Revell VW New Beetle (07643) 1:24

[Mike]

VW New Beetle (07643)

Easy-Click System

1:24 Revell

 

 

The Beetle was one of the icons of the 60s and the summer of love, which is kind of weird really when you think of the origins of the original Beetle as the People's Car, or 'Volkswagen' for the Nazis before WWII.  There were millions made after the war, and even after production in Germany finished, they were still being made in Mexico until relatively recently.  When VW announced they had reimagined the Beetle on a Golf chassis in 1997 there was great deal of interest, and many of the new design were bought, despite it looking a bit bulbous to my eyes.  When it was re-designed again in 2011 it became less of a “fun” novelty car, more sleek, business-like and practical-looking than its previous incarnation, taking the design cues of the then-current VW range and incorporating them into its unusual lines.  To me it looks a little Porsche-like from some angles, which is no bad thing.

 

 

The Kit

This is a new tool in Revell’s Easy-Click system, and the first thing I noticed is that the bodyshell is painted the same metallic blue as the Ford GT I reviewed a couple of years back.  It is aimed at the cross-over point between modelling and play, with the play aspect catered for by rugged design and materials.  It arrives in an end-opening box, and inside are three sprues of black styrene plus a floor pan in the same colour, a silver painted grey sprue, a clear sprue, a small blue sprue that matches the bodyshell colour, and a flexible sprue containing four tyres.  The final part is transparent red, then there is a sheet of decals and a sheet of stickers for the younger or less-patient modeller.  The axles are metal rods with knurled ends, and five screws are supplied too, which is a little against the easy-click aspect, but hopefully everyone has access to a cross-headed screwdriver or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the floor pan, which has the seat bases and much of the interior moulded in, to which you add the door cards, rear seat backs and the front seat back with inserts to bulk them out.  The dash is prepared with a binnacle and wheel, with some of the decals or stickers applied here, then the bodyshell is fitted out with the glazing panel after optional painting of the black edges of the glass, with the diagram telling you to PUSH! In three areas to get it to fit correctly.  The clear red insert fits in the rear on a few pins, and the silver front interior with two lenses slots into the front in the same manner, after which you can join the two halves together, putting two screws in the front wheel wells to hold them together.  The undertray covers up the underside of the interior and is also screwed in place with two more screws, leaving a spare if you haven’t lost that one yet.  A couple of colour call-outs advise painting the exhaust and a few parts of the underside, then you can build the wheels.

 

Each wheel has a nice spoked design in a satin silver paint, which push inside the tyres, overlapping almost completely at the rear to prevent them from rolling off during “hard cornering”.  These are then paired and pushed onto the axles once they are threaded through the body, allowing it to stand on its own wheels for the first time.  The small blue sprue has the two wing mirrors with instructions to paint the mirror glass silver (or use the decals/stickers) and the stalk black.  That’s it done.

 

 

Markings

As mentioned, you have a choice of decals printed by Zanetti, or stickers that are also printed in Italy.  The decals are excellent and well-detailed with a choice of various number plate designs, indicator repeaters, vents and other body details to add a little realism to the build.  The stickers look equally nice, and some have black surrounds to prevent white edges showing around badges and number plates.  There is also a set of showroom style “New Beetle” plates if you wish.

 

 

As promised, I'm posting below the pictures of the finished article that I put together the other day, now that I've got the decals on.  I added a sheet styrene number plate behind the front plate decal, as I thought it would look better than just cutting out the decal and sticking it to the bumper. 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

While these kits aren’t really aimed at modellers, there is definitely scope for the improvement of what is a nice basic kit that should last well as a toy.  I know for a fact that my son still plays with the Ford GT I gave him and it is still intact as far as I can remember. 

 

Highly recommended.

 

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

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[Mike]

Review updated with my finished model before it is given to my Son, the destroyer of worlds.

 

[richellis]

That’s nice, but the plate is wrong, an 03 would be the old new shape. 
come on revell and italeri!

[Mike]

On 01/09/2020 at 17:40, richellis said:

the plate is wrong, an 03 would be the old new shape. 

Vanity plate bought for the VW bit - his name's Norbert Bayliss Treacle (the 3rd)

[richellis]

I’ve got a nice private plate on my car too. I changed my name by depol to DV05XJF.