1973 VW 1600 TL Variant

[stitchdup]

No its not a brasilia, it was a better car than this. This is a brazilian car based on the beetle floorpan while the brasilian was based on the type 4 pan and is a slightly bigger car then this. I fully intended to build this as it came in the box (its a printed kit i purchased before i got my printer) but the interior was sadly lacking and the rear seat wasn't even square. I tried cutting down the rear seat to be more square and doing some filling but the flaws just kept jumping out at me so i looked in my bug tub and found what i think is a polar lights beetle chassis that was a touch too long so i (still planning to keep it simple at this point) cut the engine/suspension from the rear and removed a little of the fork to get the axles where i wanted them. Next i cut down the sides of what i think is a tamiya bug rear seat, leaving the bottom 5mm connected so i could push the sides out at the top but this hasn't worked as i wanted so I'll be scratching some new rear panels for beside the seats. The rear was now going to be open and while i dont intend opening the trunk there looked to be enough space to get an engine in there and one thing led to another and soon the fork was all that was left of the rear chassis and a blackbox vw engine with porsche fan shroud fit. I'll make a firewall between the engine and gearbox and a simple trunk floor and sides with an open hatch to show it off a little. Since i was using the blackbox engine it seemed logical to use the rear suspension from their beach buggy kit as well. At the front I'm using an old 1/25 axle that turned up from somewhere but it saves me narrowing a tamiya front axle. Wheels are going to be brm with tamiya bug tyres on the front and the front tyres from a fujimi gt40 on the rear. I started this yesterday after posting in athread about it being a simple build next but, well..... While i was working on the rest i was also doing filler primer on the body so i got it and the engine painted this morning. I'm using bug door panels and the rear side panels are pretty simple being just a raised section on flat panels so this should move along fairly quick once I make the rear tubs on the seat wider to fit the wheels. Incidentally, the tubs are corners froma primer lid. I'm still considering this a simple build as so far everything has pretty much fallen into place but i've built a lot of bugs over the years so most of it is just obvious to me now. I dont think I'm doing too bad for 24 hours spent.

 

[stitchdup]

Well I spoke too soon. It was all foiled but due to my foil being BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH and falling apart on me, the chrome looked awful and then i found the glass was never going to fit without ruining the foil and paint so its back to bodywork. I've had to remove some materiel from the inside of the window edges so the glass can fit where its supposed to and not 2 inches away like it was. on the front and back glass there were some bigger issues with the top and bottom edges where i had to remove materiel from the inside of the rubbers to allow there to be a surface to glue the glass to. The side glass is all a press fit now. Since doing this means it needs repainted anyway i took the chance to remove the side trim so i could flat down some areas around the wheel arches where the print layer lines were still showing. I'll add more trim from some styrene strips. I might just swap the chassis for a tamiya bug too since it is more detailed(and i should have a built one around here somewhere)

[Spottedlaurel]

A shame you've had to take a step or two back Les, but it looks like an interesting and unusual subject and I'm sure the end result will be worthwhile.

Edited February 8, 2024 by Spottedlaurel

[peteski]

That sure is an interesting model, but I'm confused about its designation.

My mom owned a T3 VW 1600 TL fastback, and the "TL" designation was specifically used for a fastback. The T3 1600 Variant is the station wagon.  I didn't think Variants also had the "TL" designation.

[stitchdup]

10 hours ago, peteski said:

That sure is an interesting model, but I'm confused about its designation.

My mom owned a T3 VW 1600 TL fastback, and the "TL" designation was specifically used for a fastback. The T3 1600 Variant is the station wagon.  I didn't think Variants also had the "TL" designation.

tl was just a trim level in the same way chevy had bel aire and 210 trim levels. it may be different for us versions but you can get karmann ghia tl and type 3 and 4 tl. and unlike the type 3s the rear side glass in these didn't bend

[LennyB]

Very cool project, love to see things apart from the norm. Coming along good so far, I’ll be watching. 

[slusher]

Sometimes models seem to throw us a learn curve with certain kits.  Great looking engine and entirior is looking very nice. Hang in there…