1/24 Revell Golf Mk2 GTI, with a personal touch

[Alex@POD]

Time for me to start my first special build. I have built standard kits so far, following the instructions. Now I want to build something special, with modifications and scratchbuilt parts.

I'm a big fan of VWs, early Golfs in particular. I have a Revell Mk2 kit, which will be the base for my project. I want to use different wheels, make small body modifications, and get the car to sit lower on its suspension (be prepared for requests for advice on this! ). I will also make many parts look more real than the moulded ones (eg brake and fuel pipes).

If I find a good example picture of what I want to achieve, I will post it. For now though, planning:

Where is a good place to find aftermarket parts, without "stealing" them from another kit? I am thinking wheels and tyres, engine, and maybe seats.

What filler / raw materials do you recommend for body mods?

TIA

[Alex@POD]

You guys have given me a lot to think about. I like that scale productions website, but I wasn't too impressed at having twice the cost of the kit in the shopping cart within 10 minutes!

I'm looking at 18" BBS wheels, brakes to fill them, and bits for the engine. Still undecided on seats.

I will keep the standard engine, but make the engine bay look better than VW made it (not difficult), and also add a turbo and intercooler to it. What kind of wire do you guys recommend for brake and fuel pipes?

[Alex@POD]

I tried the wheels from another model, I think they are 19" and found them just too big. I would like 17", but I can't seem to find any! It seems to jump from classic 15" to chavtastic or racing 18", to 22". Either that or 15" banded steelies

Good advice on dry fitting, I will give that a go.

[Alex@POD]

I was about to post something actually... I dry fitted everything and decided on big bumpers, bought some wheels. I haven't bought the bumpers yet as the only place I can find them want 15 euros for shipping... That will have to wait.

I'm waiting to have everything together before I start it so I am building a formula 1 at the moment.

[Alex@POD]

Right then, everything is bought, so expect some progress soon.

I bought parts from scaleproduction.de, and received an email from Michael asking me to transfer the money to his account. Is this common practice? Sounds as dodgy as a nigerian prince to me, but I may be overthinking it...

As an aside, I really need to stay off ebay. A few cheeky low bids last week when I was bored, I now have another 4 models in the waiting pile!

[Alex@POD]

Big Fat Fatty said:

Mike will accept Paypal if you ask him but otherwise it is standard for most people as Paypal charge a 25% fee for transfering money from your Paypal account to a bank, I've bought a lot of stuff from him in the past and never had any problems transferring money.

Looking forward to seeing your progress, I need to get back to my Merc now it's warmed up slightly.

25%

I can't blame him, I didn't realise it went up that much! Thanks for confirming.

[Alex@POD]

Got all the bits I need finally, I'll change the engine if I can find one in time.
I'll put a couple of pics of the project up a little later, and I will start it when I finish the Lancia (lots of inspiration taken from doing this!).

[Alex@POD]

No pics yet as there isn't a lot to see that's hasn't been posted by someone else, but I have started the engine, currently doing the wiring for it. I have also done a few body mods, mostly cut the doors and boot lid, and filled the sunroof.

One thing which worries me is how I'm going to paint it: I will need to scratch build door jambs and sills, to link between the interior and body. How can I paint the inside before it is covered in filler, and after it is fitted inside the body?

[Alex@POD]

Right, a quick peek at the work in progress, comments and suggestions welcome!

[Alex@POD]

I can't believe it's nearly a year since I started this thread!

I've not made much progress through mostly lack of motivation, the fact that I wasn't sure how to progress with the build, and also "real life" getting in the way

I've jumped back in, and I will update when I have some progress to show. So far I've done most of the doors, they jsut need finishing then painting, and I'm now working on the door openings.

[Alex@POD]

Right, update time!

I've been creating the door jambs with plasticard and blu-tac, first the basic shape:



I marked up the correct dimensions and cut them to size:



I will fill and trim then down later, but for now, a look at how it fits together:




Getting there I'd say! Next I glued the plasticard together, removed the blu-tac and replaced it with 2 part epoxy putty:



Once it's cured it will give me a nice solid shape to work on, I'll be able to trim them down perfect, then glue to the body and start the filing and sanding!

I've also started making the required shapes for the boot:



These are a good solution to hide the wheel arches, and will be dressed up as subwoofer boxes. I thought it would give the car a nice touch.

[Alex@POD]

Big Fat Fatty said:

Nice work Alex, that's coming along nicely, the boot looks great so far.

I've got almost nothing done to the Skyline since I painted it months ago

Thanks Ryan, I wondered where you were up to with the Skyline!

I'm not sure why this was on the back burner for so long, I guess I just wasn't sure where to start... I still wasn't this weekend, but jumped in with both feet and made it up as I went along, it seems to go OK now and I can't wait to get home and do a bit more.

I was only going to make the boot floor to start with!