1/24 Tamiya '66 VW Beetle

[barryf1fan]

Got this one from my wife years ago as I always wanted a VW Beetle. Never got around to building this as we had some kids, and just did life. About 8 years ago I got a real Beetle and did all kinds of work on it over about 3 years. New interior, all new fuel lines, carb, etc... Even put 4 wheel disc brakes, narrowed front beam, and lowered the front and rear. Once I got done with it, I sold it.

It was one of those, I got, I had it, now someone else can have it type things.

Mine was a 1970, but I bought 3 other Beetles to build this one (wife was happy this "phase" was over!!) and put bits from the other three on this one.



Loved this car, but don't really miss it (I know, weird) and I'm a VW dork. Both my kids now have VW's, my wife drives a VW and I drive a VW.

Anyway, here's a few shots of the start... and sorry, didn't get any sprue shots.



First time using the marker method to get the seams (first time really even dealing with the seams )





Primed and painted the chassis already.





Was gonna do this one up in white like my old Bug, but my wife and my son wanted me to do it in green... well, suggested green. So I picked up a Tamiya Pearl Green - TS-60, and decanted some this evening.
Can't wait to try it out as it's a beaut of a color.

Thanks for looking in, y'all !!

[barryf1fan]

Btw, here's my old GTI (that my youngest now drives) and wife's Beetle Vert.



And my new, to me, 2017 Golf R I got the end of June (with Victor the Vanagon in the garage).
Victor is a Westfalia camper van and got a new engine in it about two years ago and lost interest... )



I so wish they (Volkswagen) would sell the Camper van here still - I mean, heck, it's called a California.
I priced one out on VW.co.uk and would love to have one of them!! Oh well, we don't get the Amarok either.

[Gary30]

Cool Project B!

I live to see something different, and I had to Google TS-60, looks like a lovely colour, perfect for a '66 bug

[Bdiddy]

[LWWales]

Nice! Love an old beetle, can't wait for this one!

How is California with all this covid malarkey? I've been a few times and cannot wait until I can go back. Me and the missus have a soft spot for San Francisco.

[BigWall]

Very cool project! We were a VW family for quite a while. Never any classics though. I guess it started with my parents when I was a kid with a couple vans and a slantback. I remember someone at the dealership giving me hippie flower stickers back in the early 70s.

[barryf1fan]

Got some detailing done on the tiny, gutless, 40hp 1300 engine. Painted some other bits but didn't snap pics.
Ran a wire from the solenoid and put a fuel line on. The flash on my cheap phone kinda washed out all the different metallic colors,
it actually looks pretty good. Am enjoying this one quite a bit and need to get to work on the body prep some more.
Have the Pearl Green decanted and just need to see how it looks over white/grey primers - then shoot it.

Here's a pic of the Air-cooled beast :



Hope to get some more done in the next few days.

[BOABModels]

Very nice!

This Airfix Beetle was one of my first ever models.


My first ever car was this Polo... I was so sad when we could no longer afford to keep it.


Hopefully one day I'll own another VW.

[barryf1fan]

Very nice!

This Airfix Beetle was one of my first ever models.


My first ever car was this Polo... I was so sad when we could no longer afford to keep it.


Hopefully one day I'll own another VW.

That's a cool little Beetle!! Sadly, we have never had the Polo in the states (or the cool last couple versions of the Scirocco!!).

Yeah, I really like VW's - my goal right now is to get my butt in gear and get the camper van finished up and then look for a Caddy.

[barryf1fan]

Had a 3 hour endurance race on iRacing Saturday (that we sadly finished 29th out of 39...) as after I did the first 70 minute stint - really stretched the fuel - my partner that got in the car blew the engine!!

I did 45 laps and moved us up from P.32 to P.15 before the pit stop, he subsequently went out and blew the car up on lap 62.
We had 42 minutes of repairs with 1 hour and 17 minutes left... so we just quit out but still got 29th.

So with the disappointment of Saturday I worked on the Beetle bug Sunday afternoon.
Got the body parts primed and wet sanded, ready for paint, started on the interior too.
Only snapped a couple of pics with the engine mated to the chassis - starting to look like a bug.
Funny, I've done this build for real and it's amazing how accurate Tamiya is with their models.



Hopefully more updates to come later in the week!

[Miiqqula]

Nice and clean work!

[Miiqqula]

My first ever car was this Polo... I was so sad when we could no longer afford to keep it.


Hopefully one day I'll own another VW.

I owned similar Polo in 2012. 95 or 96 dark green 5d 1,3l rocket . And have to say, what a pice off s**t. Was pretty happy get off my hand. Cost me lot of money. Was allways in repairshop. After that i promised my self never VAG again. I rate even Lada higher.

[BOABModels]

Very nice!

This Airfix Beetle was one of my first ever models.


My first ever car was this Polo... I was so sad when we could no longer afford to keep it.


Hopefully one day I'll own another VW.

That's a cool little Beetle!! Sadly, we have never had the Polo in the states (or the cool last couple versions of the Scirocco!!).

Yeah, I really like VW's - my goal right now is to get my butt in gear and get the camper van finished up and then look for a Caddy.

Thanks, man! The Polo was my Nana's before mine so it meant a lot. I don't know why the US has never really taken to small cars? Maybe because it is such a big country...

[barryf1fan]

Was able to get a bit of work done on the Beetle tonight.
Will say that I am digging this color.

Got some detail work done on the door cards as well.



Sprayed over Tamiya fine surface gray primer.



Will be out of pocket tomorrow, but hope to get some "schtuff" done on Sunday.
Thanks for looking in.

[Rugash]

Looks good, I don't mind the colour myself.
I have a beetle half started in the cupboard somewhere, will have to get back to that at some point.

[Bdiddy]

interesting colour choice Barry, is it a green/silver flip? great job so far

[Hawkmoon]

All looking good and nice work, I think the color is just right for her

[barryf1fan]

interesting colour choice Barry, is it a green/silver flip? great job so far

It's TS-60, Pearl Green. It's def got a silver hue to it - not like those color changing paints, but green with some serious pearlescent tone to it. I'd call it a pastel green with metal flake.

I had never seen this color and the owner of the LHS I go to had pulled it for a guy who called to come get it. It was sitting up at the checkout when I checked out and sorta "accidentally" bought it. Was looking at it, because I had never seen TS-60, and ended up sitting it down with my stuff. Got home and it was in the bag.

Thanks for looking in guys!! Have a stupid wedding to go to today. And to make it worse, it's out of town.

[BigWall]

It's looking great!

[LWWales]

Quite like that colour! I seen it on the TV on the live show yesterday and it looks great on the big screen!

[barryf1fan]

Got up this morning and was able to cram some work in on the VeeDub...

Front end sorted . . .





She's gettin' a wheel/tire package upgrade. Left - Kit / Right - Upgrade





Foot pedals and gear-shifter "installed".



Sorry for the crappy pics [ One of these days I need to take time to take actual clear and quality progress pics], and hope to have more done tomorrow.

[Bdiddy]

interesting colour choice Barry, is it a green/silver flip? great job so far

It's TS-60, Pearl Green. It's def got a silver hue to it - not like those color changing paints, but green with some serious pearlescent tone to it. I'd call it a pastel green with metal flake.

I had never seen this color and the owner of the LHS I go to had pulled it for a guy who called to come get it. It was sitting up at the checkout when I checked out and sorta "accidentally" bought it. Was looking at it, because I had never seen TS-60, and ended up sitting it down with my stuff. Got home and it was in the bag.

Thanks for looking in guys!! Have a stupid wedding to go to today. And to make it worse, it's out of town.

Nice, I really like that colour! It’s subtle but you can really see the silver in some angles. Nice choice on the wheel/tire package, makes it look sporty

[LWWales]

Got up this morning and was able to cram some work in on the VeeDub...

Front end sorted . . .





She's gettin' a wheel/tire package upgrade. Left - Kit / Right - Upgrade





Foot pedals and gear-shifter "installed".



Sorry for the crappy pics [ One of these days I need to take time to take actual clear and quality progress pics], and hope to have more done tomorrow.

Those wheels look good! Looks like you're coming along nicely!

[barryf1fan]

Got a bit more done to the Green Beetle, thought this was gonna be a quickie but it's proving to be a lot more involved than I anticipated.

Got the chrome plating stripped and painted them with Alclad chrome.







Finished up the engine and interior as well.







Will say, this is a cool little model, though.
Thanks for looking in.

[BigWall]

I'm really liking that paint! The whole thing is looking great!

[LWWales]

This is a nice clean build, I love it! That steering wheel looks awesome too

[Gary30]

That looks sweet Barry, never really heard about or seen this kit before, I’m more of a classic Mini man myself, so this has never been on the radar from Tamiya.

One of my elderly neighbours used to have an orange beetle, a late 60’s I think, gave it to his son as it was a bit battered and he had given up driving, the son has done a full restoration on it now and he brings it round to visit, it’s amazing!

[barryf1fan]

Thanks guys for looking in on this one... Have made a mess of the chrome trim on the side of the body.
Tried using the Molotow chrome pen and it didn't work out. I should have taken the time to mask it off (which I did for the pen) and spray black and shoot Alclad chrome over it. Oh well, live and learn.

I thought this kit would be kind of a quick"y" to do between race car/bike kits, but it has been way more involved than I thought it would be. Not like it's a bad thing - it has just been more detail than I anticipated.

Anyhoo, made a little more progress this weekend.







Made a mess of the rear glass - I'm not even sure how I got glue all over it.







Hoping to get this one over the finish line soon.
And as always, thanks for checking it out.

[LWWales]

Looking great mate!

[Bdiddy]

nice progress mate, bummer about the glass

[BigWall]

It looks great! Bummer about the glass. Tint the windows maybe?

[barryf1fan]

Calling this one done - didn't turn out how I wanted, but I didn't really put much thought into it.
I wanted to do a narrowed and lowered front beam - but didn't think about it till after I had the front end all glued up.
Really just lost drive with this one, after I got the body color on I wanted it done. . .

Anyhoo, here's a few pics of it.









Thanks for following along - and sorry, I just lost my juju on this one.