Building a Surf Bug

[OldNYJim]

I spotted this Hot Wheels online a while back…

…and thought something similar to it would make a cool 1:25 build, so here goes nothing with the Revell 68 kit…

DISCLAIMER: I’m not a VW expert, and every time I think I know what I’m talking about I call something a ‘der kublevunken’ instead of a ‘das kumbledunken’ or something…I apologize in advance to the VW experts and beg forgiveness.  I already called some BRMs ‘EMPIs’ and embarrassed myself on Instagram

Anyhoo…here’s my ‘yard sale’…I already borrowed the bench seat for a different build but had one from the older Revell kit that I can swap in, and the wheels are (I THINK) from the Polar Lights Beetle kit?

Those wheels have those lips molded in that lock into the tires like some manufacturers like to do…I’m going to swap tires for some from the parts box so first job is to spin them up in the lathe and remove the lips:

Front tires are from the Revell kit, and I added a little rubber rake and width with some rears from the Revell 32 Ford series.

The front end of this Revell kit has the front suspension setup molded in, but I’m going to swap it out for a printed piece that also drops the front end some:

The kit swing arms will work fine, I think…modified the pins to suit the Polar Lights BRM (I think?) wheels…

This car will sit lower than is feasible with a regular ‘static’ drop, so I’ll be adding some air-ride gubbins to justify the stance I want - and something worth doing if you want to gain an extra scale inch of clearance on this kit is removing these little strips inside the front wheel arches:

Those are used to receive the inner wheel wells, but I’ll cross that bridge later on in the build…

And here’s the current stance with the front dropped about where I want it:

Tomorrow’s project will be dropping the back end a little, but just a smidge tho…

Thanks for looking…more soon, soon as I’ve done more!

[Kanada Kustoms]

Cool plan for your build…. Looking forward to more!

Edited yesterday at 08:21 AM by Kanada Kustoms

[Badge73]

Love the concept. I just purchased the 66' Tamiya Beetle, cannot wait to start my first VW!

[BK9300]

Very interesting build!  Really liked modified Beetles, back in the day.

[OldNYJim]

Thanks fellas!  Only a quick post tonight because my wife had plans for me this evening that I forgot (but she didn’t…)

Rear end on this Revell kit is cleverly molded and easy as pie to put together…if you’re going stock height, which I’m not:

What I like to do with these is separate the trailing arms and driveshafts from the assembly (I’m sure that wishbone shaped brace has a particular name in VW-circles…anyone know?) then pin them with brass rod so they rotate like the real thing and then just lock them in place where I’ve got them where I want them.

Here’s a before, with the offset on the wheels fixed so the track width is right:

The separated rear suspension setup:

And the stance adjusted to where I want it:

Not a big project, and easier than the front now I’ve figured it out… more soon, soon as I’ve done more!