Thread: Gatto's VW Beetle... Extremely slow W.I.P.

Yonnee,

I found these on my model car forum I frequent and thought you might get a kick out of them. The interior is really cool looking.

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Bret

With this forum upgrade effecting the viewing of pictures, I've refrained from posting for a couple of days. But now they're all sorted, it's time for some more show & tell!

I thought I'd better have a trial fit of the roof and sides to make sure all the modifications not only worked, but made the changes worthwhile doing. So here they are...

VW Beetle w.i.p 057.jpg

VW Beetle w.i.p 058.jpg

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Now that you have chamfered the roof edges it really is looking the part. Great progress I must get into the shed and make something you are all making me feel guilty but then I have just spent 2 days sorting and rearranging the wood store

Originally Posted by Diggerdelaney

Now that you have chamfered the roof edges it really is looking the part. Great progress I must get into the shed and make something you are all making me feel guilty but then I have just spent 2 days sorting and rearranging the wood store

Ah, but wait, there's more...

Part of tonight's effort was to make the rear "engine block" section to enable me to start gluing the roof onto the sides, and clamp it without it collapsing in on itself. And that required a thicker piece. Problem was, a piece that I'd smoothed and glued together a while ago had two different colours...
VW Beetle w.i.p 060.jpg

...and if I'd put the template on square with the block, the join and the two colours would have been noticable.

So I attached the template with the outward facing angled section in line with the outer face of the block,...
VW Beetle w.i.p 061.jpg
...so the cut through the join is unseen, inside the car behind the back seat.

VW Beetle w.i.p 062.jpg

A final cut...
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And a bit of time on the sander, has the main shape of the rear section ready for its role in the first gluing.
VW Beetle w.i.p 064.jpg

As there are no plans for the modified roof, I have to think of what might be the best way to do it. I thought I'd glue the centre section of the roof first, that way I can marry the front and rear edges to match it's angle on the side section precisely. If the time is spent getting this first one in the right place, the other two should mate up either end of it without even trying.
VW Beetle w.i.p 065.jpg

Originally Posted by Yonnee

With this forum upgrade effecting the viewing of pictures, I've refrained from posting for a couple of days. But now they're all sorted, it's time for some more show & tell!

I thought I'd better have a trial fit of the roof and sides to make sure all the modifications not only worked, but made the changes worthwhile doing. So here they are...

VW Beetle w.i.p 057.jpg

VW Beetle w.i.p 058.jpg

VW Beetle w.i.p 059.jpg

Very impressive Yonnee to get the shaped slopes on the roof section.....well done.
You are doing a great job on this bug..
Cheers crowie

Thanks Pete, I appreciate the feedback. Once the three roof sections are in place, I can properly round it all off and will hopefully look more like a beetle than the plans do.

Great job Yonnee, the roof looks great, once it been sanded to shape it will look just like the original one

Originally Posted by scotty60

Great job Yonnee, the roof looks great, once it been sanded to shape it will look just like the original one

G'Day Yonnee, This compliment from Scotty is high praise as he's a top quality panel beater/spray painter in the trade for many years.....Crowie

Originally Posted by crowie

G'Day Yonnee, This compliment from Scotty is high praise as he's a top quality panel beater/spray painter in the trade for many years.....Crowie

Originally Posted by scotty

Great job Yonnee, the roof looks great, once it been sanded to shape it will look just like the original one.

Thanks Scotty, that's what I'm hoping for.

One thing that has had me pondering a how-to was the steering wheel. Firstly, the plans describe the making of a three spoke wheel (which the original is not), Secondly, they show the measurements for a wheel both smaller & thicker than the orignal. The plans are also a little vague on how to make it, so I trialled an idea I had, which worked a treat.

I started by finding a piece of Jarrah I've had for 20 years, and drilling the inner diameter with a spade bit...
VW Beetle w.i.p 066.jpg

...then the outer diameter with a hole saw. I did it in this order because once the hole saw pilot was drilled, the spade bit wouldn't have centralised properly.
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Both holes were drilled about 5-6mm deep. Then I trimmed the tag off.
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I then set the guide to about 3.5mm
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Pictures tell a thousand words...
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I stopped about halfway, and I didn't want to move the guide to see how the cutting was going, so I just removed it from the saw.
The ruler shows what's happening, and by now you'll see where this is going.
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And voilà. Success!!
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The next step was to carefully sand the corners around the entire circumference to round it off.
(A time consuming task that I didn't take photos of...)

Next on the list was to work out attachment of the wheel to the spokes. The plans show drilling through the wheel and inserting toothpicks into the steering column. But this wheel is too skinny for even a 2mm hole for a toothpick,
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So with my trusty sharp knife, I notched out a section wide enough for the toothpick...
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...then trimmed the toothpick to length.
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Once it fitted correctly, the spoke was fed through the column and glued to the wheel.
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You are being sucked into the vortex Yonnee. Looking good keep the pics and how to's coming.

Bret

I got around to a little more...

I bit the bullet and carved out the driver's side panels around the speedo too. I'm reasonably happy with the result.
Here's a couple of shots of the dash and steering column dry assembled to the firewall. The two lower toothpicks have had their 'pointy' ends removed, and these ends are what you can see protruding from the dash. Hopefully they look like knobs...
VW Beetle w.i.p 082.jpg 69 beetle - steering wheel.jpg
Any opinions as to whether I should add the vertical vent lines too...??

The steering column will be trimmed once all is in place and glued to the right depth. I've got to remember to put some sort of finish on the steering wheel & dash before they get glued into the car for the final time...
VW Beetle w.i.p 081.jpg

I also made a start on the rear guards...
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