Revell Volkswagen Beetle 1500 Convertible

While waiting for some supplies to arrive so I could crack on with the 48 Ford convertible I've got on the go, instead of doing nothing, I opened one of these (Yes, I have 2 more in the stash), and as I had already had the paint mixed up for it, I thought it was about time I made a convertible beetle, it will go nicely with the other 2 Beetle's in the display cabinet.

As with all the recent Revell kit's I've built, the parts fit on these models is just first glass, the body had some very slight mold lines to remove at the front and rear of the body, but nothing too serious and a few minutes with a medium sanding stick soon made history of them

The body and body parts were prepped and then given a couple of coats of Hycote grey plastic primer applied using my Paasche H airbrush with the # 5 tips, and then dry sanded when dried and a few coats of VW Marine blue cellulose was applied

The engine and gearbox and other parts on the chassis just about fall into position, the interior was first painted in satin black acrylic and then flocked, the wheels and the running boards are supplied as part of the chrome sprue, so they were both put into some household bleach to remove the chrome, after a coat of primer the running boards got a coat of satin black to replicate the rubber and the wheels were given a few coats of Tamiya silver leaf and then the hubcaps were doing using chrome bmf, the horn ring on the steering wheel was also picked out using bmf after the wheel had been airbrushed in satin black

Looks like a good detailed kit. I'll have to give it a go sometime.

Mr Hirakawa wrote:Looks like a good detailed kit. I'll have to give it a go sometime.

The engine, gearbox and suspension isn't as detailed as the Tamiya Beetle, which I built a few years ago, but Tamiya kits can be over engineered and certain parts are fragile because of this, these Revell kits have the detail where you can see it, I built the saloon version earlier in the year, I'll take the Revell version over the Tamiya one any day.

Excellent. Thanks for that little bit of info.

BMF the horn ring??!! You have both determination and talent! The BIG folded down top always put me off buying a VW ragtop. It was both so high and just looked too smooth to simulate fabric.
Good luck with this addition to the collection. No oil leaks on the engine bottom?

More great work Geoff. I agree with you on the rag top, never was fond of it either. Looks like one of those silly over sized rear spoilers.

Looking great.

What blue is it? Really works well, and ditto on the convertible top. Perched there like a county dunny!

That blue is spot on for a Beetle, Ill follow along Geoff.

webby wrote:What blue is it? Really works well, and ditto on the convertible top. Perched there like a county dunny!

VW Marine blue

Got a little more work done to the Beetle today, masked up the dashboard to airbrush the plastic parts, the glovebox and surround around the speedo are in real life metal, the rest of the dash is plastic, and has a totally different sheen to it, so I used some semi gloss coal black, just has a slightly less glossy appearance to the satin black I'd already airbrushed it, also got the door panels airbrushed in satin black, just the door pull and seat belt buckle to pick out with a little bmf now









Also got the exhaust silencer and towbar fitted

Brilliant Geoff.

Looks great.

Looking good Geoff

Very nice work

Excellent progress. I see they've actually bothered with seatbelts on the door sides, so I wonder, have they bothered with the receiver (seat belt clicky thing) on the seats?

Mr Hirakawa wrote: I see they've actually bothered with seatbelts on the door sides, so I wonder, have they bothered with the receiver (seat belt clicky thing) on the seats?

Yes they have, it's molded as part of the front seats

Excellent workmanship.

Excellent detail painting and clean building as usual Geoff.

What is that tow bar thing?

What could you tow with a Beetle anyway?

Does the kit come with some kind of trailer?

Beautiful work Geoff. 

Excellent kit, overall! Nice work on the engine and dashboard. Wheels look great too, but find the tire sidewalls look both a bit flat (no side bulge) and lacking in brand detailing/tire dimensions. Looks like the model company cut corners there. All else okay!