1956 Volkswagen Oval Window Beetle By Gunze Sangyo Inc.

Here's my latest kit, the 1956 Volkswagen Oval Window Beetle by Gunze Sangyo Inc. of Japan.

The Gunze Sangyo firm is a new one on me; it will be interesting to see how their kit quality stacks up against the better known makers.

And without further ado, it's on to studying the instructions, nipping out and trimming components and trial-fitting everything to ensure that there are no surprises come final assembly. I'll report any anomalies or misfits should I encounter any.

Interior and Front Axle

The Seats Are A Bit Odd

The seats are made of the same resilient black plastic that the tires are made of. Note that the two front seats perch up on rails -- those rail/seat assemblies are going to be a delicate bit of business to assemble and install.

I was a little concerned about how well CA adhesive would adhere to the resilient black plastic material, so I did an experiment. I glued a piece of sprue onto the concealed rear surface of the back seat, and adhesion proved to be quite good; so at least it won't be a problem to glue the front seats to their rails.

The Front Axle Is Fairly Straightforward

Chassis Front, And Rear Axle/Engine Underside

Here's a view of the chassis front assembled.

The rear axle/engine underside is fairly straightforward.

The instruction sheet is a bit mystifying as regards the exhaust pipes. They're pretty easy to spot, though.

'Glass' And Interior

There's a black gasket affair for the windshield (item R5) that looks to me to be impossible to fit properly. I'm going to omit it.

The interior door handles and window cranks are tiny.

Bumpers And Exterior Bits

All straightforward enough, but some very tiny bits.

The windshield wipers are problematic -- their registration holes in the body are at the wrong angle.

Roof Rack

There are no registration points on the roof of the body for the roof rack to fit to. Attaching the rack will be a bit of guesswork. I may leave it unattached -- just perched on top of the car's roof for display.

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And here's the assembled roof rack perched on top of the car's body.

Now I'll commence painting all the components in reverse order. Once I get back to the beginning (the interior), I can proceed with final assembly of the kit.

Whoops!

I sprayed the body with Tamiya's Surface Primer(L), let it dry for about half an hour, then sprayed on a coat of Tremclad medium blue gloss enamel. Here's what resulted.

A horrific, splotchy mess. The grey primer bled through the enamel in many places and ruined the finish.

I'll leave that aside for the paint to harden for a few days before attempting a recoat. I've written to Tamiya to ask about recommended drying time for their primer. I can only hope that a recoat will work out ok once the ruined paint has hardened sufficiently.

Tamiya Got Back To Me Right Promptly

Here's their answer:

"We recommend 12 to 24 hours to allow the primer to fully cure."

So, that explains that. Nowhere on the can of Tamiya primer is one told about that drying time requirement, or the result of not heeding it. The primer coat that I had applied looked dry enough to me to be painted over, but it wasn't -- nowhere near it. Lesson learned.

Recoat

It's still a botch, really, but I'll carry on and complete the model with the paint job as it is.

That can be an object lesson to me to use only paints meant for plastic models. There's no saving money on paint; the lines of spray paint products carried by hardware stores are not suitable for plastic models. If one means to pursue model building, one must 'bite the bullet' and accept paying the frightful price of proper scale model paint products.

Interior/Chassis Done

I painted the interior components with Pincess Auto's Power Fist sandable grey primer No. 8057275. That turned out ok -- it will serve as the interior's 'finish'. So, sometimes one gets away with using stuff that's not meant for plastic models.

The seats beg to be two-toned, grey and black. That would take a skillful brush painting job that I don't consider myself capable of. My approach so far to such detailing is 'better to omit a detail than risk botching it'.

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Finished Model

A badly flawed, yet somewhat charming model.

Despite what I wrote earlier that "There's no saving money on paint...", I can't handle the cost of going solely with Tamiya's spray paints -- it's outrageous, and the nearest hobby shop is a fair distance from me.

I'll keep experimenting with what I can get from the local Canadian Tire. At least I know now not to use conventional paints over Tamiya primer, so I won't make that mistake again. I've gotten adequate results in the past with Canadian Tire paints. For the time being, at least, 'adequate' will have to do.

So, it's on to a Ford Bronco. We'll see how it goes.

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