Imai VW 1303S sedan 1/24 scale

[Chromecop]

Hi! I haven't posted very much lately, but I have been rather productive when it comes to building model cars. And, a few weeks ago I dug out an old VW from my stash, a kit which I started 2-3 years ago but put aside....

I'm a big fan of VW/Porsche and of the 80+ finished models I have , almost 30% are V.A.G products! I've only built ONE 1303 before, a slightly customized convertible, so I wanted to build a sedan as well. I remember a friend who had a black 1303 w sunroof (1:1 scale , real car)  in the early to mid 80's. I don't have any pic's of that particular car so I will build a "tribute" inspired by the 1:1, not a clone.

First a "drawing" showing my vision:

 

 

The kit itself has been molded in bright red styrene...... and, as usual with japanese kits, it's designed to be motorized. *cause of that the interior bucket is very shallow and will be replaced. I have a scrapped convertible in my stash and I'll pirate the inner door panels from that kit. Seat comes from an unknown source , found in my parts bin.

I started with scribing the roof panel to give the impression of a closed sunroof:

 

Edited July 4, 2024 by Chromecop

[Chromecop]

Next step, re-construct the chassie to look more correct, but It'll be a curbside so no engine details. The rear wheeltubs were different size each side.....

 

[Chromecop]

Rear part has been done

Up front the chassie look pretty good, but I've decided to lower the suspension approx 1/16" so I hade to put some minor work into that....

[Chromecop]

Time for the interior. I found a stock steering wheel in my spare parts bin and the inner door panels were altered to Sedan configurations.

[stitchdup]

cool, nice to see a late bug

[Chromecop]

I also made new floor mats and scratchbuilt a "tunnel" for the gear linkage. Here's a pic with the "new" seats which still have to be slightly re-constructed.

The interior will be just as black as the rest of the car, but with some red piping to the seats just to lighten up the interior some.

 

[Chromecop]

1 minute ago, stitchdup said:

cool, nice to see a late bug

Thanks, yes You don't see them in scale very often. And this will be a 1975 model, meaning no turn signals on the front fenders.

[Chromecop]

ONE small "custom detail" to this otherwise stock model will be an air scoop to the engine lid. I made it from Plastic card and Evergreen profiles:

[Chromecop]

I'm also planning to do a wind deflector in clear green plastic for the sunroof . The Lemmertz wheels and narrow Michelin tires are 3D printed by USCP in Ukraine to my own specifics.


 

[stavanzer]

Wow, what a Great VW you have there. I like the wheels.

[Chromecop]

Today I started on the wind deflector for the sunroof. It just needs to be trimmed along the edges now.

 

[milo1303s]

My favorite the Super beetle 1303s very nice make sure you round out those front wings   the lower portion of the bonnet needs help also !! Can't wait to see what you do .

crappy pic of mine

 

 

Edited July 4, 2024 by milo1303s

[Chromecop]

Got the wind deflector done yesterday and tested it. Works great!

 

 

[DJMar]

I'm loving this! Those wheels and tires look great.

[Ulf]

Nice to see a Big Bug, You have a great eye for parts. I like the stock steering wheel and the scoop(looks like classic bolt on but I don’t remember any from my childhood).

[TNT]

Nice work on a cool bug. Way back when i was younger i knew girl whose dad built her a split window. And in germany a buddy had like a slant back wagon, not sure what the nomenclature was but that thing went through the snow like it had 4WD. I had one that was egg shaped everyone called it the egg. 

[Chromecop]

I'v been rather busy during the summer. But now back in the saddle - building VW in 1/24th scale.

I realized, that once the black paint goes on, the clear green wind deflector will hardly be seen. So I cut the whole sunroof out, making it look like an open sunroof and hopefully that will give an extra highlight to the deflector.

 

[Chromecop]

The seats got some red piping and will be painted semi flat black.

 

[Chromecop]

I suddenly got the idea of having black plastic louvers over the rear window. So, i made a mold and will vacuum-form it, just like the 1:1 scale would've been!

 

[Chromecop]

Testing the mold in the window opening before adding the last details and vacuum-form it.

 

[beeRS]

Nice work building the window Louvres. That can’t have been easy. 

[Chromecop]

On 9/13/2024 at 9:08 AM, beeRS said:

Nice work building the window Louvres. That can’t have been easy. 

Well, it may have taken an hour or 2, but well worth it I hope. Next step will be vacuumforming the louvers over the mold I've  made.