Der Beetle Bus OOB...Mostly

[mustang1989]

I spent roughly two months building this version of the kit up and although it's mostly OOB , there were a couple of drastic departures from the OOB ideas. First off the front wheels stuck outside of the front fenders by almost 1/4" which was waaaaaaaaaaaay too far outside for my tastes. I shaved the ends off of the front axle, used a set of AMT Cragar wheels which I shaved a little off the backside to put the wheel and tire assy back under the fender where it belonged and used a set of AMT "skinny" tires I had in the stash to round out the look at the front. I added a timing cover and a smaller cooling fan to the engine (I wouldn't have wasted my time had I known that none of that could be seen when finished). Next up I trashed the OOB injector stacks and went with aluminum tubing which I polished and installed of the terrible looking plastic chrome pieces. The OOB fuel cell also "exited stage left" and was replaced by something with a little more detail and (for what this is worth given the overall look of the build) realistic. The exhaust pipes didn't look right so I drilled the ends out to give a more true hollow pipe look to them. I chose to ditch the "wheelie bars" as I didn't like those either.

I just so happened to get the "luck of the draw" and got a clear GREEN molded kit with the metal flakes suspended in the molding. I chose to paint the inside of the body gold to give a green tinted gold look as shown through the body looking from the outside. The decals in this kit are IMO just AWESOME!! Plenty of humor to go round with these and I had a blast with 'em! I used some automotive clear to top things off with the finish and I was really happy with the results. This kit, although it is on the ridiculous side, was a lot of fun with a few pitfalls here and there but they were fairly easy to overcome. The front bumper fit was about the only real trouble I had with it.

N E ways here are the completed photos of the OOB version:

 

The kit:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and ….a mock up of the box art shot.

 

[dnl42]

That's a hoot! 

[mustang1989]

Thanks dnl. I don't normally build toon stuff like this but I found a strange liking to this kit after a while. 

[Pete in Lincs]

Crikey! You should warn viewers to wear sunglasses! Mad, but in a good way.

[colin]

That's brilliant, I see what they mean when they say toffee apple finish 😎

[mustang1989]

2 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Crikey! You should warn viewers to wear sunglasses! Mad, but in a good way.

LOL! 'Preciate that Pete!

1 hour ago, colin said:

That's brilliant, I see what they mean when they say toffee apple finish 😎

Thanks Colin. It was a lime green clear but I'm thinking I should've shot in in silver to keep the green tint somewhat. I mean it turned out a cool color but I did want some greenish tint to it.