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1/24th Revell 1968 Beetle built as 1973 bug, Now Finished


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Hi Folks

I have been away for a while over the winter months doing some other stuff including some 1:1 modelling on my VW Fastback which has turned out well I have snuck a couple of picks below

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Anyway back to the Kit

It is quite a nicely engineered kit so far and fits together well. It is quite different from the Tamiya and Hasegawa offerings in terms of the floorpan, engine and suspension breakdowns, It is easy to assemble and looks good, however there is not much room for movement of suspension like on the Tamiya model.

I am changing a few bits around I have bought an old Revell Beetle convertible for the squarer Euro bumpers and detailed Fuch wheels (Porsche 911/912) which are very popular in the VW scene and genuine ones command a high price. I will also be changing the rear lights to the proper Tombstone type seen in this model of beetle.

I was trying to locate a set of Empi Spyder mags (known as Empi 8's) but could not get anything near, the only ones were mini lights on a German website however they were not a viable option for this kit.

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I thinned out the rear of the wheels to stop them sticking out the arches too far as there is not much room to play with.

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Thanks for looking

All the best
Chris

Edited by bigbadbadge
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Folks some more work taken place.

Nathanial - The heat exchangers are first painted black then I used some track dirt colour (it is quite old and thick and then I brushed on some black/brown oil wash straight onto the matt paint, I will add some more wash to it to finish them off as VW heat exchangers get very dirty with the oil leakings from the pushrod tubes where they join the cylinder heads.

I have done some more work on the engine, dizzy, fuel pump and carb in place. I have also added the Coil HT lead and HT leads to cylinders 2 and 1 (firing order 1-4-3-2) and the fuel lines, just got HT leads 4 and 3 to add and some LT wires to the dynamo coil etc.

I have also test fitted the interior panels and all seemed to fit well. (The beauty of the Revell Kit is that you can do right hand or left hand drive) I have removed the rear light bezels and it is now ready for the Tombstone rear light bezels. I will also need to fill in the front bumper mount slots and place onto the front wings.

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There is a problem I have noticed with this kit ( I am not sure if this goes for the Revell Splitty), but surfaces like the bottom of the dash and the rounded off area along the bottom of the door windows seem quite angular where they are quite curved on the real thing. Otherwise kit is going together well.

Incase you were wondering the red bit on the fan duct is an aerosol paint lid which is a perfect fit on the real example, the other side has nothing on it at all.

Thanks for looking

All the best
Chris

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Great build so far Chris. I have just finished the Revell Cabriolet Beetle as my first car build last night and finally got my mojo back. I'll post some pictures in the completed section soon. I was really impressed by these Revell kits as they go together extremely well. I was so impressed that I have accquired the Citroen 2CV Charleston and started that last night, with a build log to follow. I also have the 1/16 Revell Beetle and the Karman Ghia - really nice kits at a great price. I used the Tamiya rattle can for the body but would be interested in what gloss you will used and will it be can or airbrushed. I think I will airbrush the 2CV beacuse I think I will have more control, but have never airbrushed gloss before - any tips?

Brian

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Thanks Guys

Good luck with the 70 bug Silver Fox Don't forget to post piccies.

Brian, I am usually a brush painter however the real beetle is a metallic Turkis shade (blue/green) colour and the real bug has just been resprayed and so the guy doing this has kindly saved me some and will be putting into an aerosol can for me, this will also need to be lacquered too. I have built the 1/16th bug and KG and they are nice kits and do go together well. It is a shame that they did not do a late bug or KG in the big scale. Good luck with your builds and look forward to seeing the piccies.

Bug now has all HT leads in place and will now give an oil wash prior to adding LT leads

All the best

Chris

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Folks

Some further progress on the Bug. Engine almost finished just got to have low tension wiring and Air Filter box which will wait until body on so I can figure out as I have to make from scratch. Tombstone light clusters in place, front bumper mount slots moved onto front wings and new bumper mounts made. I have hollowed the mount areas out of the revel Euro bumpers and they fit quite well.

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Heat exchangers look a bit better now

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Decklid placement checked (it is meant to be stood off like that)

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Body now in primer.

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Paint for body now mixed and will be painting tomorrow evening hopefully.

Thanks for looking

All the best
Chris

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi All

A bit more progress now, I have added the top of the firewall/bulkhead on the rear to meet the body of the vehicle. I have also cut the rear parcel shelf from the back seat which comes with the kit as this car does not have one. This meant I had to cut off the structure that comes round the back seat on the inside panels. This meant I had to add a back to the rear of the seat, cue the old Revell Cabriolet kit.

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Next test fit of the body and inside panels shows the gap to fill over rear arch. The Beetle headliner material comes down to meet the carpet in the rear luggage area so I made some out of paper and painted with the headliner off white colour. The images below show the gap and the angled bulkhead.

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Painted the exposed part of the inside headliner and window rubbers

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Glued the nearside door/side panel in place with seat also glued in and the paper headliner section. Have also started to carpet the vehicle, luggage space done along with tunnel floor sections are cut out ready after the front flitch panels are done

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Hope you enjoy and thanks for looking.

All the best
Chris

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Thanks for your kind comments, you could be right about the lights will see what they look like with the lenses on later, it may well have to be something I have to live with as I wont have the paint to redo otherwise.

Thanks and all the best
Chris

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Hi all

Some further work, made the in car Fire Extinguisher, main body is from the end of a Micro Brush with plasticard top, handle and a slice of sprue for the gauge.

Rev counter was made from one of the wheel/Hub sections that I did not use from the Kit with the lip filed off and a plasticard bezel edge and handle added. For size purposes the railway is an N gauge layout I am building

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Thanks for looking

All the best
Chris

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Hi All

Further work, completed the Sunpro Rev counter and fire extinguisher and all interior but the steering wheel now in.

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Paper headliner extensions in place above the rear wheel arches, they work quite well when body and pan are united

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Will finish steering wheel tonight, paint and install the ankle straps at top of B pillars and hopefully cement body and floor pan together.

Thanks for looking

All the best

Chris

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Hi all

Further work Interior almost complete, ankle straps will be inserted into the ceiling area at top of B pillars once they have been glued to the body at those points. Body now fixed to floor pans and wheels mocked up to see what it would look like. Starting to look more like a bug now.

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Thanks for looking

All the best
Chris

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all

Further work, vehicle now progressing nicely.

Scratch built Air filter box made of plasticard and sprue

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Below is the original oil bath type filter for the Kit, no good for me on this bug as it has the uglier later style filter

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Below is the simple scratch built exhaust, this is an aftermarket version which the original bug has, it is manufactured for or by Mid America Motor works and is quite a nice sounding exhaust, I had one on my last bug. I have placed next to the original kit item of the original restrictive Pea shootered silencer. Needs a bit of tidying but has come out quite well.

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Rear shot showing engine bay, needs a couple ore pipes adding to the airfilter (breather and thermocutical pickup) and then the main loom coming ito the bay from the nearside and I will call the engine bay finished.

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Now sitting on it's detailed Porsche Fuch wheels

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This last shot shows the paper headliner continuation to the inner part of the rear wheel arch, it shows up a bit more than I had hoped as I did paint it in the headliner colour however hopefully when the windows go in it may not show up as much.

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I am quite impressed with the revel kit as it is nice to have a good starting point for a late model bug. There are a couple of small issues such as the moulding gates on the chrome trim were in obvious places but I suspect that this is more likely due to moulding limitations, but nothing major at all.

Thanks for looking

All the best
Chris

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Hi all

Engine bay finished bar the vacuum pipe which I will add later. Photo below is of the real engine bay. This is the best I could do I am afraid, does not look too bad a representation.

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Thanks for looking

All the best
Chris

Edited by bigbadbadge
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All

Further progress, Towbar components

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Indicators on

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Display case arrived at the weekend, looks excellent, case came from Airframed who have a section/thread in the sellers section of this site, very nice and is bespoke. Very reasonable price too.

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Car fixed to base, via screws. Back lights in place, fit of these was shocking, however run out of time and could not make replacements

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Decklid bluetacked in place to see what it looks like

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Thanks for looking

All the best

Chris

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