the model kit rather than my building (although I've made several mistakes too, as always). Well, I'll just push it to the finish line and see how it looks on the shelf. 2
W-409 Posted December 25, 2024 Author Posted December 25, 2024 And it's finished! The bumpers were sprayed with Revell Spray Chrome and the black rubber parts were painted with a brush. Other than that there was nothing special in the final assembly. It's not flawless, but it's the best I could do with this kit. I will try to take some proper pictures tomorrow and post them in Under Glass. 1
LennyB Posted December 25, 2024 Posted December 25, 2024 Came out nice, that BMF had to be a real chore.
W-409 Posted December 26, 2024 Author Posted December 26, 2024 Thanks Len and Bob, I appreciate the kind words! Yep, BMF was really tricky on such a small body. It's not perfect, but we need to remember that the model looks bigger on the screen than it does in real life. I just posted the Finished pictures in Under Glass. Here's a link to the thread, thanks for everyone who has followed along! https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/197599-70-volkswagen-k70l/
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