This year I have been revisiting some of the started but never finished projects in the pile, this is one of them... The last time I worked on it was probably 10 years ago and it is time to finish it off! The base was the old Italeri kit, with a lot of help, and this is where I picked it up...

In these first two shots you can see where there is some seperation on the side wall where I had poured resin to fill the kit seams. I also used the wrong color for the base coat way back when...

The tires are cut down and modified resin copies from a Hasagawa kit.

The rear deck is actually from an even older project that made it to completion before the diorama was mortally injured.

These two shots show the scratch built front suspension and metal foil bow plate.


and a shot of the scratch built dash components.

This is where it all begins... again!

I started with scratching up a rear, "wall" and a front support brace.



Then on to the seats. The kit supplied bench for the rear just doesn't cut it so...

I made a couple of templates from sheet stock to get the scale.



After I got those where I wanted them I tried free forming some wire frames, but it was too hard to duplicate the bends to make them look the same so I deceded to make some jigs for the seat bending...
The first one forms the wire,

The next has a cut out for gluing,

then one for bending the the top on the back seats.

Then attach some foil...

...trim...

...sand...

Now on to the final jig for bending the seat...



A little paint...

And there you have it!

I know, that is quite a bit of work for making a seat, but with as small as they are the slightest inconsinstancies make a big difference visually. So even if the jigs are slightly off, it is harder to see because they are consistanly off! Hmmm... I think that works...

So if anyone needs a schwimmwagen seat or two let me know cause the factory is tooled up now!

Thanks for looking.

Impressive scratch building Jonathan. I shouldn´t be surprised anymore at the lengths some folks will go to to get detail "just right", but it does. Great work .. looking forward to more.

I have to say impressive. The jig is BRILLIANT!!!! Love how your taking this tiny gem to new hieghts of detail.....Kudos, Brother!!!!

All right, here we go agian...
...the seats are done...the front seats were made using a shaved down form used for the back seats.

...I built some mounts for the front seats...I've seen a couple of styles but decided to go with the two piece version.

...then decided to rebuild the dash...the old one was getting a little rough and I did find some very good pictures so I think an update was in order.


With the dash out I thought, maybe I could use a gas tank or two. Now I know they are not as, hmmm, accurate, as some of the other parts, but considering how far they are buried up under the dash, I think that they will do.

A new steering coulum mount and some side brackets for the drum mags.

Of course new clutch and brake pedals.

Some nice seat cushions, just for the rear seats right now.

I added the rear hook mounts. I still haven't figured out why I scraped off the old ones all of those years ago, but these are working pretty good.

Then a little paint and here we are...

...for now!

Until next time my friends!

The build... er... rebuild... continues. Sometimes the things you notice just end up being more work. I suppose that's not always a bad thing though. After being all geeked about the seats being done I found a nice overhead shot of the real deal, and I just didn't like my seats any more... so I rebuilt the rear seats. Narrowed them using the front seat guide,expanded the bend radius, and shortened the top bend.
The old one (now in the junk box) is on the right...

The couple things I noticed were the wheels, lug nuts and hubs! It seams the wheels I used were missing lug nuts, that's easily fixed.

The next one was a bit tougher fix. It seems the casts that I made for the hubs were from a Kubelwagen... 2 wheel drive, not a schwimmwagen, 4 wheel drive. So the front hubs were not right, but with a little lead foil and some more of those HO scale nuts, well here they are...

And that brings us up to here...


Next I have to build up a new windshield, so far I've tried the metal frame that I used in the Jeep Wreck build, but for this one it is just too weak. Now I'm just trying to recreate the old one. I'll let ya know how that goes!
Later Ya'll!

With a couple of nights off there has been some small progress, but sometimes the small things are the most time consuming! My camera was down for a day (dang rechagables), so I'll try to sort out what went on.

One brand new step for me, I picked up the Testors decal kit and started working with that.

The art that comes with it is definately not taylored to military vehicles, but with a bunch of mad computer skills (not really) I did get some decent looking decals for this build. Some how I ended up with a little bleeding on a couple of the smaller ones, but I think I can work with them.

After I got that all going I went back to building my new windshiled. I just used the old overhead film and cut strips for the framwork, then cut the uprights out of sheet styrene.


The next small project was to build the drum magazine holders that are mounted on the side of the interior. I was planning to use ones from my Dragon figures kits, but it was just too big, so back to the small projects I built one test that came out pretty good...

...but not quite good enough. So one more time with the magnifiers! and this is what I have.

Then some muffler work...
9
One of the ends was missing from the old construction, but with a lighter and some sprue (well evergreen rod now days) I got one fabbed up.
I did get a chance to do some more interior painting. It always feels good when you can see it come together.


Now it's time to get to work, not the good one, but the one that supports this! So hopefully I will have more in a couple of days.

Aloha

Wow, just wow. This is all in 1/35 isn't it?

Wow! This is really awesome! In fact, I recently got the Eduard PE set for this super cheap and the local IPMS Spring show is coming up, so I'll be scoping for one of these kits!

Just love the new rear seats- and everything! Great job!

Personally, I think it's really cool to take some of these old classics and spruce them up- gets the creative juices going and builds skills! This is what it was like before Smart Kits and slide molding... back in the days of Squadron Magazine, vacuform conversions, and scratchbuilding!

Right on the button Mark, all 1/35th. I'm thinking one of the days I may have to scale up just so my eyes can keep up with my ambitions!

JDM you know that's why this project stalled out all of those years ago, once the PE kits started appearing I thought that all of this detailing was just not necessary. You know what though, now that I've started the scratch deatails again I remember why I liked it so much! Sure it takes a long time to finish one (I'm still working on the 251 from last year) but each one is a challange (plus it is a whole lot cheaper than buying all of the upgrades)!

Thanks for looking, I'll keep plugging away at it!

I got a little more done tonight, I started working on the Schwimm drive. I drilled out the back and built a three pronged connector out of scraps.

Then I dug up some heaver foil for the sheet metal parts. The foil actually came from a scrap heater core.


I put the notek light on the fender, but it just didn't look right. From what I've seen some of them have it, some don't, and some have it in other spots. So I saved it, but I don't know it's fate yet.
I was kicking around how to finish the head lights. I have been using epoxy, but the stuff I have now seems to be yellowing with age. So I decided to go with the kit lenses. It took some shaving and filing to get them where I wanted them, but I think they will work.
I put some valve stems on the wheels, I'm not sure what to do to finish up the brake drums yet... I suppose I'll keep thinking about that one.
Any way here are a couple of shots of everything test fitted to this point.



If you have any thoughts on it, let me know.
Thanks agian for looking!

Hi Johnathon , I've been following as I have one as a base kit for the end of days campaign .
I like the details youve worked through , its quite a good build youve got going buddy .

Brian good to hear that there are other schimm fans out there working their own magic with these kits. I did give me a thought though, I haven't shared my secret treasure site... well not so secret, but it may come in handy to a visitor or two. Here it is, the restoration site! http://www.vw166.com/schwimmwagen/restorations/restorations.htm
It does appear that there is some artistic license taken with "restorations", but go figure when there is more metal in case of soup than what some of these fellows are starting with. Any way it is a good look behind the dash, something you just don't see much of in the period photos. Just think of it. If there were a site like this for every kit you build... would you ever get done with one?!?!?

Another night off and that much closer to being finished... well, a bit closer any way! The night started off with another re-work project. After looking over the previous posts I decided the plastic bumper was just too big for the kit, so a quick trip to the hobby shop for some wire and here is the result.

Then as I was fitting up the cross bar... it broke, argh... No sweat back to the wire pile (at least I was bright enough to buy more than one diameter of wire!). And here is the new cross bar fit up with a pair of scratch built rifle clamps.

It looks like it was an evening for wire projects, next I built the bows for the top.

The final wire project for the night is the handle for lowering the prop. I had tried this earlier with poor results, but I came accross an article here on annealing photo etch and wouldn't ya know it worked on the music wire! That's what I had to use since the shop didn't have brass small enough for my application.

So here we are until the next day off!

I'm hoping to do the front seat covers and folded top on the next session. I'm planning on using the green stuff for the top... I hope it works.
Bye now!

Gosh, that's looking great! Love the bows for the top- outstanding!

Back again for another installment of Old Kits Gone Crazy! I've had more time to think than work lately (which is actually a good thing). Any way, I was thinking the best 20 bucks I've spent in a long time was on this caliper, it beats the heck out of the old plastic one I was using!

Enough of the thinkin, here is what I have been up to...
I decided the head lights looked to plain so I added the ring on the front by stacking two blades up and scoring around the edge (a perfect place to use my caliper!).

Next I made some latches for the engine lid.

Those were the little projects I could knock out before work, but the planning went into the the big soft top build last night. Since I decided to go with the epoxy clay instead of foil or tissue, I planned to put it on in three sections. At the same time I was testing out some texture methods and the one that worked best was stretching a nylon stocking over a roller.
Here is the first layer...

The second...

And the third...

Other than that I put the front seat covers on, built the tail light bracket, and put the tie down straps on the sides of the top. Now it's time to head back to the real job, and do some more planning for the next night off!

Hi Jon: I don't understand why there's so many tight lipped people around here because this build deserves more than just a look see.

You're putting a lot of work and effort into this little guy and it shows.

Thanks for sharing
Tony the Mutt

Here-here! This is an awesome little gem! This gorgeous piece of work deserves more praise!

Tony and JDM thanks for the encouragement! I'm really having fun with this build. Ahhhh, it reminds me of the old days! I was a bit worried that there was either too much or too little. I'm still not sure what just right looks like when it comes to build logs. I did kinda back off on some of the extra images, but hopefully it is still informative and inspiring. I really dig this site, I don't think that I've found so much helpful information (not to mention the people) in one place since I first discovered FSM way back when. Thanks again and keep on surfing armorama!

Hi Jonathan , Tony and JDM , theres been 1962 views of this topic so far .
I'd say thats a following . . Or maybe its only me .
This keeps getting better n better , the rag top is fantastic .
thanks and keep em coming .

Here we go again! I didn't really have much planned out so there was a lot of staring and thinking. As it gets closer to the end I just want to make sure that I'm not missing anything, rework gets inifnately harder at this point!
I started out by adding the horn on a small foil fender mount and cutting a couple of I bolts to make wing nuts for the window.


Then I masked it off for a final base coat (and popped the steering wheel off while I was doing it, no serious damage though).

At the same time I put a satin coat over the Tamiya Dark Yellow to give it a sturdier finish. While all of that was drying I moved on to the window frame. I cleaned up the edeges and added the wiper and motor.

I needed to put a small piece of cloth on the back of the seats...

...so I had some left over clay and decided to make a jacket to hang over the side of the schwimmwagen.

Oh yeah, I painted the soft top with some Desert tan for a base coat too...

I haven't come up with a definitive color for the top, I've seen dark and light, but all in black and white photos, so I'm going to make this one up as I go.
I also put some paint on the oar and shovel handle,

Since this is done with oils it will be sitting for a while to dry.
I think that's about it for last nights work. Now I have to make a call on camo or no camo, black or tan running gear, and weathering... So think, think, think, that will be the big plan for now!

I'm starting to second guess the soft top color and leaning toward a light grey. Does any one have any insight into the range of colors used for canvas tops? I can't seem to find any definitive answer when it comes to WWII German Canvas.


OK... I think I'm good, I found a site offering replica tops that lists the canvas colors as follows...
Type 1 - 42' to early 43' Black canvas with dark grey leather edging.
Type 2 - 43' Sand with dark grey leather edging.
Type 3 - Late 43' to 44' Sand with sand leather edging.

If anyone has better info please let me know!

Thanks

Babcat

I've slowed the pace a bit just to make sure I'm not getting ahead of myself with the painting and finishing touches. I've hashed out the top color (in my own mind at least) and moved on to the running gear. After looking over the refernce photos I've found, I decided to with black. I think there is enough evidence that they were out there in the field like this, plus it looks more fourtysish.

After staring at these pictures long enough the ugly re-work raised it's head. The front tow hook needed to be modified which incuded grinding out the old one...

...scary, but I think it was worth it...

I also decided the kit gas caps had to go, but I'm still working on a replacement for those.
I mounted the head lights and went with a rear MG mount, once that was done I applied a dark brown wash to the base coat.

After the was had some dry time I started with the dry brushing.

Some of the other things that you can see in the picture, I put the front seats in, remounted the steering wheel, built and installed the rear view mirror mount, and put a touch of silver on the lugs.
Well I think that's about it for now.
Thanks for lookin'
Babcat

Little gem, really. White envy

TOTALLY loving it! I'm hunting for one of these... and might take you up on the offer of custom seats... would really be awesome!

looking good, looking good, looking forward to the final paint and weathering... I like the 'unusual' tire and rim assemblies in black; I for one am usually in favour of an artistic licence; good on ya, mate!!