Jump to content
Model Cars Magazine Forum

Recommended Posts

Posted

Finally got around to building the Revell Beetle I've had sitting around. Since it has the wrong fenders and engine for the year it's supposed to represent, say the guys more knowledgable on air-cooled Vee-Dubs than I, I decided to do it as a beater....

002_zpseff4801d.jpg

003_zps170bcbd4.jpg

004_zps5813b4d5.jpg

005_zps9c439e1e.jpg

006_zps03a88170.jpg

Engine/bumper/equipment discrepancies aside, my only real gripe with the kit was the tires. In a word, they're awful. It's not so much the fact the sidewalls are blank, but the sidewalls are flat as well. So I nabbed a set of narrow AMT Firestones, and used those instead. They fit the Revell wheels like they were made for them- I just installed them with the thicker bead (the side that had the old "spider"you had to cutout) facing out so the outer part of the wheel would sit nice and flush with the bead. Aside from that, its box stock- right down to the factory style trailer hitch.

My next project might be to do a VW-powered rail, and put it up on a trailer for this Beetle to tow.

Posted

Very nice! I like the way you weathered the exterior but left the red paint on the interior as normal! And don't think I missed the RHD. That is the coolest option and possibly the first time in a VW kit. I've been planning on using it in a build myself! Maybe use the UK oval decal that came in the kit along with the D (Deutschland) one? It does look like a car that a someone shipped to the US.

When I lived in Germany my father had a similar red Beetle so this one is near to my heart! Ours was most unusual since we probably had the only US spec Beetle on the army post. Story was that someone bought it in the USA, then got orders for Germany and Uncle paid to ship it there. And of course they just sold it upon leaving. We may have been the 2-3rd military owner. Our car had the US spec bumpers with the over riders. Yours has the Euro spec single strip bumper. While we owed the Beetle, it got tapped in the back pushing in the bumper. It was easy to find a Euro bumper to replace it and my father never did get to installing the over riders back on it, so it had US bumper on the front and Euro bumper on the rear. When we left I sold it to a military officer who had just arrived, repeating the ownership cycle one more time!

Posted

Now that's my kind of Bug !

It seems like most of the cars I've ever owned end up looking like that .

Very nice work Chuck !

Posted

Great job! I love bugs and believe it or not the undercarriage is my favorite part. I wonder what you would have done differently on a show bug!

Posted

I dunno guys... this is a very nicely done kit, probably the best VW chassis etc ever done in 1/24 scale. And Revell is selling it at US prices, I think I paid $19 for mine. For that price it's worth buying just to be able to grok the kit up against other VWs. There are certainly US style bumpers in the Revell kits, yea they're 1/25 but that's not saying the bumpers won't be close enough. You can also look at the Polar LIghts Beetle that has US style older bumpers. That would give you a close US 1967 car.

I've had this Euro VW Beetle brochure since I was a kid. I got it in Germany when I lived there. Here's a scan of the product line, my scanner wasn't long enough to capture them all, so I scanned the important end. This was a 1970 model year brochure so they were still doing the 1200 with the old style bumpers that late.

vws2-vi.jpg

Posted

Very cool. This kit is accurate, it is a Euro spec car, not US spec.

Right- for a US model, which is how I originally intended to build it. But the optional RHD setup was just too cool to pass up, so...

I kind of went with an "exported non-export" model kind of theme. :rolleyes:

Posted

I like you rbeater, Chuck . colors are really cool.

If you want an American spec '68 just get the 70 convertible and all th eparts are in there . bumpers, etc. Would have been nice if they didn;t mold the tail light to th efenders cause then the correct tail lights coul dhave been switched too.

Posted

My grandpa had a '63 beetle that he wouldn't sell. When it broke down, he fixed it, got in a crash, fixed it. He just wouldn't get rid of it until the pinto came out in the 70s, not sure what year he had.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...