Revell 1/16 Volkswagen T1 Samba Bus

[project510]

I confirmed in the instructions, there is an overhang of the roof at the fonrt. Ill build as a late model.

[project510]

So researching builds of this kit to see how the fit is. What issues to expect. And well... Of course I found this.....




I had no idea they made this kit with lights and sound haha. Against my better judgement I tried to find the lighting kit separate and when that failed I went and purchased my own set of LEDs and a battery box. No Sound but looks like I will try and get headlights taillights to work. I believe the front amber lights are turn signals, not sure if anyone knows if they are drls. 

[tcoat]

Dec 5, 2023 19:18:58 GMT -5 project510 said:

So researching builds of this kit to see how the fit is. What issues to expect. And well... Of course I found this.....




I had no idea they made this kit with lights and sound haha. Against my better judgement I tried to find the lighting kit separate and when that failed I went and purchased my own set of LEDs and a battery box. No Sound but looks like I will try and get headlights taillights to work. I believe the front amber lights are turn signals, not sure if anyone knows if they are drls. 

Is one of the sounds the engine cranking without firing? That is how I remember them.

[project510]

Dec 5, 2023 19:36:16 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Dec 5, 2023 19:18:58 GMT -5 project510 said:

So researching builds of this kit to see how the fit is. What issues to expect. And well... Of course I found this.....




I had no idea they made this kit with lights and sound haha. Against my better judgement I tried to find the lighting kit separate and when that failed I went and purchased my own set of LEDs and a battery box. No Sound but looks like I will try and get headlights taillights to work. I believe the front amber lights are turn signals, not sure if anyone knows if they are drls. 

Is one of the sounds the engine cranking without firing? That is how I remember them.

[project510]

I don't know why I'm doing this to myself haha. I blame all of the amazing builds on here. I feel the need to go beyond what Im currently capable of haha.
Good thing I have YEARS to get this build complete.

The LEDS for my front and rear lights came in.

[tcoat]

[project510]

[tcoat]

Dec 12, 2023 22:59:12 GMT -5 project510 said:

Just settling in for the ride.

[project510]

Busted this open tonight to take a look at the kit. Wow, its big haha. Look at the size of this parts sprue haha.



I dont plan to really start on this until I have a good start on the Vette I am building for 406's USA build, but I plan to lower it so I want to see what I am working with.
So wheels and suspension taped up so I could see the stock stance. Its pretty darn high haha. Id Love to cut that ride height in half, but I'm not so sure I will be able to.






I put the interior lower pan in place to see exactly how much room I will have if I decided to cut open those fenders to allow more room to go down.
You can see below the rear I have the room to make a decent drop, the front however... I have about 5/16..





So, I will head to google and see how the 1:1 guys lay these things out and see what I can do in accordance with my skill level.

[kyledehart5]

Interested to see what you come up with!

[tcoat]

Jan 4, 2024 1:27:36 GMT -5 project510 said:

Busted this open tonight to take a look at the kit. Wow, its big haha. Look at the size of this parts sprue haha.



I dont plan to really start on this until I have a good start on the Vette I am building for 406's USA build, but I plan to lower it so I want to see what I am working with.
So wheels and suspension taped up so I could see the stock stance. Its pretty darn high haha. Id Love to cut that ride height in half, but I'm not so sure I will be able to.






I put the interior lower pan in place to see exactly how much room I will have if I decided to cut open those fenders to allow more room to go down.
You can see below the rear I have the room to make a decent drop, the front however... I have about 5/16..





So, I will head to google and see how the 1:1 guys lay these things out and see what I can do in accordance with my skill level.

Looking at the instructions it appears that the suspension is a simple post and peg system that could be cut back to whatever you wish. This would make it relatively easy to slam the thing right into hellaflush territory but it would mean losing any semblance of a functioning steering system and suspension when looking underneath. Not a big deal if not shooting for an accurate chassis.

Doesn't look like it would be hard to cobble up a custom chassis.

Bunch of good shots here:
wagenswest.com/

[project510]

Jan 4, 2024 9:13:56 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Jan 4, 2024 1:27:36 GMT -5 project510 said:

Busted this open tonight to take a look at the kit. Wow, its big haha. Look at the size of this parts sprue haha.

I dont plan to really start on this until I have a good start on the Vette I am building for 406's USA build, but I plan to lower it so I want to see what I am working with.
So wheels and suspension taped up so I could see the stock stance. Its pretty darn high haha. Id Love to cut that ride height in half, but I'm not so sure I will be able to.

I put the interior lower pan in place to see exactly how much room I will have if I decided to cut open those fenders to allow more room to go down.
You can see below the rear I have the room to make a decent drop, the front however... I have about 5/16..

So, I will head to google and see how the 1:1 guys lay these things out and see what I can do in accordance with my skill level.

Looking at the instructions it appears that the suspension is a simple post and peg system that could be cut back to whatever you wish. This would make it relatively easy to slam the thing right into hellaflush territory but it would mean losing any semblance of a functioning steering system and suspension when looking underneath. Not a big deal if not shooting for an accurate chassis.

Doesn't look like it would be hard to cobble up a custom chassis.

Bunch of good shots here:
wagenswest.com/

Thanks for the link Tcoat. Due to the length of the GB I will have plenty of time to look into a good option. Also, its not so much how with regards to suspension, but room under the floorboard section. I didn't really want to be hacking it up. Well see. 

[tcoat]

Jan 4, 2024 10:47:08 GMT -5 project510 said:

Jan 4, 2024 9:13:56 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Looking at the instructions it appears that the suspension is a simple post and peg system that could be cut back to whatever you wish. This would make it relatively easy to slam the thing right into hellaflush territory but it would mean losing any semblance of a functioning steering system and suspension when looking underneath. Not a big deal if not shooting for an accurate chassis.

Doesn't look like it would be hard to cobble up a custom chassis.

Bunch of good shots here:
wagenswest.com/

Thanks for the link Tcoat. Due to the length of the GB I will have plenty of time to look into a good option. Also, its not so much how with regards to suspension, but room under the floorboard section. I didn't really want to be hacking it up. Well see. 

Ya that is what I meant by losing any semblance of steering. Wouldn't have to touch the floor boards but not a hope of keeping all the steering components. 

[project510]

Oh got it. We will see what happens. If it means totally hacking it up I will just do a slight drop to remove what gap I can and leave it at that.

[themongoose]

Nov 28, 2023 20:01:49 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Nov 28, 2023 19:57:35 GMT -5 project510 said:

HAHA nice! But when it comes to VW's I actually prefer the stock look just really low.

I am with you on that. That monstrosity ruined a classic.

Oh dude i loved that van! Hadn’t seen it before si sent to my VW buddy right away 👍

[themongoose]

Dec 12, 2023 19:00:05 GMT -5 project510 said:

I don't know why I'm doing this to myself haha. I blame all of the amazing builds on here. I feel the need to go beyond what Im currently capable of haha.
Good thing I have YEARS to get this build complete.

The LEDS for my front and rear lights came in.

Evans Design is awesome. They are like plug and play!

[project510]

Nov 29, 2023 9:39:58 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Top 


link

Bottom (Yes there is a coloured square there)






link

Both would need gloss coating of course

Since I have not really started this build yet I thought I would ask for some opinions on the color. I have two choices so far. Actually its three. Above you can see Tcoat had located a set of colors that closely matched an image I posted. I like these. This is option one.

Option two:

Porsche Beige Grey with Porsche olive 414 - Im not set on this color yet as I think the olive might not be what I am looking for.

Top color - Olive 414



lower half color - beige grey


I absolutely LOVE the Porsche beige grey so option 3 would be the above ^^^ with Porsche creme white



Curious to see what ya'll think. So far my gut is saying option 3

[tcoat]

The olive would be cool but you may want to go a shade lighter on the beige just to have more contrast. Although those are different actual colours they are both almost the same sort of tone so there wouldn't be much contrast. The top one with the creme white would be nice so my gut almost agrees with yours. .

[project510]

Jan 24, 2024 14:42:43 GMT -5 tcoat said:

The olive would be cool but you may want to go a shade lighter on the beige just to have more contrast. Although those are different actual colours they are both almost the same sort of tone so there wouldn't be much contrast. The top one with the creme white would be nice so my gut almost agrees with yours. .

I agree on the lack of contrast. I think I am going with option 3. Porsche Beige Grey and Creme White. Now to decide on interior fabric color!

[406 Silverado]

Jan 4, 2024 9:13:56 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Jan 4, 2024 1:27:36 GMT -5 project510 said:

Busted this open tonight to take a look at the kit. Wow, its big haha. Look at the size of this parts sprue haha.



I dont plan to really start on this until I have a good start on the Vette I am building for 406's USA build, but I plan to lower it so I want to see what I am working with.
So wheels and suspension taped up so I could see the stock stance. Its pretty darn high haha. Id Love to cut that ride height in half, but I'm not so sure I will be able to.






I put the interior lower pan in place to see exactly how much room I will have if I decided to cut open those fenders to allow more room to go down.
You can see below the rear I have the room to make a decent drop, the front however... I have about 5/16..





So, I will head to google and see how the 1:1 guys lay these things out and see what I can do in accordance with my skill level.

Looking at the instructions it appears that the suspension is a simple post and peg system that could be cut back to whatever you wish. This would make it relatively easy to slam the thing right into hellaflush territory but it would mean losing any semblance of a functioning steering system and suspension when looking underneath. Not a big deal if not shooting for an accurate chassis.

Doesn't look like it would be hard to cobble up a custom chassis.

Bunch of good shots here:
wagenswest.com/

 There aint no way in HELL I'd want to take a ride in that vehicle. The only thing I see even remotely close to any kind of buffering are those teeny airbags in the center up front and on the outboard of the frame in the rear. Cool concept and all but you wouldn't have a tooth in your head after driving on any kind of streets with irregular road surfaces. lol

[tcoat]

Jan 27, 2024 10:44:55 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Jan 4, 2024 9:13:56 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Looking at the instructions it appears that the suspension is a simple post and peg system that could be cut back to whatever you wish. This would make it relatively easy to slam the thing right into hellaflush territory but it would mean losing any semblance of a functioning steering system and suspension when looking underneath. Not a big deal if not shooting for an accurate chassis.

Doesn't look like it would be hard to cobble up a custom chassis.

Bunch of good shots here:
wagenswest.com/

 There aint no way in HELL I'd want to take a ride in that vehicle. The only thing I see even remotely close to any kind of buffering are those teeny airbags in the center up front and on the outboard of the frame in the rear. Cool concept and all but you wouldn't have a tooth in your head after driving on any kind of streets with irregular road surfaces. lol

Odds are that whatever they ended up with on that chassis traveled by trailer anyway. Maybe drove a few hundred yards for the Instagram video but that would be it.

[moparmadness]

These have so many colorful options!

[themongoose]

Well if you go with the beige color i’d have to side with the white as the contrasting color. Agree with the guys, same color tone would not set it off like you want. VW did have a ton of 2 tone color combos! I did one for my buddy a few years back and was surprised how many colors there were!

[project510]

Went to my LHS to grab some lacquer thinner and took a look at the Tamiya LP paints. Was hoping to find some colors that matched what I was looking for with the creme white and beige.

Ended up totally changing my original plan and went with a different scheme. The colors are probably a bit more common than the previous idea, but I REALLY like them.

LP-27 German Grey & LP-36 Dark Ghost Grey

[tcoat]

Feb 8, 2024 17:32:21 GMT -5 project510 said:

Went to my LHS to grab some lacquer thinner and took a look at the Tamiya LP paints. Was hoping to find some colors that matched what I was looking for with the creme white and beige.

Ended up totally changing my original plan and went with a different scheme. The colors are probably a bit more common than the previous idea, but I REALLY like them.

LP-27 German Grey & LP-36 Dark Ghost Grey

Ohhh that will be sharp!

[kyledehart5]

Dig it. That’ll be great.

[project510]

Feb 8, 2024 17:38:43 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Feb 8, 2024 17:32:21 GMT -5 project510 said:

Went to my LHS to grab some lacquer thinner and took a look at the Tamiya LP paints. Was hoping to find some colors that matched what I was looking for with the creme white and beige.

Ended up totally changing my original plan and went with a different scheme. The colors are probably a bit more common than the previous idea, but I REALLY like them.

LP-27 German Grey & LP-36 Dark Ghost Grey

Ohhh that will be sharp!

Feb 8, 2024 17:40:41 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Dig it. That’ll be great.

Thank you both, I'm thinking I will return to the shop and grab some flat base for the interior pieces to reduce the gloss. Having to take a second trip their would normally be irritating, but the shop owner informed me he is most likely closing some time around April if he cant sell the place. Over 50 years... Only local shop left that has an AWESOME selection. Terrible news...

[kyledehart5]

That’s a shame. Happening everywhere it seems. Closest one to me is a solid 45 minute drive.

[project510]

Brought this kit out again to get a game plan set on how to lower it. The suspension part is not difficult. But I'm trying to find out how to fit the wheels when it does get lowered. I don't think Ill have an issue on the rear. The floor pan and chassis are two separate pieces as you can see here and the rear has plenty of room to be cut out. The front is a different story. I think there is JUST enough room to open it up so Ill lower it as much as the front allows me to and I will have to be happy with that. I think by opening up this part here and and covering the gap it creates should be ok for me to complete.




I think I might get about 1/4 of an inch which should be good enough. It will look better regardless because these things are not as good looking at stock height in my opinion haha.

[project510]

I guess we can mark this date as the official start of this project. You can see in the image below I made the first step in lowering the bus. I relocated the spindle about 1/4 in which is about all the room I have. 




Its going to be close in the front. These photos show the area I plan to remove to create the clearance for the wheel to not rub.



Im actually not sure if it will even work as after testing there is almost zero clearance at the front of this area. Ill get more photos up tonight. I forgot to take a photo with the actual body panel up showing what it covers.