Trabant Universal - Progress Report 11-23-14

[MikeBoyle]

Cool looking little car.

[blunc]

I say good enuf.

[1930fordpickup]

And I thought you were going to put a Hemi in that little car. LOL

Looks great Tom.

[ChrisR]

Looking great so-far. Please share the pics from the interior of the real van when you get it.

[Tom Geiger]

Oh we are up on wheels! I did some fiddling with the engine bay, probably not done yet. I got myself prepared to spend an evening working on the chassis... the darn thing fell together so well I was done in a half hour. Much of it isn't even glued. What kit engineering!

Per Mike Cassidy's observation, I spent some time cleaning up the coils. Yea, it stuck out like a sore thumb to me too. So I do listen! It's still not perfect as you may see in the rest of my photos. But I may spend some more time at it. But here's what the engine bay looks like in the body.

As I said, we are up on wheels. Here is the Trabbie mocked up on all fours!

Side view showing the panel sides. And noting that I am going to have to make a rear mount for that exhaust pipe... way too low! Wheels.. the kit includes 4 tiny, flea size decals for the wheel centers. I lost two of these in the process. Note to Revell... put like 8 of these in the kit! So if anyone has extras of these, drop me a note!

And a rear view just because I took the photo... The interior will be so cool with the bed cover and side panels in place. I think I'll make some packages.

I wanted to see how the engine bay would look with the hood in place. I am disappointed with the die cast toy like hinge assembly. When I get to doing my Trabbie Tramp, I will fill the holes in the firewall and just have the hood as a separate piece like I do most of my models. In fact, notice the little decal near the passenger side hinge. That's the serial number plate, cool that it is included as a decal, but it should be on an angle right where that darn hinge cut out is!

The chassis that fell together! It can be done. All 4 wheels hit the ground and the chassis symmetry is right just by assembling the parts! Amazing! My only observation is that the one piece exhaust is 'springy'. I noticed on other build photos that it hung real low, and wasn't so on my 1:1 photo cars. So I pinned it in place mid ship between the manifold and muffler. I see that I will need to do the same somewhere at the rear so the exhaust exits right under the bumper.

All in all, I'm having fun. I've made friends on the Trabant board who have invited me to their meet in Washington DC. I may go to see Trabbies in person and get a ride! I still haven't gotten my photos of the postal Trabant in the museum in Germany, so my interior is on hold. I figured I could finish the chassis and may just do the same for the body this weekend.

Edited August 16, 2014 by Tom Geiger

[slusher]

Impressive...

[1930fordpickup]

Looks great sill Tom.

Could you post a picture with this next to another car so we can get a visual of the size, it just looks tiny.

Edited August 16, 2014 by 1930fordpickup

[microwheel]

This is really coming along nice Tom.

[peter31a]

Darn it, Tom, so far I've managed to ignore this kit. Now you're making me want one as it appears to be such a jewel. Thanks a lot! You're doing a great job with this little panel wagon.

[Danno]

Sehr cool modell. Gut gemacht!

[David@MinidreamsInc.]

Dude what a cool build ! I have never seen this wagon version i have the the 2dr coupe i have lowered it and found some custom wheels but after this i think i would rather track down this wagon and customize it up instead ! Again this is a cool project and very good detailing so far ! Mini

[Tom Geiger]

David, the wagon came out this year and if you like the sedan kit, this is pretty much the same kit. I just had to do the van version. In real life photos I've also seen a pickup version. They also did a Jeep body version for military use and sold civilian as the Trabant Tramp. I plan on doing that next.

[TFchronos]

Awesome progress, the bay looks great!

[Tom Geiger]

The big news! My pictures arrived from Germany. It's amazing to live in this computer age where you can reach across an ocean and someone will go take photos for you! Upon receiving a bunch of pictures, I suddenly realized that this is a different restored Trabbie Postal Van. I also have pictures of a postal wagon with side glass, also in a museum setting, so I'd pretty much conclude there are three and probably more of these in restored condition. Pretty interesting!

And here's the money shot. Never mind that the focus isn't great and it has a flash on the screen, it has those details I need to finish the interior. From other photos, I thought there may not have been a passenger seat, maybe a mail sorting area like on some US postal vehicles. This shot confirms that there were indeed two seats and a bit of a divider / cargo stop behind them. So I can proceed with a bit of confidence! You do realize if I had proceeded, which ever way I went, I would've been wrong!

So now I can pull this one to the front of the bench.

[blunc]

I can't wait to see how you do that steering wheel cover.

waiting to see how this finished out.

[Tom Geiger]

I can't wait to see how you do that steering wheel cover.

I won't be attempting that one! It's on vehicle number two, I'm actually modeling vehicle number one. Two had a lot of details that were different, like hubcaps, some chrome trim and the roof rack with some kind of barricades. Oh, and the graphics are on the door on two while on the van side panels on one. I have pictures of a few more and the logos and vehicle ID number were different sizes, etc. so there wasn't much consistancy in the overall fleet.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Tom Geiger

[Skip]

Haven't checked in on your progress in a while, you're doing a great job on this one. Is that a muffler ahead of the rear suspension assembly? Wonder if it shouldn't be a little rusty, or weathered like your exhaust pipes. Remember not too shiny on the paint, the two that I've seen look like they were only like a semigloss, almost like a dull coat finish.

Observation on the "die cast" looking hood hinges. Looks like it might be easy to replicate the hinges in your reference photos. Evergreen rod or better yet metal tube/rod and a small angle bent out of thin sheet metal sort of like the NASCAR hood hinges. For the rod ends you could smash the end down in a vice drill and shape the end to accept a pin, with a tight enough fit on the Rod end you wouldn't have to worry about the other bracket end. The placement of the bracket would hold everything in place.

[Tom Geiger]

Per Andy's inquiry here it is next to a Model A pickup. This is when I discovered that everything in my finished model case is 1/25 scale, so I had to use the Model A, because it would have been dwarfed by my Dodge Ramcharger.

My latest progress is getting the interior completed. Life has been a busy blur since my last progress report here, and I'm pleased it's calmed down enough to get to the bench. I have figured out and finished all the postal van issues, so I'm pretty pleased. I was fiddling with the decal master sheet yesterday as well, so those should just roll off my printer when I need them.

Dashboard details out well with the kit supplied decals. The radio has relief detail so you'll have to sand it flat to accept the decal. Part of the kit construction is that the lower half of the dash (it's a storage shelf) is part of the interior, while the upper dash slides into a slot on the body, which traps the hood hinges. Pretty clever.

I made all the van unique parts from Evergreen. The floor is a ribbed sheet that needed to be cut and shaped to fit. The ribs fought me every step of the way and this floor is something like Take 3. Still, the fit isn't perfect but any imperfections will be covered by strategic placement of mail! The divider panel is just Evergreen sheet with a scored line near the top to mimic the rib at the top of the real one.

The spare tire in the wagon is under the floor behind the rear axle. Lord knows why they moved it into the cargo compartment on the panel van. It's in the way! But I had to duplicate it. And as what often happens between 1:1 and plastic, the tire is larger than the space it occupies. So mine will have to sit lower than in real life. There is no room for that saddle you see in the real (tiny) photo. But the spare will be there.

Driving compartment went together well. There was a lot of taping for all the paint colors. There are three different paints on the door panels, not including the handles. And you won't even notice my floor mats made from 600 grit sandpaper once it's all together. And this kit has a lot of small parts that you won't even see in the finished model. Note the emergency brake between the seats. There's also a pod that has the seat belt receivers down in that groove. Neatly detailed, and buried between the seats. The one detail I do like a whole lot is the retractable seat belts. ROG also did these on the recent Beetle kit. If a resin caster copied these, I'd buy a dozen sets for future projects since these are missing on every other kit.

I fiddled with the engine compartment a bit more. I fixed the seam on the coils that Mike pointed out and I found my red thin wire to add some of the wires seen in photos of the inner fenders. This time it's done. And I'm waiting for the first guy to ask where the oil dipstick is!

[Tom Geiger]

I got cut off by the photo limit police... so here's the rest of the post...

And here's the entire chassis and interior set up together. Just mocked for this photo. My next trick will be figuring out how to get it all stuffed inside the body. The chassis by itself fits it like a glove, all the engine parts tuck in just fine. The interior by itself sits perfect too. Something about putting them together and it doesn't fit. Chassis wants to go forward, so I'm suspecting my bed floor needs trimming. The rest of the kit goes together so well, I'll suspect my work.

And why not a shot with all the assemblies in it? Panel body is ready for paint. I bought half a dozen different paints to get the East German postal color. I even spray tested all my gray primers, and gloss coated over them. The winner was a Tamiya RC color. I had bought one can when I started the project, and it only lasted through painted the interior and other small parts. It was near impossible to find, nobody online had it, nor did two hobby shops I tried. One said the color wasn't even in his catalog. So last Saturday I drove the 20 miles to Morgantown, PA to the shop I had gotten the first can. They had two cans so I grabbed them. I should only need one, but I like to have a good variety of grays and blacks for future projects.

And a parting shot of the rear compartment. Hopefully the next time I show this view, the spare tire will be mounted on the left and the bay will be full of mail and packages! My goal is to have this project completed for my club's December meeting on the 13th.

[1930fordpickup]

This is looking great Tom. Thanks for the picture next to the Model A Ford, this car is is smaller than I thought.

No more sarcastic comments about a Hemi, I now know you do not find the humor in it.

[GeeBee]

Overall, ROG did an excellent job of modeling this engine bay! I am not even going to attempt all that wire! I think I'll settle for the spark wires and I believe I'll do the battery cables as well. The only thing that's not in the kit, is the cylinder thing next to the fuel tank on the firewall. It does leave an empty spot under my hood so I'd like to add it. Would you say that's a wiper motor?

Yes, that's the wiper motor, I have a few of them in the spares box if your short of one ....

Edited November 23, 2014 by GeeBee

[GeeBee]

This is coming along nicely, how do you intend to fill in the rear panels were the windows would have been ? as you see from the photo, the infill is flush with the body ...

[GeeBee]

Panel body is ready for paint. I bought half a dozen different paints to get the East German postal color. I even spray tested all my gray primers, and gloss coated over them. The winner was a Tamiya RC color. I had bought one can when I started the project, and it only lasted through painted the interior and other small parts. It was near impossible to find, nobody online had it, nor did two hobby shops I tried. One said the color wasn't even in his catalog. So last Saturday I drove the 20 miles to Morgantown, PA to the shop I had gotten the first can. They had two cans so I grabbed them. I should only need one, but I like to have a good variety of grays and blacks for future projects.

The colour you needed was RAL 7045

Edited November 23, 2014 by GeeBee

[Lovefordgalaxie]

Friend of mine has one, but it's not a Universal.

1990 Trabant by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr

1990 Trabant by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr

1990 Trabant by Lovefordgalaxie, on Flickr

[Tom Geiger]

This is coming along nicely, how do you intend to fill in the rear panels were the windows would have been ? as you see from the photo, the infill is flush with the body ...

Posttrabant_1396.jpg

As of now I just added Evergreen panels on the inside so my side panels are a bit more inset than the real vehicle. Now you have me looking at adding panels on top of those to make them flush! I think I'll just go with what I have in the end. I'm past the choice of paint, and I don't think I would have been able to source the paint from Europe.

That is the exact vehicle I'm modeling, It's restored and in a museum, down to the serial number. I believe that guy in the photo is the guy who is helping me from the Trabant board.

Tulio, I like your friend's Trabant. And that's the color I'm thinking of painting my sedan model.