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Post by mykturk on Apr 26, 2011 20:12:32 GMT -6
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Post by rustybill1960 on Apr 26, 2011 20:57:26 GMT -6
 For having one hand tied to the front of you, you sure are doing a fine job of working that plastic Man!!! AWESOME looking build Dude! Sweetness!!! Thank You for sharing Later Russ 
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Post by mykturk on May 1, 2011 6:55:39 GMT -6
Working this way is sssoooooo sssslllloooowwww, but it's keeping me somewhat sane through this recovery period. The first thing I did was 'level' the engine/transmission. This dropped the rear of the engine in the compartment. Not something many would notice, but it bothered me seeing in at such a hard angle with the body rake. Once I'd done that, I didn't like the look of the 'twin stinger' exhaust I'd made, so I scrapped/recycled it into this new one.   I went ahead and grabbed the rest of the Supertrap mufflers from the Beatnik Bandit II kit and will use the caps to finish them off.  After three tries at an opening for the belt pully, I think I got it right.  Slow and steady. Till next time! |
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Post by Starry Eyes on May 1, 2011 8:05:23 GMT -6
Wow Mike.. this little jewel is looking sweet! .. all the mod's and kit bashing is bringing al your ideas to life.. and ya know what ? it's working !! .. I had a broken roof that was textured and after gluing it back together I took 3M - 2 inch masking tape and did a cover which allowed me to still have a textured look... .. then I cut small strips for seams then shot it all satin black... I'll see if I can get a photo... I'm not sure how else you can hide the crack on the textured foof and still keep the "look" intact.. very cool kitbash Mike...  |
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Post by mykturk on May 1, 2011 20:37:10 GMT -6
The roof crack is compounded by being a twenty year old bit of damage that was also Zapped together... So, it order to begin to fix it, I had to remove the 20 plus year old Zap glue, before any regular Testors liquid cement would start to stick! So I ended up with a few major gaps to boot. I'm trying something different to repair the gaps, and retain the texture! We'll see if I can pull it off with one hand tied to my gut! If it doesn't work, I once made a pretty good looking convertible top with a paper towel layed over wet paint and burnished down...
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Post by mykturk on May 8, 2011 16:31:27 GMT -6
Working on things with one hand tied to your gut takes more time and adds an extra level of frustration... But press on I do, gotta do something or I'll go batty while my shoulder mends! First are my efforts at saving the roof texture while repairing the broken roof itself. I thought I hd a good handel on this but in the end, I lost most of the surface texture and the seam still showed. Epic fail? I did document it none the less, so here it is. My plan wasto not sand the putty but rather, wire brush it by hand 'smooth'...  My thinking was, the brittle Revel plastic is also somewhat 'harder' and so the putty would give before the plastic. Sounds good on paper, but in truth, the plastic isboth brittle AND soft somehow. While some of the texture survived, a lot was lost where I brushed it. Still looked promising in prime...    Hard to see here... But the seam shows, trust me.   Also made an unimpressive hood hinge too.  I still have a few front end whatnots to work out but it's getting close. Till next time! |
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Post by lizz62 on May 8, 2011 19:17:01 GMT -6
That is BOSS ! lookin good.
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Post by barten on May 8, 2011 20:18:22 GMT -6
MAN this is really going to blow minds when done. . . I love the progress.
God Bless
Dan
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Post by koffinbuilder64 on May 8, 2011 21:10:32 GMT -6
Really lookin' good Mike!
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Post by starbaker on May 9, 2011 4:20:43 GMT -6
Very cool!
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Post by baddgass on May 10, 2011 16:49:28 GMT -6
Had to look in on all the great builds. And this is ONE.
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Post by mykturk on May 25, 2011 21:20:39 GMT -6
Welcome back my friends, to the show that never ends... I had to ponder my next move for a while before deciding on a way to do, what I wanted to do... I want this to look, "unfinished" when finished. Part of the look will be, no door panels, so I had to figure out a way to make unpaneled doors. At first I thought about cutting up the kit panels and fabing the inner structure. But that's a lot of scribing just to get a fragile little frame. So, given the choice of cutting up kit parts of just scratch building the panels, I went for scratch.  I found a few pictures on the web to use as a rough guide and used the kit parts as a pattern.  I also added structural parts to the bottom front where the straight axle lives...  I'm hoping the doctor will release my left arm from the sling come Friday.... Then I'll be getting some stuff done! Till next time! |
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Post by koffinbuilder64 on May 26, 2011 21:24:07 GMT -6
Boy Mike, your progress is amazing. Hope you get your left arm workin' soon!!
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Post by ira on May 28, 2011 18:01:29 GMT -6
[glow=red,2,300]LOOKS GREAT!!![/glow]
Nice progress on the VW!
Have you thought about putting scoops over the hood cut outs?
Hope your hand is feeling better!
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Post by A.J. on May 30, 2011 8:34:45 GMT -6
This is some really great stuff Mike! There are some cues in here that could be easily carried over to the big toys. Several years ago there was a convertible volksrod being built by one of the guys that helped along this whole fenderless beetle craze and yours follows quite a bit of what he had done. To this date I know that the car had been sold unfinished when the original builder moved out of country and still remains unfinished which is unfortunate. I'd really have liked to have seen that baby done. I'll enjoy seeing yours finished though. Love the inner sheet metal! That is just genius.
Thanks so much for sharing this build Mike, I really love it!
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Post by mykturk on Jun 6, 2011 14:53:58 GMT -6
Made more of the no interior interior... It looks like I grafted in someones porch-swing in the back right now... Once it's painted, it should look like structural ribbing.    Of course there's lots more besides that. The lower section has the rear seat support now, and the rear superstructure has been added as well. Convertable bugs have some extra structure along the floor by the doors, now this one does too! While I was doing all that I finished designing and making the steering linkage. There's also a tiny set of shocks that aren't shown...  With the rear superstructure done, I made the convertable top structure too...  Here's how it looks in place...   Since the inside is going to be sparce, why should the dash go untouched?  Gauge and radio delete? I'm planning to cut open the ashtray too, and maybe the glovebox door as well... Here's the hood hinge I made a while back...  I'd gave some thought to some kind of scoop, I'd always like the roof mounted oil cooler scoops the Baja Bugs of the 80's. In the end, the goal of "Just enough to function" won over any scoop ideas I may have had. One quick mock-up shot...  One last thing I'm pondering is switching from the Pie-crust slicks to these classic car wide whites,  but I don't have the wheels I'd like, which would be a spoked style... But if I do that, I'll need a matching (or close) set of spokes to fit the smaller fronts... Anyone got any ideas for locating those items? |
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Post by barten on Jun 6, 2011 18:41:07 GMT -6
WOW this is going to blow everyone away when done! This is really cool! your are really doing it right! ! ! ! Or Reich?  I love the progress. . and it is inspiring to me. . . to step up one trying new things. . . .great stuff! God Bless Dan |
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Post by jondutch46 on Jun 7, 2011 11:11:40 GMT -6
If you're lookin' for an American-style 5-spoke, the Revell '32 3-window and Speedwagon kits have 'em... so does the AMT '60 Ford and the '55 Nomad. I think the '67 Mustang still has 'em, too. Plenty of choices... you should be able to come up with something. Probably others I haven't thought of, too.
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Post by mykturk on Jun 14, 2011 11:37:08 GMT -6
Threw a different color primer at it to see how things look... There'll be some more putty work for sure. But the structureal parts are looking pretty good I think and the roll bar is a nice touch, huh?    More holes in the dash...  Here are the air cleaners I'd been looking for. I knew I had a pair somewhere.  Overall view...  |
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Post by koffinbuilder64 on Jun 14, 2011 13:57:36 GMT -6
Lookin' really good Michael!!
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Post by mykturk on Jun 28, 2011 15:04:49 GMT -6
Made some one step back, half a step forward, sort of progress. I wasn't happy with the fit of the roof, no matter how much I fiddled with it, it just wouldn't sit right without a bit of force. So, I taped it down where I wanted it (that's all the more force it needed to fit) and hit it with my heat gun. I should have used a hair dryer, but the heat gun was handy. I likely had heated it just enough when I just HAD to heat it a little more, for good measure you know. Well that was just a little more than it could take, the center caved in. Yikes! Acting quickly, I cussed, then untaped the roof as fast as I could and pushed the caved in section before it cooled. A few more tries and I'd managed to render it, at least somewhat flat. Surprisingly, it fit pretty good though. So with some serious sanding, filing, and filling, it had a nice flow again, with a bit lower profile. Added the side "stitching" and a drip railish thing from plastic stock.   I also cut the centers out of the wheels as I'd found just what I was looking for, right on my old kit shelf.   These awesome little "VW" baby moon hubcaps!  The roof will be getting a texture soon, hopefully. |
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Post by customcruiserroy on Jun 28, 2011 16:12:29 GMT -6
Coolness! As for spokes, I guess it's a little late but some nice ones come from a 32 Ford roadster kit from a while back. The car is molded in yellow if that helps you find what I'm looking for. It is a Revell and the box art shows the yellow roadster with the top up and flames on the body.
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Post by customcruiserroy on Jun 28, 2011 16:16:43 GMT -6
The ones I am talking about are in the kit that is the center of this picture above the Munster box.  RSS |
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Post by mykturk on Jun 30, 2011 6:30:42 GMT -6
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Post by jondutch46 on Jun 30, 2011 7:16:00 GMT -6
Lemme tell ya, Mike... this is one good-lookin' bug.
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Post by barten on Jun 30, 2011 8:01:08 GMT -6
Wow it is looking really cool. . . the time and detail this is going to be a winner at the end! ! ! ! I love the details! and time you spend to do it RIGHT!
Very cool!
But there is the only thing that looks out of sorts to me? I was wondering if you could make a "scoop" like piece, or something that would cover the pulley on the back? Just wondering. . I guess it repeats the shape of the roll bar.
The other thing is . . . once finished . . . I bet I wouldn't even see that! . . . Just a thought. . . .But don't get me wrong! I LOVE THIS BUILD!
God Bless
Dan
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Post by badroadahead on Jun 30, 2011 17:04:34 GMT -6
I really love the stance on this.
All the details are nice too.
The only thing that bugs me (pun intended) is the fact that the convertible roof doesn't fit too good above the rear wheels.
Other than that this is a really cool build and I love your take on it.
Keep up the great work.
Dave
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Post by AL on Jul 1, 2011 1:09:09 GMT -6
I like the current wheel choice, star wheels ( five spoke ) I think would have looked good too, One thing for Certain Mike, "mann" your model projects are "intense" . . . . not a bad thing though. Very Nice Work so Far, -Glad for you, you were able to "save" the top.
-AL
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Post by monster on Jul 19, 2011 12:49:34 GMT -6
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Post by mykturk on Aug 5, 2011 21:50:34 GMT -6
More work on the interior... Made a set of cheap floor mats.   I want a Mexican blanket for the seats. A buddy dropped off this material he'd found...  It's a fine enough weave to look about right in scale and with the ends unraveled a little, it looks like fringe!   And in place...  Getting closer to "color" time! |
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