mustang1989

I picked this kit up about a month ago because it was IMO just too dang cool. This one will be a sideline build when I either get stumped on or waiting for paint to dry for my current aircraft project, in which right now I'm waiting on paint to dry and trying to figure out some fit issues with it so I figured I'd start this thread. I'm not going to get as crazy as I did with my '54 Chevy just because I don't want something that in depth. But I do want to have some fun with this one so here goes. Der Beetle Bus: Now when I opened up the box I looked at the body and knew right away that this body was not going to fly at all. The wheel base is ridiculously short for my tastes and it would look more like a cartoon van than an actual vehicle. Here's where we start: and I just couldn't leave it like that so I bought another kit and went to work: Cutting the bodies at just the right points yielded a wheel base that I could live with Top view of the difference it made: and the side view :

I understand and know where you started Pete. This is one nasty kit that's for dang sure and I know all too well on what it takes to get it looking as good as what you have here! Super sweet job on this build man. Super sweet!

Thanks Mark, Bill and Andy. I don't give up easily on models and come to think of it there's only been one that I put back in the box and said, "There'll be another day" and that was the AMT 66 Barracuda "Hemi Under Glass" kit. That thing was just too far gone right out the box for me to do much with. I'll start a thread on my VW Beetle bus in this weekend sometime and try as quickly as possible to catch everybody up without boring anyone with too much detail. lol

Ed and Mark: Thank you both very much for those encouraging words. There were several stages in the build where I just wanted to shelve the whole thing and be done with it but egging on from folks like you guys kept me in the boxing ring and I appreciate it. I'll be throwing my Pro Street / Custom VW bus in the ring around here soon.

Sheesh. I got so busy with my new project that I forgot to post the completion here. I finished it up a few weeks ago and felt pretty good about the results. When I was a kid I was drawn to the Revell Street Demons line-up and ended up buying them all. I only built three of them back then and this was one of them. It's funny how when the hobby follows us into adulthood we see how much we either overlooked or just how bad the kits were back then. But hey, we were having fun back then right? lol . I took this project on in January of this year and although this kit does suck, I've had a great amount of fun with it and learning opportunities left and right over the course of the last 8-1/2 months. Although I was drawn to this car as a kid (and still am), as an adult I didn't care for the gasser stance for a "street" car and wanted something a little more jazzed up and to have some fun with it. Sooooooo, I created a dropped down party mobile. I mean .............with all that room in the back the possibilities were endless. I started out with my eyes being a lot bigger than 1.) my ability and 2.) what there was room for back there. Over the course of the build while my vision/ goal was always the same, I had to modify the ideas somewhat and my abilities got a tune up but I'm very happy with the end result. I won't go over every detail of the build but I will say that there were 7 different kits and a lot of aftermarket involved in its making. What really blew me away was the fact that there weren't any headlight bezels/ buckets (and there still aren't to this day with the latest release of this kit!!! ) and the hood hinge cut outs at the back of the engine compartment just make you want to slap the original kit engineers. I'd like to thank all of those who followed along and commented/ encouraged me throughout this creation. You guys are da bomb. The kit: Glamour shots: and then there's what's inside:

Looks good to me Rich! I've had two of these kits but they always end up as parts donors. lol. Again nice turnout by you.

Nice choice Kevin. Gotta love those early Luftwaffe jets. No seats or control stick though?? They could have at the very least threw a seat in it! :o Watching.............

Thanks Gil. It's the bombsight mount.

Thank you Bill and Gil. I've been throwing a lot of time and energy at the Chevy as of late just trying to get it finished. You know how it is when you want something finished and it just won't cooperate? That's what's happening with the Chevy Sedan Delivery I'm building. It's one thing after another but I'm getting through it. I had an opportunity while paint was drying on that to switch back over to the Arado. Pilots seat is done and installed. I'll be working on the back wall where the battery and other details are and working my way forward after I take care of the nose gear bay on the bottom side of this whole assembly. Here's the progress : ( The seat belts are actually dirtier than they look in the picture-here they look practically brand new....wow)

I started things off by black basing the whole cockpit tub: I managed to shoot a base coat of RLM 66 emamel after that followed up by hitting the highlights with a little acrylic RLM 66 with a drop of white in it on the high points. I set that aside to dry and then hit it with a coat of Tamiya Clear and allowed that to dry. I followed that up with a wash of MIG Productions dark wash lightened some so as not to be overbearing with it. After that dried under a lamp for a while I brought out all the details and dry brushed some silver over the corners and over some of the more frequently used controls through out the side consoles. I then went over everything with a coat of MM flat clear with a drop of grey in it to give the sun faded look. I still have to install the instruments at the R/H front console and at the upright panel at the front of the L/H console and then it'll be down to the PE details, resin pieces like the control yoke and seat with belts and then the main instrument panel. There's alot more stuff I didn't mention but the list is just too dang long. You get the picture though(no pun intended).

Ok gang, I ended up trying to adhere the master cylinder assembly onto the firewall and in the process of gluing it to the firewall I made contact between the two in the absolute wrong place on the firewall. I mean it STUCK and there wasn't any removing it without damage to the paint. I managed to break it free and wound up with a big 'ol primered spot on the firewall. Man I was pissed!!! Beyond pissed! I got up and walked away from the whole mess for about 20 minutes , came to my senses, returned to the bench and dispensed some Tamiya X-29 Black I had and shot it through the airbrush to cover up that God awful mess there on the firewall. My problem was that the vacuum hose was just a shade too long so trimmed it back and stared over again. This time I got it. If you look close you can see the outline of the boo-boo just to the right of the master cylinder but the good news is that the body L/H inner fender well will cover this up. I also got the primer coat on the hood for the fourth time! They say the third time is the charm but I guess we'll have to make an exception here with this thing. The progress:

Thanks Gil and Tim! I cut the side panels from the resin mounting blocks today. This stuff is super thin so cutting it from them was a slow process to avoid breaking the dang things. Looks like everything is fitting here so far: and still mates up to the fuselage as good as I've ever seen from an Aires set

. I've got the tub all trimmed up and the two pieces glued together. I had to sand a lot of material from the bottom to get it to fit right but so far so good. Here's a few shots with the clear nose piece test fitted. It looks like it's gonna be A-OK.

What's funny is that same stuff crosses my mind. lol

I wonder where that 1/25th scale penny went to now............ lol

You aint being one there Pete. This is a custom build.....all the way through and I didn't want to break up the black with a big ol' yeller battery smack dab in the middle of it all. lol

Thanks Bill. lol. I hear you on the tedious part. Sometimes I think to myself that it would just be easier and faster to just put a battery in there but then I think.................NAHHH!! lol. Completed battery:

There have been several updates here. First I wanted more than just a plain ol' battery in this engine compartment so I began by robbing the battery from an AMT '51 Chevy kit, cut the battery posts off of it and drilled holes through the bottom where the battery posts used to be. I used an electrical diode that I got at Radio Shack due to the squared off ends of the wire and the .028" diameter that made it perfect for battery posts. See what I mean? I've got some PE battery terminals but didn't like how thin they were as it doesn't look very real so I'll be cutting a few more of these out and stack them up about 3 high and filling in the sides for a more realistic battery terminal end. Here's the single layer on top of each battery post for now though: Secondly I started work on my PE electric cooling fan for the radiator. At around 11 pieces total to count the electrical circuits I ran to it this thing was no joke to build. The hardest part was getting the outside ring of the fan assy perfectly round. Anyways here we are with that .... a little scale reference against my spare '54 Chev I'm also continuing work on my interior door panels which have given me a lot of grief. I've stripped them 4 times so far. Just wasn't happy with the way the paint was behaving. I used acrylic for the white inserts and after I applied the gloss coat to seal it all in the acrylic paint started cracking. Then it was a masking issue that looked really bad and then I had a paint boo boo that went to crap when I was sanding to correct it. You know, the typical stuff. I used white primer as a base coat so we'll see what happens this time round.

No problem Pete. Told ya!

. Just a test fit of the body on the chassis so far. I've got to wet sand the body to get rid of some of the roughness and put one more gloss coat on this bad boy before I'll be satisfied. Here are the fruits of 6 months work so far:

LOL. Thanks Pete. 10 of you building that car? Wow! All of you guys must have horror stories of your own on how sucky of a kit that thing is. The mold/ seam lines are terrible on those things. Small medicine/ pill bottles cut in half at the bottoms also make for good wheel tubs. :D

Looks good Pete. That tubbed AMT 66 Nova Chassis works great for use with this kit BTW. :D

Pete: No problem bud. What do you have in progress? Andy: Thank you kindly. The Wet Look is tricky and I'll say this, dispense it and shoot it on right after it gasses out. If you wait too long it'll come out like spider web. I'm using Model Master Black One Coat Lacquer which it doesn't look like is made or available any longer. That's really too bad too because that stuff goes on smooth right out of the can.

Thanks Pete! :D That's about the same process I follow for smoothing the paint out with one twist. I use a chamois to polish with and use Novus 2 and then 1. A guy can't get much smoother than cow skin for polishing purposes. lol I can usually get a real smooth finish straight from the can but you know how handling and installing last minute parts lends itself to messing with that. lol