VW Bus

[Art Laski]

Hello,

I've seen a few buses pop up lately, so here's mine. I put it in this category because it's not quite done. I still need to finish the decaling, the roof racks, license plates and surfboards, then I'll move it over to "Under Glass".

I have to thank VW Dave, without whose help this would not have gotten completed. I call this the "Murphy Bus", because all kinds of stuff went wrong. I had paint problems, so it's been stripped three times and painted twice. My dog literally ate the headlight bezels and I lost the exhaust pipe, all of which Dave so kindly provided for me. Then, I lost a hubcap and a front blinker, so I cast some copies in resin. They turned out well, as I can't tell which ones are the copies. Other than that, it's box stock.

Hope you enjoy, and comments and critiques are welcome.

Art

Edited May 11, 2010 by Art Laski

[David G.]

Most impressive! Your paint came out great. Your chrome seems to have the proper sheen, not too bright and kind of satiny, like VW chrome should be. Did you use "metalizer" paint or foil? I'm also curious about the front bumper. It seems to be "two-tone" with chrome on top and white paint on the bottom. I don't recall seeing a bumper painted like that before.

I'm envious of all those who have been able to paint the window gaskets black, as they should be. After three attempts, and one roof repaint, I was unable to accomplish this task on my Bus. I also couldn't get the decal for the slots around the radio in the dash to come away from the paper in one piece; it pretty much disintegrated.

Yours turned out great in spite of the difficulties!

[MikeeD]

Nice build...that came out sweet!

Don't ya just love those old v-dubs? Definately on my honey-do list.

[Foxer]

Looks very clean .. nice build!

[Art Laski]

Thanks for the comments, guys! This is my son's dream ride, so I built it for him. Maybe when he's 16 he can get a real one!

Dave, the chrome is Alclad II Chrome. The front bumper is all chrome, so I think what you're seeing is the reflection of the studio floor. The VW logo is bare metal foil. I used Donn Yost's process straight from his video for my paint. I've only built a few models, and using that method has worked pretty well for me.

I can understand your pain with the window trim. I masked it all off and trimmed it with an Xacto blade and it was very laborious. And then it wasn't very good, so I spent a long time touching it up with a brush. It's still not great, but good enough for pictures!

-Art

Edited May 11, 2010 by Art Laski

[VW Dave]

Very clean build, Art; I'm glad to have helped you get that little gem one step closer to done.

[Art Laski]

Very clean build, Art; I'm glad to have helped you get that little gem one step closer to done.

Dave, thanks. That means a lot.

[Modelmartin]

That looks very nice. Are you going to attempt the Deluxe trim around the beltline?

[David G.]

Thanks for the comments, guys! This is my son's dream ride, so I built it for him. Maybe when he's 16 he can get a real one!

Dave, the chrome is Alclad II Chrome. The front bumper is all chrome, so I think what you're seeing is the reflection of the studio floor. The VW logo is bare metal foil. I used Donn Yost's process straight from his video for my paint. I've only built a few models, and using that method has worked pretty well for me.

I can understand your pain with the window trim. I masked it all off and trimmed it with an Xacto blade and it was very laborious. And then it wasn't very good, so I spent a long time touching it up with a brush. It's still not great, but good enough for pictures!

-Art

Thanks for the info, Art. I thought the front bumper might be a reflection, but it's unusual that it came up like that in every shot. I've got to get some of that Alclad to work with.

I wish you luck finding one of these gems for your son. I've been a VW fan for about thirty years, and my wife and I looked for one of these twenty years ago. They were very hard to find, and the ones that we did find weren't cheap. We finally settled on a '71 Bus for her. She enjoyed it, but it was S..L..O..W. It had a 0-to-60 time of 4.6 days. That's if you could get to 60 in the first place. In NE Ohio (not the world's hilliest place) we frequently found ourselves using the slow vehicle lane on the few freeways that had grades that steep. But my wife loved it, it was all a part of the charm, she would say.

Thanks again for the feedback,

David G.

[Art Laski]

That looks very nice. Are you going to attempt the Deluxe trim around the beltline?

Thanks. Yes, I'm about halfway through the trim so far. I'm not sure if i like it yet. If it doesn't photograph well, I may take it off.

-Art

[cruz]

Very cool, I have 2 of these kits, one day I will probably get one of them done.....

[crazyjim]

Very nice looking build. Isn't it mandatory to have flowers & peace symbols on it?

[Art Laski]

Very nice looking build. Isn't it mandatory to have flowers & peace symbols on it?

It just might end up with them!

[Jeff Sauber]

That looks great.....super clean work! Very nice.

[Art Laski]

Very cool, I have 2 of these kits, one day I will probably get one of them done.....

Well if you lose any hubcaps or blinkers, I can cast those!

[Tony T]

That is very nicely done!

[Art Laski]

That looks great.....super clean work! Very nice.

That is very nicely done!

Thanks, guys! Very much appreciated...

-Art