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While waiting for some parts do dry and cure
on the boat project, I decided I might need a back-up project in
case I couldn’t get the boats completed in time…. and I felt
some were just having too much fun with the car models, and I felt
left out……so ……Friday evening I picked up a Tamiya 1/48
Volkswagen kit.
….and this is where I am as of this
morning.
As you can see, very little of the kit was
used. It is missing the wooden platform/floor, and a wooden plank
seat. The horse is from my scrap box…it was part of some
horrible kit from the 1960’s…with a plastic that just would
not take any glue…..I finally ended up filling the halves with
epoxy and clamping them……seem to be holding for now. Once dry
ith needed a LOT of rework and parting line/gap clean-up. (took
almost as long as the VW and cart). I still have some harness
& tack work to do (tape is just temp.)
The brass tubing is .06mm dia. from Lion
Roar. The cart frame is made from .060” ‘H-column” styrene
shapes, cut down to a ‘C-Channel’
I
went and did some very quick research on what the basic interior
and body appearance of a gutted VW was…but unfortunately a bit
late…as I had already cut down and used the rear interior that
came with the kit, before I noticed that it was quite incorrect in
shape....c’est-la-vie. The body was heavily thinned (to about
.005”+/-) at all the lower edges and the fenders, so that it
could be deformed/dented. The interior of the roof was also
progressively thinned and shaped, towards the exposed edge. The
interior was built using .010” and .005” styrene.
Holes were drilled on the exterior where the
chrome trim strips, and makers insignias were removed. The cowling
for the license plate light was hollowed out, and the rear tail
lights were modified (the left drilled out completely, and the
right milled deeper and a wiring hole added)
Because the cart sits higher than the
original kit, and the interior of the wheels might be visible , at
a low angle, I modified them to have a slight bit of detail.
The mounting posts on the rear of the rim part were cut
down to be flush with the rear surface of the wheel casting. The
two leftover rim parts were then sanded until the inner detail
could be removed….this detail was then applied to the plain rear
surface of the wheel casting.
I will probably build a small base for
this….thinking somewhere in Africa (Rhodesia or Angola)
in the late 1970’s…..so some redish ground, grey
trunked trees with green foliage.
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