Beetle built

Having finished sticking the Beetle together, I've a few thoughts about the build and the Revell kit.

At the start, I was really getting into it. Pre-painting was fun and seemed to go well. All the parts fit together well enough and the car is a good shape. I'm pleased with the chrome trim, although it looks better in real life then the photo.

Towards the end, things weren't so good. The headlight fit is hopeless and the glue has smeared the paint on the chrome. I can scrape this off, but on the third go, can't be bothered. You get the paint off but push the headlight out and have to take the car apart (the floorpan clips into the body fortunately) to re-glue it.

In fact, the chromed parts annoyed me most of all. There's a shiny rear numberplate light that had to be painted. Despite masking the rubber strips on the bumpers, this isn't very neat. In hindsight, I should have sanded them flat and used vinyl strips stuck on. In fact, I should have removed all the chrome with some sort of vicious kitchen cleaner.

Never mind, I did this for fun. The end result is OK and at least a different sort of project from the trains. The trick is to stop getting hung up on perfecting and just enjoy the ride I suppose.

Painting the chrome trim

Trickiest job on the Beetle build? Painting the chrome trim on the sides and bonnet.

It's thin, and not raised enough to dry-brush.

I agonised a bit about this and then came up with the solution - use a bow-pen.

Loaded with Humbrol silver paint, I managed to place the blades either side of the trim and draw an OK line. OK, but not good enough all the way along.

Dampening a pointy brush with turps, I managed to draw this along the trim and pick up excess paint which was wiped off on a paper towel. Eventually, I did enough "paint lifting" as watercolour painters call the technique.

The results look pretty good so I'll remember this for the future. 

Pre-painting

The key to this kit is pre-painting as many parts as possible. To keep things simple, there are some bit made in the wrong colour. Engine crankcases are not chrome, but silver magnesium. A coat of Humbrol silver followed by a wash of Citadel black ink looks great - speaking as one who has stuck his head under a few VW's...

Inside, someone decided to mould the seats and door cards in dark brown plastic. This is wrong, they should be black, as this VW colour chart shows.

 Halfords satin black is ideal for the slightly shiny leatherette. I've done the floor this colour too as the mats are rubber.

Much of the inside is left in its black plastic state as the dash and steering wheel should be slightly shiny too.

The mohair roof is sprayed matt black to contrast with the rubber or leatherette bits.

Finally, the wheels are painted silver but hubcaps left chrome. Mind you, in my experience, they pretty quickly go rusty!

Build-a-Bug

Inspired by my trip to Stanford Hall, I have dug a plastic kit for a cabriolet Beetle out from the stash. One that will hopefully be a nice simple job to stick together. 

Imai's kit is from the Junior range. Apparently, it can be built with a motor, although sadly, there isn't one included in this kit. Nor the working headlights - and I'm going to resist the temptation to do something about this. 

The main body is a single moulding with plenty of chromed parts to add. We love chromed parts, don't we? 

Step 1 - respray the main body. I think the idea is that you are supposed to use the self-coloured plastic, but that's rubbish as at the very least you'll need to polish it once the mould lines are removed from the top of the wings. And they really must be, it's one of those lovely curvy areas you look at on a bug. 

Paint of choice is Arrow Red from the Humbrol Acrylic range. Mostly because we seem to have lots of cans of the stuff left over from other projects. Working outside (the spray booth is packed away) it goes on well in light coats and dries nicely. I primed the inner wings with white before giving them a dose of body colour too as this is a new car and that's what VW did.