Thread: 1964 VW Beetle - WIP

Thank you all for the good comments and feedback. It's much appreciated.

I can barely move today. Spent half of yesterday on a working bee, helping to prepare a new building for the Men's Shed and our woodies club's new workshop. Can't wait for it to be finished. The current one is too far away for me to get to. Hopefully it'll be done by Xmas.

Anyway, back to the job - apart from me, no one seems to think that the hub caps are too light, so I'll try to remake them without the dark dowel centre. That's what stands out the most. I'll see if I can get away with a blind hole for the dowel. I think I can just get away with it if I grind the spur off a 6mm brad-point bit. The hub caps are only 3mm thick, so there's not much room to move.
Otherwise, if I can't, I'll plug the top of the holes with a matching plug.

( I did dream about making hub caps last night. )

I got this far today. (I switched to Camphor Laurel.)
I used the plug method - much easier to sand the discs to size with a hole right through.
(And I got the little circles in the centre that I was after.)
I'm much happier with the look so far. :

New hub caps unshaped.JPG


I'll let the glue harden up overnight, then cross my fingers and shape them on the lathe. Up to two can fly apart, as long as I have four left. I think that any/all joints that survive the shaping are plenty strong enough to hold the hub caps on in service - there's no real load on them.

I'm still thinking about a trip to the tip tomorrow to see if I can find a typewriter. Pretty unlikely, but I'll see what happens.

Those look great Steve. Will be interesting how you make the VW if you find a typewriter. Never thought of that. I bet my grandma has an old one I could get from here.

Bret

Originally Posted by bj383ss

Those look great Steve. Will be interesting how you make the VW if you find a typewriter. Never thought of that. I bet my grandma has an old one I could get from here.

Bret

I'm just heading off to try my luck now. There's a couple of places I can look. They're getting pretty rare, though. I need a broken one, or it might be costly.
The only problem with typewriter capitals is that the letters have serifs. On a 'V' and a 'W', I should be able to file them off, I think.
I'm not too concerned - even the empty circles look OK on this scale.

Edit: The other option. (I thought they'd be much dearer, but only $21.25.) ARIAL UPPERCASE Metal Stamps Alphabet 1/8 3mm by NaftaliSupply

I didn't find a typewriter. Not to worry, I'm not even sure that the 'V' 'W' would look any good. The stamps I linked to earlier would be a tad too big, at 3mm, too.

Otherwise, I got the hub caps finished and a couple of coats of Danish oil on them. Much better than the earlier version. Also put the last coat of finish on the wheels. The tyres are a bit glossier than I really wanted, but not too bad. After the DO hardens properly, I might give the tyres a light scuff with 0000 steel wool to dull them a little.

The glue held well. I didn't break any hub cap/axle assemblies during shaping:

Hub caps finished.JPG


The wheels after the finish coats:

Wheels finished.jpg


A wheel with hub cap:

Finished wheel with hub cap.JPG


I enjoyed making those wheels. The other bits seem a bit boring by comparison. The bumper bars will be a challenge though. Looking forward to it.

Meantime, tomorrow morning I'll continue with the front guard shaping.

Steve love the wheels they came out great can't wait to see it all finished

They look good Steve, well done....

I found some 1.5mm stamps on eBay but as you said, it'd be very difficult to get them looking right..

1 16" 1 5 MM Capital Letter Punch Stamp SET Metal Steel Gold Silver 27 Piece A Z | eBay

The only way to get the perfect "VW" logo on them would be with a fine cutter on a CNC router machine which I don't have or know how to program & use.
Cheers, crowie

Thanks guys. And crowie, I think I can learn to live without the 'VW' on the hub caps. It was just a whim. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how they look now.
You're right, though, a CNC router would be the way to do it accurately. Definitely won't be trying to hand-carve them.

As a bonus, since I didn't stuff any wheels up, I have two spares to add to the spoked ones in my collection.
Or, I could make a matching box trailer for the VW.....
(Yonnee's department.)

Edit: Pete, (crowie), it looks like there's a possibility of showers up your way tomorrow, to help with the fires. Fingers crossed.

I'm doing a little rain dance now - that should do it.

Steve,
Not to beat the dead horse....but I'll bet with your skill you could use an exacto knife and magnifying glass and etch the VW logo on the hubs pretty easily. Clear sealer could then fill it and it would look raised....
Sounds easier to say than do, though......
The Bug is looking great!
Jim

Originally Posted by Script

Steve,
Not to beat the dead horse....but I'll bet with your skill you could use an exacto knife and magnifying glass and etch the VW logo on the hubs pretty easily. Clear sealer could then fill it and it would look raised....
Sounds easier to say than do, though......
The Bug is looking great!
Jim

I've been meaning to make a stand for my magnifying glass to free up both hands. Been slack.
Meanwhile I use a pair of magnifying specs, but they're not good enough for really small work.

The front guards are coming along. They're rough-shaped. Just a last bit of fine shaping and they're done.

Marked out for shaping and stuck to 'handles' with DS tape:

co. Unshaped front guards.jpg


First step, a chamfer along the edge to be rounded:

cp. Front guard shaping step 1.jpg


Rough-shaped. I just need to blend the areas leading to the headlights and fine-sand:

cq. Front guards rough-shaped.JPG

The front guards are about finished. I'll do a final bit of shaping to the bottom as needed after gluing them on, to blend with the body.

cr. Front guards test fit 1.JPG cs. Front guards test fit 2.JPG

As you can see in the second pic, I have a bit of a problem with timber colour. The sides of the body front don't match the rest of the body.
I'm using recycled Captain Snooze Tas Oak legs for my timber supply.

Captain Snooze legs.jpg

They're about 4" square, laminated in 3 layers. I cut all of the timber for the VW from one leg, but it appears that it's not all from the same tree. I cut the stuff for the body front later, from a different part of the leg.
I'll have to live with it I guess. A lesson learned. I'll plan the timber much more carefully for the next model.
I don't like the end-grain striping of the Tas Oak, either. Something with more consistent colour next time.

Next up on the VW is the front indicators. Not sure how I'll make them yet. Once they're out of the way I'll start gluing stuff together - body to base, front parts etc. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I'll make a start on the FC Holden soon. I've been putting a little time into working out how it should go together.

Originally Posted by Hermit

I'll make a start on the FC Holden soon. I've been putting a little time into working out how it should go together.

We'll be expecting full plans of the FC and well as the WIP.
I like the end grain look on the bonnet.

If you can do a xf ford panel van after that it would keep a mate of mine happy....

Originally Posted by _fly_

We'll be expecting full plans of the FC and well as the WIP.
I like the end grain look on the bonnet.

The grain does look good, but it detracts from the shape a bit.

I'll be winging it a fair bit with the FC, but in the WIP I'll include the plans for any parts that make it onto paper, along with dimensions etc.
It'll be based on this one. It's 1:24, so I only need to double everything to scale up to 1:12 :

LHS.JPG

If you can do a xf ford panel van after that it would keep a mate of mine happy....

Dunno about an XF, too new. I like building cars that I have an association with, too. I'm considering another VW in the future, a '74 twin-cab. I don't think I've ever seen a model of one. Also maybe an MGB. I had a '67 for a while years ago. I have a die-cast model of one here somewhere, as a guide.

Ever since seeing Mel's, (diamondT's), BSA Sloper a while ago, I've been dying to make a bike, too.

Looks like I'll be busy for a little while.....

Originally Posted by Hermit

The front guards are about finished. I'll do a final bit of shaping to the bottom as needed after gluing them on, to blend with the body.

cr. Front guards test fit 1.JPG cs. Front guards test fit 2.JPG

As you can see in the second pic, I have a bit of a problem with timber colour. The sides of the body front don't match the rest of the body.
I'm using recycled Captain Snooze Tas Oak legs for my timber supply.

Captain Snooze legs.jpg

They're about 4" square, laminated in 3 layers. I cut all of the timber for the VW from one leg, but it appears that it's not all from the same tree. I cut the stuff for the body front later, from a different part of the leg.
I'll have to live with it I guess. A lesson learned. I'll plan the timber much more carefully for the next model.
I don't like the end-grain striping of the Tas Oak, either. Something with more consistent colour next time.

Next up on the VW is the front indicators. Not sure how I'll make them yet. Once they're out of the way I'll start gluing stuff together - body to base, front parts etc. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I'll make a start on the FC Holden soon. I've been putting a little time into working out how it should go together.

Still looks pretty damn good to me Steve, You've done a top job on making a block of timber look like a real deal VW Bettle... Cheers, crowie