by Janne Nilsson
english translation by Anders Isaksson

However you might like the Volkswagen New Beetle I think you would agree with me that the original is always better than a copy!

I built this Beetle from the 1:24 Tamiya kit – almost out of the box. The kit represents the 1967 Beetle with large rear window and 1300 cc engine finely replicated in the kit. The kit quality is just fine. The only modifications I made were: removal of the glove compartment using putty and adding a personalized license plate.

Achieveing a realistic scale finish on shining car bodies is tricky. First I airbrushed the large body parts with Tamiya acrylics. The I used the airbrush to add shadows by spraying slightly darker shades in recesses where the light normally does not reflect (I’m afraid the photos taken with direct flash bulb do exaggerate the subtle effect of this).

Highlights were then achieved by applying lighter shades of the base color, again applied by airbrush. The shining chrome parts included in the kit were too bright in appearance. They were toned down by adding a number of thin layers of diluted Tamiya Smoke. The kit tires were cast in rubber and featured excellent detail. I weathered them using a few shades of pastel powder.

The base – I always add a base! – was made from Super Sculpey, real sand and strips of self-adhesive tape.

This article was originally published in IPMS Stockholm Magazine in August 2000.