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1968 Volkswagen 1500 Beetle

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The body
As usual, I started the whole process with the body.
I had to tackle the sink marks behind headlights; filled them with putty and then sanded down to an even surface. Because I had my suspicions regarding the quality of the plastic, I first tried on the hoods… and my suspicions confirmed. For the first time, my oil based primer has failed; needless to say that I have all the parts washed in soapy water and well dried before application. I washed all the parts one more time then passed very lightly steel wool over it to improve the paint’s grip. I reduced the air pressure on the air brush as well and I primed the model, this time with better results.

After light sanding with 600 and 1200 grit, I have applied the first orange enamel coat. The result turned out satisfactory, not that bright and shiny one would expect but quite fine and uniform. After the first paint coat dried and a little more sanding with grit 1200, I airbrushed the second coat with good result: the bright orange being better defined and definitely more shiny. After I dealt with “orange peel effect,” I have continued adding up details and installed the windows. Finally, I drenched the whole model in a clear gloss of acrylic varnish and let it dry for two days.
Finished Model & Conclusions
I have checked all details one more time and touched last details here and there to fix various scratches and mishaps. Finally, I airbrushed one more gloss coat and installed the wheels. Then I could lay down and relax, watching the model for a while…
I recapitulated all and I had my conclusion: It is a nice model to build, fairly easy: the only problems were the molding and the quality of the plastic. Besides the above mentioned problems, the rearview mirror broke when removed from the sprue but I was able to patch it and the radio antenna is out of scale (too thick). Thanks to the generous scale (1/24) the detail is very good and offers lots of possibilities for further detailing; my objective was OOB and I am quite happy with the outcome.
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About the Author

About Gabriel (Szmann)
FROM: NETHERLANDS ANTILLES

Born in Romania, from a German father. Classical studies, Latin teacher. Currently holding French residency, business owner in a Dutch island where currently spoken language is English. At home I speak Spanish, though. Interest in history and modelling: since babyhood, I grown with my father's stor...


Comments

Gabriel - such a nice and well detailed build. Great painting in the interior and I like your colour selection for the body. I think I can see some orange peel on the paint job. Orange peel is easily removed and improves the finish a lot. Just after you apply and the clear coat and it dries give it a polish. Depending on the amount of orange peel you can even use fine micromesh cloths (4000-12000). Great work anyways and I'm looking forward to your next car model. Kind regards, Sven.
OCT 04, 2014 - 03:51 PM
Thank you, SHarjacek, for your kind words as well as for advice. Working hard to improve the final quality of my models, and criticism is welcome. Warm regards.
OCT 04, 2014 - 06:04 PM
Beautiful build model Gabriel. Thanks for sharing.
OCT 05, 2014 - 07:11 PM
Many thanks, Jesper. Your encouraging words keep me connected. Warm regards.
OCT 06, 2014 - 02:31 AM