Beach Buggy

[keefr22]

That is a great looking dash Andy, great stuff!

 

Keith

[Toftdale]

7 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

That is a great looking dash Andy, great stuff!

 

Keith

Thanks Keith, at this scale the fact the dash is so simple certainly helps the painting process ‐ Andy 

[Pete in Lincs]

Love the plates (great idea) and dash. Very impressive.

[Toftdale]

10 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Love the plates

Thanks Pete, its not often an idea works first time - Andy 

[Toftdale]

So on to the seats.  They come with some very fine moulded in detail of the metal eyelets, of the type normally associated with a GT40.  If we ignore that fact that it would make for a very uncomfortable experience getting in the car after it had been parked in the sun for a couple of hours then how best to paint them neatly.   Then I remembered seeing a thread somewhere of Trumpeter GT40 build where the builder had drilled out the eyelets and replaced then with metal rings.  A 0.4mm drill bit fits perfectly in the middle of the moulded in eyelet,  which means you can start to drill without fear of the bit wondering off the centre,  I then used this hole as a pilot for a 0.7mm drill and then finally a 1mm bit.  The seats were then sprayed with Tamiya Dessert Yellow (XF-59) and  weathering pencils from AK were then applied along the edges and recesses.  I made the eyelets by wrapping some 5 amp fuse wire around a 0.5mm drill bit to make a spring, then removed the spring from the bit and then cut the individual eyelets by inserting the tip of a fresh scalpel blade up the middle of the spring and then cutting downwards.  After flattening they were secured I the holes with Kristal Klear. Quite a lot of faffing about but I really pleased and a far better result than I could have ever achieved with paint.   Thanks for looking - Andy 

[Bengalensis]

That's a really neat solution. Lovely work; good old modelling skills and problem solving well executed!

[keefr22]

Wow, that must have taken some patience - but was well worth it getting such a great result!

 

Keith

[CrazyCrank]

I do fully agree with Keith’s  and Jörgen’s comments 👍

[bigbadbadge]

Crikey that's a great idea re the seat rings.  Looking good , I'm making notes, although was wondering weather to go with Aircraft seats instead, they look cool in a car.

 

Chris

[Spiny]

Excellent work on those seats, I have to say there's no way I could have faced even starting on that job with the metal rings though.

[Neddy]

Ditto!  Ingenious and well executed.

[Toftdale]

Thanks @Bengalensis, @keefr22, @CrazyCrank, @bigbadbadge, @Spiny & @Neddy for the kind words.   It wasn't as tricky as I thought it was going to be,  as the moulded in eyelets acted like a centre punch for the drill.  Plus I've also just bought a second hand set of Dumont tweezers which made handling the rings so much easier than it would have been with my unbranded pair - Andy 

[Toftdale]

Engines done!  Its the first time I've used Hasegawa mirror finish, I think on any thing but a flat surface it would be nigh on impossible to apply.   However it really does give a mirror finish as advertised.   Thanks for looking Andy 

 

 

[Fnick]

Quite a lot of detail packed into that small engine. Nice one!

 

Nick

[Spiny]

My understanding is that the Hasegawa mirror finish is meant to be about 3 times thicker than BMF, and is more metal-coated vinyl than foil, so that could be while it put up more of a fight conforming to details. If that's true, it makes the job you've done with it even better.

[keefr22]

On 13/08/2023 at 21:34, Spiny said:

My understanding is that the Hasegawa mirror finish is meant to be about 3 times thicker than BMF, and is more metal-coated vinyl than foil,

 

That's interesting - I've watched some youtube videos where the builders have used it in place of BMF and say it does the same job only easier and will actually stick to things (unlike the last couple of packs of BMF I've bought which have been completely useless) @galaxyg kindly brought me a couple of packs of the mirror finish back from his recent Japan trip but I've not had chance to use them yet - I do have a similar but matt sheet of a similar Gunze product that must be close on 40 years old and sticks like a limpet!

 

Whatever that's a lovely little engine Gary, great job on the mirror finish, and I do like the throttle return spring - great detailing all round! 👍

 

Keith

[bigbadbadge]

Cracking work on the Engine Andy, the mirror finish paint looks good and I like the pulley guard too, looks awesome.

Chris

[Toftdale]

Thanks @Fnick, @Spiny, @keefr22 & @bigbadbadge for the interest.   However since posting I've noticed that the pushrod tubes are missing from the kit, so I'm just trying to workout if I can add them without damaging what I've already done. - Andy 

[bigbadbadge]

Good luck Andy is it worth just adding the rear two on either side , to show a representation when viewed from the rear end.  I haven't looks at mine properly yet, does Airfix represent the lower tinware that is underneath the pushrod tubes.?

 

Chris

[Toftdale]

23 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Good luck Andy is it worth just adding the rear two on either side , to show a representation when viewed from the rear end.  I haven't looks at mine properly yet, does Airfix represent the lower tinware that is underneath the pushrod tubes.?

 

Chris

Hi Chris,

Iin answer to your question I have no idea as my knowledge of a beetle engine isn't that great, so hopefully the photo below will help.  The pushrod tubes are made from lengths of solder super glued into place, a bit fiddly but hopefully you'll agree that its worth the effort. Just 4 more to go!  Thanks for the interest - Andy 

 

[bigbadbadge]

5 minutes ago, Toftdale said:

Hi Chris,

Iin answer to your question I have no idea as my knowledge of a beetle engine isn't that great, so hopefully the photo below will help.  The pushrod tubes are made from lengths of solder super glued into place, a bit fiddly but hopefully you'll agree that its worth the effort. Just 4 more to go!  Thanks for the interest - Andy 

 

Ahh nice  they look great Andy. 

Ignore me, a lot of buggies don't keep the lower tinware in place anyway as the engine has lots of space and air around it so it's not important as it is on a standard bug.

The pushrod you have added look a good representation .

Great work

Chris

[rob Lyttle]

What an excellent project, and a great read.... Informative, creative, entertaining, and a good laugh. 😍

A little bit of confusion earlier, discussing the safety features of the "roll-cage". It's just something to tie your surfboards to when heading for the beach. Or hang towels and bikinis on to dry. 🏖️👙

Speaking of which, the figure modifications are superb, brilliant bit of adaptation. 

And scratch building Gems scattered throughout. I want to see this through now to the finish. 

Sand dunes? Disappointed guy....?? And what about the other girl figure.... ⁉️😎

[Toftdale]

On 18/08/2023 at 21:08, rob Lyttle said:

What an excellent project, and a great read

Hi Rob, very kind words indeed. - Andy 

 

Well there's still plenty to do before she's tearing up the dunes,  however I'm now a a mock up stage and who can resist a good mock up 😃

 

[Neddy]

She's looking really great!  The buggy's not too bad either...

 

This one's going to be quite something when it's dune-ready.

[Toftdale]

 

 

 

On 21/08/2023 at 18:41, Neddy said:

This one's going to be quite something when it's dune-ready.

Thanks Neddy, hopefully it should be fairly soon.   However as always some jobs you think should be fairly quick seem to last forever. 

 

The body is now officially attached to the chassis and wheels are on.  They all touch the ground,  however a couple of them are not quite at the right angle.   Not sure if I will address this or not as I fear I would risk damaging something if I did.  The front number plates is attached and so are the front lights.   You may have noticed that I had drilled out the lights with the intention of adding a dome behind them, this was abandoned and I simply chromed the rear of the lights with some self adhesive aluminium foil used for lagging pipes. Bare Metal Foil was applied to the bezels. 

 

Moving on the to the interior.   I found a picture on the web of someone who had used a pool ball as a gear knob and decided to make one myself,   Its made from a nose stud I left over from my Caterham build.  Rather than paint the ball at the end of the stud I simply dipped into orange paint and then left it to dry.  I then placed a blob of white paint on some cardboard and dipped the very tip of the ball in this to give a white circle on the end.  All I had to do then was to write the number 5 in the white circle using a fine pen.  Its not my best hand writing,  but in my defence its a curved surface and the white dot is about 1.5mm in diameter.   When this was dry I then dipped in into some Johnson's Klear.

 

 

I then spent ages making some lovely (if I do say so myself) wiring for the battery only to discover the addition didn't fit between the seats!   So that had to come off, at least you can still see the Lucas decal I added.

 

Finally the rear lights are on and I made a bracket to attach the rear number plate. 

So all that left is painting the roll bar, steering wheel and front windscreen.   The only head scratcher left is can I improve upon the moulded in wipers as I'm definitely not brave enough to sand them off.   Thanks for looking - Andy