Hendie's 1971 VW T2 Bay Window Devon Conversion conversion

[RichieW]

Crikey, you even managed to successfully print the texture on the indicators. 

 

The pop top bellows looks good to me. If the tatty state of the Webasto sun roof on my old, sadly expired,  MG BGT is anything to go by I reckon you've nailed it. 

 

Richie

[Fritag]

It continues to be both educational and inspiring how you seamlessly integrate resin printing into the process, Alan.

 

That and all the other multimedia skills on display obvs. .  The bellows being a lovely case study on point.

 

Remarkable stuff.

 

 

 

[Toftdale]

Great work all round.  But particularly impressed with the bellows, very innovative - Andy   

[hendie]

On 1/17/2023 at 2:44 AM, heloman1 said:

Your4 ingenuity with the roof Alan is beyond engineering reason! I like the new dashboard, the build is looking really good.

 

Colin

 

thanks Colin. I'm pleased with the way the dash has turned out as it was quite a challenging part to get everything to fit without looking all bodged together

 

On 1/17/2023 at 6:31 AM, JeroenS said:

Oh yeah, nice work. I think that top will look the part with some paint on. I'm sure it will have been worth your troubles!

 

One coat done but it may need another

 

On 1/17/2023 at 7:26 AM, Brandy said:

Wow, very impressive! I'm assuming you're going to hand paint the bellows. Unless of course you have some devious plan to allow masking without damaging it!

 

Ian

 

Hand paint Ian. You assume correctly.  I'm not that much of a masochist.

 

On 1/17/2023 at 11:40 AM, 81-er said:

More very nice work there, Alan. The bumpers, the dash, the pop top, all are looking superb! Hopefully you get your usable catalyst quickly

 

James

 

heh heh.  The new silicone arrived, only to find that it wasn't new at all and had been opened previously. I was a bit miffed, however I filched 10mL of the silicone before returning it.

 

On 1/17/2023 at 11:46 AM, giemme said:

The pop top is quite amazing, Alan!    Ingenious and effective solution!    

Ciao

On 1/17/2023 at 12:34 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

There's cream for that sort of thing.

 

Fabulous greeblies being added. Very impressive detail indeed. I like your support frame for the poptop, Great idea.

At this level of quality I wouldn't be surprised if Revell send a snatch squad around, and you're chained to a design desk for all eternity.

On 1/17/2023 at 5:51 PM, RichieW said:

Crikey, you even managed to successfully print the texture on the indicators. 

 

The pop top bellows looks good to me. If the tatty state of the Webasto sun roof on my old, sadly expired,  MG BGT is anything to go by I reckon you've nailed it. 

 

Richie

On 1/22/2023 at 2:16 PM, Toftdale said:

Great work all round.  But particularly impressed with the bellows, very innovative - Andy   

 

thanks Giorgio, Pete, Richie, Andy

 

On 1/19/2023 at 2:24 AM, Fritag said:

It continues to be both educational and inspiring how you seamlessly integrate resin printing into the process, Alan.

 

That and all the other multimedia skills on display obvs. .  The bellows being a lovely case study on point.

 

Remarkable stuff.

 

 

 

 

Too kind Steve.

 

Since the last update things have been a bit slow.   That work life balance thing is a bit tilted at the moment.  (just not in my favor).

Finding time for visiting the crypt proved difficult and when I did get there and clear the cobwebs away I found I was at that stage where it was only possible to do things in small increments and then have to wait for paint to dry, glue to cure, and the sands of time to run out.

The bellows unit was finished off with a large sigh of relief and to celebreate, it got a coat of flat white and looks a bit better for it.   I think it still needs another coat and will then receive a semi-gloss finish - the 1:1 was made of a white plastic tarpaulin-like stuff.

 

 

The see through effect is just what I was after.  Not too clear but just enough to know it's meant to be clear. it doesn't look like it's injection molded, or printed, which was what I was trying to achieve.

 

 

It does look like I'll need to repaint that roof though - with all my grubby handling I've managed to discolor it quite severely.  I'll give it a micromesh first as that may be enough to lift the dirt, but I'll leave that until just before the pop top gets fitted.

 

 

Onto some more challenging stuff first though.  Since I am switching the dashboard from US/European spec to UK spec, I also have to switch the passengers panic handle.  It seemed easier to do a cut and shut job as opposed to filing this flush and building one from scratch on t'other side.

 

 

Post surgery and the patient looks to be recovering well. Or at least, not dead.  Yet.

The resultant gap was filled using some black runner from the kit. - Horrible stuff.  The black plastic is very soft, very waxy, and doesn't file well at all - it's like trying to sand felt, and leaves loads of little fibers everywhere.

 

 

Once the amputation and reconnection was complete it was on to fitting the actual dash itself.  The printed part came out a very close fit to the Revell part and only some light adjustment on each end was required.  There was a small gap left above the instrument panel due to the geomtery (where the handle had been removed) which was filled with a small strip of 0.25mm styrene.  That left one small gap just to the right of the instrument cluster which was too small for a styrene strip so I let some cyano weep into that gap.  Once it's painted black any remaining gaps should be all but invisible.

He hopes.

 

 

There are two (air mixing?) chambers under the dash and the kit parts were incorrect for a '71 so I removed those and replaced them with my own, and styrene sheet was used for the front panels.  These were high tech cardboard on the 1:1.

 

 

The observant among you will have noted that the dash above lacks any actual instruments.  I did that on purpose y'know.

I thought it would be much easier to to print a separate instrument cluster with a 0.5mm recess for the instruments rather than trying to fit wee tiny decals down inside a tunnel.  The secondary cluster could then be fitted to the rear of the dash and hopefully no-one would ever notice the difference.  It certainly made fitting the decals a lot easier.

The complex detail painting job consisted of painting the heater controls blue and red, and adding a dod of clear red on one of the switches.  If I remember rightly, the switch on the right of the steering wheel column was for the headlights. The switch with the dod of clear red was for the hazard warning lights.  Of the two remaining switches, one was for the windscreen wipers, and the other was a small push switch which allowed the windscreen washers to operate.  Very high tech stuff - the water reservoir was pressurized, and pushing that switch opened the valve allowing water to spray across the windscreen - if there was any charge left in the reservoir that is.  There was no pressure gauge so you never knew how much air was in there, and as you used up washer fluid, the air became less compressed, and therefore, less effective.   Oh, and you charged the reservoir with a special little adaptor tube plugged into the spare tire... after you had unbolted the spare wheel and carried the bloody thing into the drivers floor well.  I added a small motor driven pump a few months after getting the T2.

 

 

You'd think the red and blue on those heater controls would signify hot and cold wouldn't you?   Logic would dictate thus.  But you, logic, and even me would be wrong.   If I can remember that far back, one set of levers controls the temperature (red ones?), and one set controls where the heat goes (blue?) - either up to the windscreen or down into the vast void where your legs lived on those freezing cold days.  It didn't really matter cos you froze to death in the winter no matter how you set the controls, while you almost evaporated in the summer cos you were contained in a 4 sided magnifying greenhouse. 

 

Anyhoos, a rectangle of clear styrene sheet was sandwiched between the dash and the secondary cluster to act as the glass and it turned out rather fine even if you can't really see it in photos. 

The new silicone matt fits the contours now though it's going to need a run under the tap for a little clean before it's fitted. (my workbench gets rather dusty at times). Though I could actually leave it like that for a touch of realism - it's not that far off how the 1:1 generally looked.   

Before I forget - the tin cured silicone did cure in the printed mold.  It took a little longer than usual as this stuff normally cures overnight and I found that it took two days as opposed to one. Now whether that's because of the printed resin retarding the cure rate, or whether that was somehow due to the added colorant I can't say for certain.  I made two copies of the mold and after the first 24 hours I attempted to remove one of the floor mats from the mold, but tore it in the process.  I left the remaining floor mat in the mold for another day to cure and it came out of the mold without too much of a fight.  It was a delicate operation as the mat is around 0.5mm thick with 0.2mm ribs which had to be eased out of the mold but once I found the method it was an easy process.

 

 

Just as a reminder, here's what we started with.  Aside from it being a US/European spec you can see why I wanted to get rid of it.  Yes it's probably okay for a childs snap fit toy, but for anything else, well... and my 1:1 didn't have a radio.

 

 

The "glass" shows up a lot better in this shot.  As does a small print striation darnit!  It's only visible from certain angles so at this point it's staying there.   I'd probably destroy the whole dash trying to remove it at this point.

I've added the handbrake ratchet for this dry fit but I appear to have lost the actual lever itself.  I think I have mistakenly binned it at some point over the last weeks which is no big deal as I was going to replace it, but it would have been nice to have had it to use as a template. Now I get to play guess the lever length inside the cabin.

 

 

In situ it's all going to look quite convincing. ( I removed the drivers seat so I can refit it once I see where the steering wheel ends up)

 

 

Moving rearwards, the backrest for the rock n roll bed was fitted

 

 

which meant I had to get a move on with the cushions.  These were made up from Sculpey clay, once baked through the oven cycle I added the piping from some small diameter wire.  

 

 

Everything fits which is always a bonus though I have yet to color them in which is a bit daunting - the 1:1's were a sort of orangey/yellowy/reddy mixed weave.  I'll need to check and see if there's a Mr Orangey Yellowy Reddy Weave available.  I'll bet they only have it in gloss and I need flat.

 

 

I ran out of the small diameter wire I was using for the front cushions and had to use a slightly larger diameter wire for the rear cushion.  It's a bit overscale but I think once the colors are on it won't be as noticeable.

 

 

Lastly, just for Ced... here's a dead one. 

In an act that VW would most certainly see as blasphemy, I knocked up an exhaust from a piece of Spitfire runner and some plastic rod. Being as daft as I am I spent ages gluing on the small metal flange around the exhaust and afterwards felt absolutely no redeeming factor of joy whatsoever. None.  It had to be done though didn't it?

The SMS grey primer is a spot on match for the color that these parts arrived in when new. Not so much for a few days later when all the rust within a 10 mile radius had heard there was a new VW part in town and wanted to party.

 

 

and that's us all up to date now. 

This week at work promises to be a real scunner as due to someone else's incompetence I get to fully validate a piece of equipment in less than 2 weeks (they only had it in their charge for 18 months and didn't do the job) in order for us to meet a product launch date in March.  It makes the lashings all the sweeter when you know that they will not be held accountable for their (in)actions and nothing will be said.    

Crypt visiting to play with plastic will probably be at a premium over the next week or so.

Roll on retirement baby!

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Wowzers! Another epic update, and with thrilling content to please everyone in the audience.

This isn't Muppet labs, it's MGM Technicolor! Just slightly smaller. 

 

Poptop, Dashboard, mat, Cushions and NOS Merlin related exhaust. Mega impressive. 

Work doesn't sound very exciting at all. It's the old, blame the other shift blues. Inevitable wherever you work. Commiserations.

 

To cheer you up, I found out where the VW thing all starts....

Now we know who to blame!

[giemme]

2 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Wowzers! Another epic update, and with thrilling content to please everyone in the audience.

I concur 100%! That pop top is just wonderful, and the new dashboard is a little masterpiece in itself!     

 

Ciao

[mark.au]

I wonder what you could achieve in a quiet week!? 🤯

[81-er]

Yet another fantastic update, Alan. Some really nice work on display there, particularly your dash which is astronomical distances better than the kit part. Hopefully karma comes around to the slacker in the not-too-distant future

 

James

[Brandy]

I love that dashboard and other assorted front end accoutrements, they really give it a lift.

 

Good luck with baling out your work mate. I hate it when that happens!

 

 

Ian

[Fritag]

 

 

On 1/30/2023 at 12:50 AM, hendie said:

It seemed easier to do a cut and shut job as opposed to

 

 Coincidently, that’s what some someone did to a Vauxhall Nova (or two ) that I had  back in the 90’s.  At least you’re upfront about it…

 

I’ll join the admiring throng complimenting the dashboard work if I may; typically hendie-esque multimedia flourishes.

 

Which brings me to the baked Sculpey clay, which I had no idea was a thing (but which t’interweb tells me comes in several varieties) and which appears to fit with the whole multimedia concept of the build perfectly - as well as making bloomin realistic cushions (it’s not in me to say “I like your cushions”).

 

Good luck at work; this too will pass….

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Fritag

[81-er]

4 hours ago, Fritag said:

Coincidently, that’s what some someone did to a Vauxhall Nova (or two ) that I had  back in the 90’s.  At least you’re upfront about it…

Would those Novas be GTE's sold as low-milage* with one lady owner** by any chance?

 

James

 

* Third time around

** And 15 blokes who drove like thier pants were constantly on fire

[perdu]

That grey.

 

Exactly right I remember it well from the colour of the exhaust system heat exchanger I had to buy for my NSU 1200 which obvs came from the same VAG Audi stores manifest as yours.

 

As for the model, well I am quietly building up a stock of "Oh dammit that is wonderfuls" I'm saving for the end.

 

oh wow.

 

 

[hendie]

On 1/30/2023 at 2:20 AM, Pete in Lincs said:

To cheer you up, I found out where the VW thing all starts....

Now we know who to blame!

 

I take it they have another shop where you can get a Beetle Cut?

 

On 1/30/2023 at 5:16 AM, giemme said:

I concur 100%! That pop top is just wonderful, and the new dashboard is a little masterpiece in itself!     

 

Ciao

 

Thanks Giorgio

 

On 1/30/2023 at 5:52 AM, mark.au said:

I wonder what you could achieve in a quiet week!? 🤯

 

If I ever get one I'll find out

 

On 1/30/2023 at 7:58 AM, 81-er said:

Yet another fantastic update, Alan. Some really nice work on display there, particularly your dash which is astronomical distances better than the kit part. Hopefully karma comes around to the slacker in the not-too-distant future

 

James

 

I must have been really bad on a former life... I got to work with him to try and sort things out this week

 

On 1/30/2023 at 8:29 AM, Brandy said:

I love that dashboard and other assorted front end accoutrements, they really give it a lift.

 

Good luck with baling out your work mate. I hate it when that happens!

 

 

Ian

 

Thanks Ian.   (he's on my hit list)

 

On 1/31/2023 at 12:50 AM, Fritag said:

 

 Coincidently, that’s what some someone did to a Vauxhall Nova (or two ) that I had  back in the 90’s.  At least you’re upfront about it…

 

I’ll join the admiring throng complimenting the dashboard work if I may; typically hendie-esque multimedia flourishes.

 

Which brings me to the baked Sculpey clay, which I had no idea was a thing (but which t’interweb tells me comes in several varieties) and which appears to fit with the whole multimedia concept of the build perfectly - as well as making bloomin realistic cushions (it’s not in me to say “I like your cushions”).

 

Good luck at work; this too will pass….

 

 

Multimedia? or multi-desperation?  

The up-side (if there is one) is that I get to gripe about all the faults and shortcomings of his work - which makes me look good as I am finding all the equipment issues which could become problems when we hit Production.  However, it sucks having to gown up and spend days in a cleanroom (which I have managed to avoid for the last couple of years thankfully)

 

1 hour ago, perdu said:

That grey.

 

Exactly right I remember it well from the colour of the exhaust system heat exchanger I had to buy for my NSU 1200 which obvs came from the same VAG Audi stores manifest as yours.

 

As for the model, well I am quietly building up a stock of "Oh dammit that is wonderfuls" I'm saving for the end.

 

oh wow.

 

 

 

Ta Bill.  

 

It's been another week of fiddly little bits and seemingly hours of work for very little visual progress, but that's the life we chose as modelers. Or did we?  I think we were subject to the old bait and switch job.

I've been noticing that there are less and less parts cluttering up my workbench (whenever I try to clean it) so it appears that we are getting close to the end of this build.  With that in mind, it was time to start some more of that assembly stuff I keep reading about on these forums, and often wondered what it was like.

The wheels seemed an easy target.  Until I put them on that is.  It turned out that the rear wheels interfere with the rear wheel arches when fitted.  I never saw that one coming.

 

 

Those orange hub thingies are the push fit retainers for the wheels and I was very reluctant to try and lever them back off once I found the issue. However in a stroke of feeble-minded luck it appears that I had not yet glued the rear axle into place, instead simply relying on the click fit of the components - which I had drilled out as I had really intended to glue them - then forgot.  

Off came the axle which allowed me plenty of room to pry the caps back off and release the wheels.  My Oriental (are we still allowed to say Oriental?) scribing tool came in handy to shave off a millimeter or so from behind each wheel to allow them to sit further inboard.  I chopped the ends off the orange hubby things - no such niceties accorded there.

 

 

That butchery allowed me to glue (iI remembered this time) the axle back on to the chassis, then pop the wheels on and finally snapping on those hub caps. 

 

 

The aluminum  tread plate was fitted (cyano'd) across the doorway to cap the wooden floor, which then allowed me finish off the sliding door seal using that little coil of black wire again.  I really wish I could find out where the heck I ordered it from so I could stock up again.  There are still two teensy little door latch mechanisms to fit to the pillars - if I don't forget.

 

 

If you've spotted a few strips of masking tape over the dash in that shot above, that's because I finally got the dashboard glued into position.   First of all making sire that the steering column lined up with the cover plate on the floor, and fitted through the mounting bracket on the dashboard  

 

 

The steering column was cut to length and the indicator stalk was added from 0.4mm wire.   The steering wheel itself is only dry fitted for this shot.  It's a nice push fit onto the brass column so that will get added as one of the last items in the build.  

 

 

That was all the easy stuff.  I then spent over two nights trying to get a nice gap-free fit which taunted me as it evaded me.    First of all I thought it may be the base of the headlamps so spent ages filing down the back ends.  It wasn't that.  Eventually I found it was part of the mounting points about halfway down the outer edge.  A few swipes with a file sorted that out and the dash was finally added to the bus.

I achieved the nice gap free seam between the dash and the windscreen area in just over 3 days when it could have taken about three minutes had I actually been looking at what I was doing.

 

 

FInal additions to the engine bay were gluing the exhaust in position and adding the two engine shields that will never be seen and completely hide all the detail on the engine. Oh well.

 

 

Climbing back up top there were still a few things to address with the pop top.  On the 1:1 the pop top stayed in position thanks to 4 telescoping tube/spring assemblies.  I scratched these up from 1.2 dia tube with 0.8mm rod, and a zero point something brass rivet left over from Pegasus days.

 

 

These will get painted white then cut to length and fitted inside the pop top somewhere around here.

 

 

I finally got around to respraying the doors that got damaged some weeks back. It went well on the sliding door but on the front door I got some weirs spotting going on at the demarcation between the orange and white.  That door has now been resprayed again and with any luck I won't have to strip and respray yet again.

 

 

With all these bits lying around my bench and already losing the handbrake lever I knew it was time to fit all those little bits that were just dying to make a jump for it.  That Volkswagen script being a prime example... I knew where it was and it still took me a good three or four minutes to find it.

The VW script is now cyano'd in place along with the rear window. 

 

 

The windows were masked up and painted some time ago however I still had a couple of jobs to do in order to finish them off.  On my bus for some reason I had an opening window on the sliding door and on the rearmost window on the starboard side. These windows were fitted with those little quarterlight latches.  I'm sure the older readers amongst us will know what I mean there.

The kit only supplies plain, one piece windows - to be fair, they are (or my case, were) crystal clear, and commendably thin. However, for my bus I had to add the additional seal to each of those windows.  For this job I used 0.4mm half round profile and cyano'd those to the glass.  I was far too scared to use TET as it would run everywhere and the slightest touch of that stuff on the clear portion would ruin the window.  Canopy glue was an option and to be honest I'm not sure why I didn't go down that path, instead choosing to completely mask the glass leaving only a .4mm vertical strip free where the seal was to be fitted. The strips were painted prior to fitting

The much harder job was to fit the ridiculously small latch gubbins to the window.  One window turned out fine though I did get a small amount of fogging on this window. Mercifully it's hardly noticeable.

  

 

Was it really worth all the effort I ask myself.

 

 

It's almost time to start thinking about what's next in line for the bench

 

[Pete in Lincs]

26 minutes ago, hendie said:

It's almost time to start thinking about what's next in line for the bench

Bits of crisps, biscuit crumbs and unmentionable stains? Put it down as child generated weathering.

Great update, Fabulous details as always.  Good luck at the workplace. See you next week.

 

(Sorry, I thought you meant the back seat in the bus).

[klubman01]

That's coming together really nicely.  Still amazed at the level of detail you have incorporated, and the techniques that you have used.  Brilliant!

Trevor

[JeroenS]

Are all those little details worth the effort you ask? Yes, most definitely! 

[giemme]

 That's all I can say.

 

And:

 

12 hours ago, hendie said:

Was it really worth all the effort I ask myself

 

Definitely yes!

 

Ciao

[81-er]

Yet another mind-blowing update of tiny details, well done, Alan!

 

Regarding the co-worker issue, wouldn't it be a shame if his coffee mug "accidentally" had a wash in the loo bowl? Not that I'm advocating such behaviour 

 

James

[Brandy]

Funny how the simplest if things can take forever to figure out. However the dash does look great in place now.

Bumpers going on last?

 

Ian

[Keeff]

The level of detail on this is amazing!  I'm in awe of your skills .... especially with hat 3D printer! 

 

Keith   😁

[RichieW]

Wow Hendie, I've been away for a few weeks and missed 2 incredible updates. As you say, it's nearly done and the time is coming to ponder the next project. I am sure it will be every bit as brilliant and inspiring as this one.

 

Richie

[hendie]

On 2/5/2023 at 3:20 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

Bits of crisps, biscuit crumbs and unmentionable stains? Put it down as child generated weathering.

Great update, Fabulous details as always.  Good luck at the workplace. See you next week.

 

(Sorry, I thought you meant the back seat in the bus).

 

wot? no belly button fluff?

 

On 2/6/2023 at 2:33 AM, klubman01 said:

That's coming together really nicely.  Still amazed at the level of detail you have incorporated, and the techniques that you have used.  Brilliant!

Trevor

 

On 2/6/2023 at 2:39 AM, JeroenS said:

Are all those little details worth the effort you ask? Yes, most definitely! 

 

thanks Trevor and Jeroen

 

On 2/6/2023 at 3:06 AM, giemme said:

 That's all I can say.

 

And:

 

 

Definitely yes!

 

Ciao

 

at least you've stopped moaning about paint 

 

On 2/6/2023 at 4:48 AM, 81-er said:

Yet another mind-blowing update of tiny details, well done, Alan!

 

Regarding the co-worker issue, wouldn't it be a shame if his coffee mug "accidentally" had a wash in the loo bowl? Not that I'm advocating such behaviour 

 

James

 

I'd much rather it was his mug and not his coffee mug James

 

On 2/6/2023 at 7:59 AM, Brandy said:

Funny how the simplest if things can take forever to figure out. However the dash does look great in place now.

Bumpers going on last?

 

Ian

 

Thanks Ian, I think it's looking a bit better this time around

 

On 2/6/2023 at 11:14 AM, Keeff said:

The level of detail on this is amazing!  I'm in awe of your skills .... especially with hat 3D printer! 

 

Keith   😁

 

I've got much better at hitting the GO button over the last year

 

On 2/6/2023 at 4:53 PM, RichieW said:

Wow Hendie, I've been away for a few weeks and missed 2 incredible updates. As you say, it's nearly done and the time is coming to ponder the next project. I am sure it will be every bit as brilliant and inspiring as this one.

 

Richie

 

Thanks Richie.  The next project all depends upon whether Arma Hobby can pull their finger out in time

 

As it's getting perilously close to being able to call this a finished T2 Bay Window I thought it prudent to draw up a snag list in the hope that I don't miss anything. In reality, most of the actual creating stuff part is done and what's left is more or less just the assembly.

If this list is anywhere near accurate I only have a couple of dozen parts to fit.

 

 

The seats are going to be the time consuming part - making the cushions was one thing, getting them finished and looking like actual cushions is another thing altogether.  I did start trying to paint them but I'm not real happy with what I have so far.  The 1:1's were a yellowy orangey streaked affair and I don't think I have the skill to replicate that in paint.  I think I'm going to go down the decal route, we'll see.

One of the major jobs left hanging out there is the fitting of the sliding door. Or rather, figuring out a method to have it hanging (securely) in mid air like this

 

 

After much cogitation coffee I felt that the easiest path was to replicate the original and hope for the best. This would have been a lot easier had I addressed this much earlier in the build but where's the fun in that eh?  

First off, I had to add some bracketry to the top of the door. Not pretty, but functional.

 

 

Once the glue dried I shaped the bracket and drilled a hole for a 0.5mm rivet which fits into a corresponding hole I drilled in the cant rail.  That's the top end taken care of.

 

 

The bottom end was a lot simpler - just a small styrene bracket which will attach to the bottom of the door.

 

 

Then when I'm ready to fit the door it should be reasonably straightforward. The only difficult part will be attaching the U hinge at the back of the door. Hopefully I'll think of a plan for that before it's too late.

 

 

Going through my snag list I started taking aim at the easy targets - like pedals, which needed fitting in advance of fitting the floor mats, which needed fitting in advance of the handbrake lever and the gearstick.

 

 

I did have one pucker moment while fitting the front floor mat when the GS Hypo I used to stick the mat in place started reacting with the silicone of the mat itself.  That was a complete surprise.  Luckily I caught it within a few minutes and pulled the mat out and cleaned it up pronto like.  I waited for the GS Hypo to cure before peeling it off with some tweezers.  The mat is now stuck down with a small drop of cyano in each of the corners.  That allowed me to get the gearstick, handbrake lever, and steering wheel fitted, which in turn allowed me to refit the seats, ensuring that the drivers seat lined up with the steering wheel.

 

 

Getting decent shots inside that coal hole is almost impossible

 

 

THis is the best you're going to get unfortunately.  I am rather pleased with that interior now and I think it really captures the essence of the Bay Window.    (I'll rotate the steering wheel later once I figure out where the front wheels are going to end up).

 

 

While pondering the build through the week I thought that since I had the porta potty to throw in the back, it wouldn't look right without a few other camping accoutrements.    DUring lunch hour the other day, I knocked up a couple of camping stoves and a folding table or two.  I'll use both stoves, but only one of the tables I think.  Once the paint cures I'll spill some gloss on the table so I can add a wash to highlight the seam between the two halves (which you can barely see here). 

I'm still on the fence about making up a tent bag. But...

 

 

anothre easy target was the rearview mirror. Tilted at just the right angle so I can see out the back.

 

 

Unfortunately, that was the last of the easy parts for this session.  What was left was the REAL fiddly parts.  When I say fiddly, I actually mean AAAAaaarghhhhhhhhh F I D D L Y !!!   

Seat belts.  There's one... can you see it?  Nope?

 

 

Howzabout now? Is that any better?  Just a tad?   Did I mention that these were fiddly?  Eye straining? Frustrating?   Cuz they were all of that and more.  Of course I chose to make things difficult for myself by having buckles and reels and brackets that I had to thread the belts through from start to finish.   The front belt starts off at the inertia reel just by the B pillar - threaded in behind that small silver colored bar on the reel. Then up behind the cabin air duct, through the small bracket that's meant to keep the belt up above your shoulder (not sure what that bracket is called - pillar loop?). Then down it goes, through the latch plate, before returning home and through yet another bloody small hole at the base of the inertia reall where it's then folded back on itsdelf and cyano'd so it will never, ever, ever, fall out again.

 

 

Yes, I really was that stupid.

 

The rear belts were slightly easier though they're going to be a pig when fitting the cushions.  I still have the buckles to fit - after I print some more as I completely forgot about these rear seats when I printed off the first batch.

 

 

Phew. I can breath again. 

Fitting those belts is one of those exercises where you inadvertently stop breathing and don't realize it until you've either completed the task or run out of oxygen and have to breathe before you pass out then have to start the damn thing all over again. 

 

At least I can score a few things off the snag list now.

 

 

 

 

[81-er]

Every update has this looking better, and better, and better! 

 

James

[perdu]

It is getting to be just, er just fabulous.

 

'tis already.

 

 

Yes I noticed Giorgio has stopped mithering you about the paint too.

[Hamden]

 

Stunning build and paint a great pleasure to watch.

 

   Stay safe         Roger