1/24 Revell 1968 VW Käfer

Gallery Article by Ryan Gay on Jan 2 2018

 

      

Normally I build aircraft and sometimes armor. I thought I would make a car this time for a change. I have always thought it would be great to have a VW bug, however circumstances do not allow for that. So, I get a small version for now. I built this car out-of-box using other cars online as references. This is a very easy build, very good model and perfect fit. 

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The only real problem I ran into were with the tires. I wasn't convinced the decals making the white rings on the tires would work, so I painted the white on. I had to do this three times to get it right. I first cut circles out of tape for a mask, and then realised that wouldn't work. Afterwards, I found a stencil with circles on it big enough for the tires. I painted the white on, then put the hubcaps on the tires. The problem with that is the rubber tires expand and the paint does not. I had a crubled mess of a paint job. Fortunately, the paint came off the tires very easily.

Since the hubcaps were painted already, I had to cover them up. To do so, I used Paramount, a film made in Chicago for medical products I think. It can be pulled really thin, and stick without the use of glue. I cut out the tire from the film, covering the hubcaps, used my stencil and it came out perfect.

I didn't want a "typical" classic car with no dirt on the thing, so I weathered the car. I imagined the car being used daily in the winter. The caraige got most of the weathering with a bit of rust, salt from the road, and dirt/mud from the daily use. I know how cars tend to look in the winter and I made the body of the bug to resemble that.

Tschüs from Switzerland.

Ryan Gay

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Photos and text © by Ryan Gay