Three wheeled styrene blob (long term progress )

Hey guys, I thought I 'd make a thread about this long-term project I have (yes, even more long-term then the others ;-) )

It's not entirely about the car I want to make, but I chose to do this because I want to improve my scratch-building and puttying skills, and also, because I tend to like this particular "car" :smile:

I don't know if many people have actually seen one of these vehicles, but I am pretty sure those of you living and going on holidays in the big Italian cities do know what I m referring to when they see the pics.

The name of this thing is the Piaggio Ape, brother of the Vespa scooter , and the modelyear I em going to try to make is the 1996 -200* .

It's an icon in Italy, it's as common as eating a hot pizza on a nice quiet piazza , listening to violins and drinking a nice glass of martini.

This vehicle has been designed to carry small merchandises(pizza , coffee, even used as ice-cream-vans ) through the small streets in traffic-jammed cities. The first one came out in about 1960, and not much has changed about it since then.

It still boast the gigantic :rolleyes: engine of 50 cc, borrowed from the Vespa-scooter, has the same steering wheel and mechanic parts!
Also, the top speed only stops at a staggering :biggrin: 40 Km/h, the equivalent of about 25 MPH !

I like the Ape, well it's not pronounced Ape like the monkey more like A-PE , and means wasp, in Italian.

I hope you like these first steps in scratch-building, and I hope many of you have suggestions about how to go on and make the bodywork even more realistic.

If any of you happen to be :cwm27: lucky :cwm27: enough to own one, I m desperate to find some specific detail pictures of the interior!

Also, I realise it may not be truly a model "car" :bloated: only having three wheels, but hey, it's still pretty truly a 1/24th scale model...

That's why I ll be using the Tampiya Vespa Engine and tyres and other stuff when I get my hands on it :-) (Xav ? ;-) )

I hope you enjoy :tongue:

Here are some reference pictures of this three wheeled monsterhttp://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/528854Photo001.jpg

First steps...http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/441321Photo002.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/567496Photo003.jpg

Current shape ....
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/304917ape001.jpg
http://files.automotiveforums.com/uploads/935873ape003.jpg


As always...

:bananasmi comments welcome.

Olivier:wink:

That is awesome...:bigthumb:

WOW! Scratch building the whole thing from nothing.
Excellent project. :bigthumb:
Do keep us upadted.:wink:

Great project.Keep us updated on progress.

Nice! Can't wait for progress. :bigthumb:

nice project! keep an eye on it

it's amazing to see that "car" snorring around in small streets with 40 km an hour (wich is actually fast in small narrow streets) with a vespa steer on it.

Every time i saw one i didn't understand how they don't fal over in corners:tongue: :iceslolan :tongue:

nice building BTW

Cool! Kinda reminds me of a Daihatsu Midget!:iceslolan :bigthumb:

This looks like it is going to be insane as far as scratch building goes. i think you can pull it off and I cannot wait to see how this turns out.

Hope it turns out good! stick with it.

WOW...What a project to take on !!
Look forward to seeing how you get on.

Originally posted by tonioseven
Cool! Kinda reminds me of a Daihatsu Midget!:iceslolan :bigthumb: That's what I was gonna say!~! :sunglasse

LOL. That reminds me of the Dihatsu Midget. :lol:
http://www.ebbro.com.hk/catalogue/daihatsu-folder/midget-titlepic.jpg

Your project is coming along nicely! Hope to see it finished!


*EDIT* That'll teach me to read the whole thread next time :iceslolan

yo we need an update

great prog!!! can't wait to see more!!!:smile:

Originally posted by streetracerin631
yo we need an update

Haha, he calls it a longterm project, and you ask him for an update after 3 days... :lol: