Revell 1/24 Volkswagen T1 Camper

[JeroenS]

Hi all, I've thought a bit about whether or not to start a build thread because this will be a hit or miss project, but we stick together through failures and successes so here goes 🙂 

 

A couple of things came together last weekend. First, there was a visit to a good friend of mine who I know is crazy about these T1 busses. He has quite a few items portraying the little bus and I know he likes the 1/16 Samba bus I built a couple of years ago which was my first build when returning to the hobby. 

 

That's this one: 

 

 

I rather like it myself, and boy did I learn a lot from this build. 

 

Anyway, the other thing was @Rubinho's very nice Hasegawa VW build. I thought I'd really like to have a go at one of the VW's myself again, and that's when I thought I'd build one for my friend's birthday, as a gift. He loves campers as well, I know he'd love a VW camper but instead he has an old Peugeot. So I'm building him the VW camper version! 

 

The only thing is, his birthday is the first of March! Hence the hit or miss, I will need to get some focus going on this one to make it in that time but I do like a nice deadline so right now I'm still confident I'll make it 🙂 

 

It will have to be a box stock version, I can't have anything slowing me down. This is the kit. 

 

 

Lot of fun, all these extra parts. 

 

A right mountain of sprues as well. And, typically for the Revell bus, all the separate body panels. 

 

 

 

These are all the Camper extra's. 

 

 

There's decals for curtains and such... 

 

 

I have started to put together some parts, but still a long way to go. 

 

 

And these, they were easy 🙂 

 

 

So this is current state of play. I'm still thinking about paint. I did the two-tone scheme on my first bus, but that was rather a struggle with all these panels! I don't know if I'm really up for that again. I kind of have my heart set on a colour called "Perlweiss" (Pearl white) which was an original colour back in the day. It's sort of a light beige colour. I know Gravity Colours have the colour in stock but ... I'll try to mix something first. I'd like it to come out something like this. 

 

 

It's a beauty. I hope E&R Classics don't mind me showing it, I'll just say again how lovely it is 😉 

 

So there you have it. Just under 5 weeks to go. Nah, should be fine! 

 

 

 

[Alan R]

Hi Jeroen,
I'll be looking in on this one for sure.

It might even inspire me to get my Revell Samba Bus out of the stash...

 

Cheers,

Alan.

[Rubinho]

thanks Jeroen, I'm sure you will create a beatifull camper in regards of the quality of your previous Samba

[JeroenS]

50 minutes ago, Rubinho said:

thanks Jeroen, I'm sure you will create a beatifull camper in regards of the quality of your previous Samba

I hope so! I will have to work a little bit quicker this time though, I think it took me about 6 months last time. Which included a few paint - strip - repaint cycles... 

[JeroenS]

Got a bit more done this evening. Underside is finished, parts wise. 

 

 

Luckily, Revell chrome gives in easily against some household bleach so that's sorted.  

 

 

Right now I'm pondering what to do about the engine. It's a sorry looking affair, really. 

 

 

So I'm trawling for reference pics right now. I'll have to think about this, yesterday I said I couldn't have anything slowing me down, but.... but... 

 

 

[Marco F.]

Hey Jereon,  at first... I think you will gonna make it to the deadline... just bcs I saw so many builts from you before 🤗

And second...if not in time...don't worry the result would surely appreciated by your friend. 

Good luck 

Marco F 

[JeroenS]

4 minutes ago, Marco F. said:

Hey Jereon,  at first... I think you will gonna make it to the deadline... just bcs I saw so many builts from you before 🤗

And second...if not in time...don't worry the result would surely appreciated by your friend. 

Good luck 

Marco F 

Thanks for the vote of confidence Marco!

[Stickframe]

Wow - the first example is beautiful! nice build - can you do that again in a month?? It will sure be fun to watch!

 

Cheers

Nick 

[Spiny]

Judging by the state of my barely-started panel van I think getting this done within 5 weeks is going to be a challenge, but I'm sure you'll give it a good go. Looks as though you've made a good start here and, bearing in mind how well the 1/16 turned out and the amount you've learned since then I expect this will look great when done.

 

That said, the old Peugeot (assuming you mean properly old and not just a 20-year old Peugeot Boxer conversion) sounds much more interesting to me than a VW camper

 

[JeroenS]

35 minutes ago, Spiny said:

That said, the old Peugeot (assuming you mean properly old and not just a 20-year old Peugeot Boxer conversion) sounds much more interesting to me than a VW camper

 

I think what he has is a J5, one of those boxy things with the huge sleeper over the cab. It's pretty much in a state of repair.

[keefr22]

This looks like a fun challenge Jeroen - good luck!!

 

Keith

[JeroenS]

9 hours ago, Spiny said:

Judging by the state of my barely-started panel van

By the way, what do you mean here? Am I missing a WIP of yours?

[Alan R]

I have the Samba-bus and I thought that the engine area was a bit suspect.
I thought about trying to replicate the engine and rear frame from the Tamiya VW Beetle?
Not sure yet.
I am fascinated as to how you might address this one...

 

Cheers,

Alan.

[JeroenS]

13 minutes ago, Alan R said:

I have the Samba-bus and I thought that the engine area was a bit suspect.
I thought about trying to replicate the engine and rear frame from the Tamiya VW Beetle?
Not sure yet.
I am fascinated as to how you might address this one...

 

Cheers,

Alan.

I think I'll focus on other stuff first, if I can make good progress I may have some time to do improvements.

[Bengalensis]

Nice project! I'm sure you'll make the deadline.

 

That engine looks like a poor effort from Revell, but just glue the rear hatch shut and the problem is solved.

[JeroenS]

1 hour ago, Bengalensis said:

Nice project! I'm sure you'll make the deadline.

 

That engine looks like a poor effort from Revell, but just glue the rear hatch shut and the problem is solved.

To be honest, that thought crossed my mind as well 🙂 ... it doesn't really add anything to the build, that engine. Rather the opposite actually.

[reini]

I always think about making a build with all hatches open and showing more of the interior stuff...but I never do. Apart from open canopy, which is pretty much same thing as open doors in a car. While details can be cool, sometimes (well, most of the time) its cooler to show the lines of the actual machine than some interior bits. In any case, open or not, I'm sure you make it work. And in time. 

 

Have fun! 🙂

[Spiny]

23 hours ago, JeroenS said:

I think what he has is a J5, one of those boxy things with the huge sleeper over the cab. It's pretty much in a state of repair.

 

Pretty certain I do know the one you mean, but I was secretly hoping you were going to say something like a J7 (70s little thing which looks a bit like a Renault Estafette).

 

14 hours ago, JeroenS said:

By the way, what do you mean here? Am I missing a WIP of yours?

 

Not yet! It will be the next one after the MGB, but before the cold weather arrived I only got a bit of primer and filler on a couple of panels. It'll appear when it gets warm enough to start painting again... which probably means after you've finished this one.

 

[JeroenS]

I had trouble getting out of bed this morning so I spent some time thinking about the little VW. I've decided not to let that sorry little engine get in my way, follow @Bengalensis's advice and move on! There's a time and a place for everything. Sorry @Alan R! 

[JeroenS]

Today I did some "big stuff" to get a nice feeling of progress being made. I started by sorting out the panels to use. There are also parts for the Kastenwagen (and / or some other versions) in the box. 

 

 

It's starting to look like a VW bus already 🙂 

 

Then I started on the large interior pieces like benches and cupboards. These moulds are from 2020, or so it says on the back of some of the parts. Which are nicely moulded without any flash, but there's some serious warpage here and there. I suppose that's what you get when stuffing everything in one of them darn side opening boxes. 

 

 

The pic doesn't do it justice, it was actually worse. Anyway, the heat-bend-cool thing got it pretty much straightened out. 

 

As you can see I even threw the, eeerr, kitchen sink at it. 

 

 

You can see the stretch marks on the far right piece, which was the bended one in the picture above. 

 

Should look something like this when assembled. 

 

 

 

[JeroenS]

.... don't click "submit" when what you really want to click is "clear editor".... 

Edited January 29, 2022 by JeroenS
double post

[JeroenS]

I started looking into these body panels. First thing to notice... a lot of pin marks. 

 

 

Second... maybe some warping. 

 

 

This was easily corrected with the hot water treatment. The pin marks will have to be dealt with... 

 

From what I remember from my first build, these panels were a right PITA to get them attached to the chassis properly, what with having painted them prior to assembly. If only you could assemble the upper body and then slide the interior in, but that's just impossible unless you're a real modelling wizard. I don't see how it could be done without breaking something and I'm not going to try. 

 

But I would like to have the bus in some sort of assembled state, firstly to make painting (the outside) easier, secondly to have a solid plastic on plastic bond between chassis and body panels. Make sure everything is in its appropriate spot, do some cleanup, that sort of thing. 

 

Obviously it's not possible to have the roof on, but I think this will be possible. 

 

 

The way I see it, I would have to paint the underside first. The chassis consists of 2 parts by the way. 

 

 

So paint the underside first, then glue these 2 parts together. After which I can glue the side panels, the engine compartment's hatch and the front panel to the chassis, thus getting a pretty solid structure. I will still have access to the interior for painting and assembly, that shouldn't be a problem. I will just have to make sure to mask the painted underside and the tops of the side panels, for the roof to be glued on later. And, of course, take care to mask inside or outside when painting the body / interior. Well, we'll get to that later. 

 

I have decided, though, to go for a two-tone scheme. I know my friend would love that so I'll just have to ignore my own discomfort 🙂 

 

I will do it differently from the first time though. For that first build, I painted the white top first, then masked, then painted the blue underside. However, masking was a pain, because the rounded, protruding edge in the middle of the body (I know there's a name for it but I forgot) needs to be white and it's difficult to mask properly. 

 

 

But if I paint blue first I can mask right up to the underside of that rounded shape. I will have to re-prime the top first though, before painting the white. 

 

For fun, I dry fitted the roof and ta-daa... a VW bus!

 

 

 

You just have to love these things. 

 

[Bengalensis]

Making good progress here.

Two-tone paint is a good choice, it makes wonders on these things.

[JeroenS]

"Hey man, how was your weekend, did you go out Saturday night?" 

 

No, I stayed in and spent a quiet evening SANDING A ZILLION PIN MARKS!!

 

What exciting lives we modellers live. 

[Spiny]

One advantage of doing the van is that, even thought it's openable, I think/hope it will be so fark in there you won't be able to see the pin marks.

 

Just a thought on the paint - could you mask off the white bit before painting the blue? It might not guarantee the white area is totally paint free, but there's probably a good chance it would be free enough to get the white on without having to reprime.