In Progress: Tamiya New Beetle

Hi everyone!

Some of you may remember this pic:

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/9060/11515060in.jpg

The Fiat-eating-monster-Beetle! :rolleyes:

Well, after I finished the Fiat, I decided to do the Beetle next. Still cute, but not quite so tiny. It's nice working on a body on which a fingerprint doesn't cover a whole door or roof!

Here are the body parts after some sanding.

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/3399/nb0027qz.jpg

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/9189/nb0017wz.jpg

I primed it in MM Acryl grey primer.

I wanted to paint the Beetle in that terrific metallic light green that I see on so many around here. I'm not usually one to stick to factory colors, but I like this one so much, I had to try. So, A mix of Tamiya Chrome Silver and Light Green- should come out pretty close, I hope.

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/526/nb0039vk.jpg

And now the results!

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/6734/nb0044wo.jpg

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/2605/nb0051je.jpg

I clearcoated it with a whole bottle of X22 Clear, and then rubbed it out with micromesh, polished it with Meguiar's ScratchX, and shined it with Tamiya wax. I haven't yet compared it next to a 1/1 Beetle, but I think the color is incredibly close. I'm really happy with how it came out.

Since Hiroboy was nice enough to give the rest of us some pointers on photography, here's my attempt at learning to use my camera.

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/9177/nb0075rg.jpg

Maybe not perfect, but I'm learning! (I think I'll try it next time with a clean piece of posterboard for the background. :rolleyes: )

Let me know what you think!

Great start: that's fun: this is exactly the color of the bug I had: I sold to my sister just 1 month ago: I'll shoot something but I had a TDI stuff :)

and.. my was not tuned: I lowered it on PS for a joke on a Italian board :)
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c159/gionc/bug.jpg

a couple or refs more:

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c159/gionc/bug1.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c159/gionc/bug2.jpg
hope that will help you, meanwhile I'll shot something for the interiors.
ciao

After that Fiat I'm really looking forward to this build.

I don't remember that picture. Tell me more. :eek:

Great color matching, too, and great paint work. Mixing paint is a skill and a half, color* me impressed.

*Pun unintentional.

Wow good job on the paint. it looks pretty close.. maybe a touch lighter, but definitely a good representation. cant wait to see more. IS that enamel or acrylic paint?

Thanks everyone!

Cool Gio, thanks for the pics. Nice of you to have your car painted like my model! :rolleyes:

Dean23- They're Tamiya acrylic, both the color and the clearcoat.

I don't remember that picture. Tell me more. :eek:


Well then you'll have to check out my just completed Fiat build! (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=498259) :wink:

that paint is spot on. amazing work. Can't wait to see more!

Nice work on the paint.

Nice Paint!

After that Fiat I'm really looking forward to this build.
exactly. I'm really looking forward to seeing what magic you do with the interior and engine (if there is one). beautiful paintjob. we are all in for a real treat now.:grinyes:

So where are you going to park the 500 now? ;)

So what do you have planned for interior extras this time? Jars of saurkraut? Schnapps? Lederhosen? :biggrin:

Did you put a grill or something in the front? Looking forward to following this

Very nice!

Now that it's nice enough to paint again, I should shut-up and finish the paint on mine...lol

Nice paint on this one. I am looking forward to see this built.

Winston

Thats some sweet colour there, loved the fiat build and lookin' forward to more great models from you
ESE

Has it really been so long since I updated this? :dunno: I guess time really does fly when you're insanely busy......

So some months back I went to the local VW dealership looking for inspiration for this build. And I found it! There was a really cool limited edition TDI in this color. It had the coolest black and green interior. I didn't have my camera with me, so I almost had to bring the car itself home for reference material. :grinyes: Fortunately for my budget, I managed to restrain myself and left with only memories of the interior to recreate in my smaller, more affordable plastic recreation.

It took a lot of masking to accomplish the two tone interior, but I'm pleased with the results.

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/6132/nb008bn0.jpg

Three colors- solid green, black, and body color! :uhoh: Took forever to mask and paint- even had to strip and start over once. :disappoin :rolleyes: But my masking skills are improving. I also did klutz_100 style floormats.

I also did some detailing on the dashboard to give it a bit more life. The vents were painted with gloss black to bring them out, and the stereo was painted chrome to give it that modern chromed-plastic look. Knobs were also highlighted in gloss black to make them more visible against the flat black dashboard.

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/7682/nb009ml7.jpg

Thanks for looking!
(I'll try not to take quite so long to get to my next update. :rolleyes:)

Glad to see you back at it! I was wondering what had happened to this build.
Looking great so far! Keep us posted.

Great job on the interior. I love that green, very striking with the black.

First of all, you should know that I have psychic powers and I made you do this update. For various reasons I was thinking last week that you'd dropped of the radar recently and lo and behold! Update! Happens to me all the time :D

Secondly, I like the color scheme. And I like the rubber mat up-grade you made to the Klutz Kustom Karpets :thumbsup:

very nice looking bug. i have actualy mixed this paint at a 1:1 body shop for a beetle that was in there. i think you did a good representation of it with this.

Looks great!
I finished my Tamiya NB in the mean time. This makes me want to get back to my 'evergreen' NB(mystery in my sig).

Looks just like my buddie's Beetle!

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

I've gotten a bit more time to work on the Beetle, so I painted and detailed the chassis.

http://img240.imageshack.us/img240/4848/nb010tq5.jpg

Pretty much straight out of the box. The chassis was airbrushed black, and drybrushed with grey to bring out the detail. Then I painted and heat stained the exhaust with Tamiya acrylics. The heat shielding around the exhaust train was done with BMF.

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/8636/nb011qj5.jpg

The engine underside detail seems kind of sparse, even for a curbside- maybe because it gets covered with an underplate. But I did some work on the brakes and drive shafts. The rubber CV boots were painted in grey and given a black wash, and the retaining clamps were added with thin strips of BMF.

There, almost ready to put it all together. Thanks for looking!

Looks good especially the drive shafts!

Maybe you want to do some drybrushing in the suspesion parts to bring them a bit more into synch with the weathering on the floor pan?

End of year sprint, huh? ;)

WOWWWW BTW I bought back my green bug :D and from tomorrow morning it come back in my garage: if u need refs just ask.. (not on the green interiors LOL)

wow. great work on the bug so far! :D