Mid 1980s Mexican Beetle

The Beetle's production in Germany ended on 10/01/1980 after which it continued to be built in Mexico and South America. 1300 and 1500 models had been introduced and changes to the body had evolved over the years. The 80's also saw VW introducing a number of special edition models in an effort to maintain its sales.

Body shells for these Mexican Beetles were very similar to the late 60s/70s bodies used in Germany.

This model is based on a Onethirtysecond 1968 Beetle conversion kit. You could either convert the Airfix VW kit to a static later model or create a slot car by providing your own chassis and interior.

I was going to say the finish compares well with other resin bodyshells that are on the market BUT if you have seen the MG6R4s of of the professional international manufacturers Team Slot you will soon realise how much better they are. The finish is near perfect and not an air bubble in sight.

Build notes cover the original 1968 version of the car and my conversion to the 1980s model.

The body shell needs a little tidying up to be done of the front and rear rough edges and round the windows after the paper thin film is removed. Use a small file or wet and dry paper.

A Pink Kar Beetle is the perfect choice if you wish to make a slot car. The chassis can be used without any modification, as it fits neatly inside the body shell so all that is needed is to fabricate the body mounts of your choice. A strip of 40th plastic sheet was fixed either side of the body 2mm from the bottom edge to create a lip to sit on the chassis. This can be seen on the underside picture below.

Screw posts were made from a plastic tube with a metal tube case to strengthen and stop splitting. The metal tub is about 2/3rds the length required and I leave 3mm of plastic uncovered at the screw end which can be trimmed if needs be after all has been glued in place.

Screw to the chassis, trim the top to the correct length then epoxy glue to the body. I cut a few nicks into the plastic so that the glue has a rough surface to stick to. When the glue is dry I cover with milliput to add extra strength.

Onethirtysecond provide a vacuum moulded window unit which they recommend is epoxy glued to the roof of the car after being trimmed to fit.

I purchased my chassis without a body, however if you have the full car the interior platform will fit with very little trimming. The dash board is wrong and the seats too narrow but when built will not be that noticeable. You could create a new dashboard from scratch or cut out and fix the Airfix one which as explained in the instructions is very close to being correct for the 1968 version. The Airfix steering wheel is much better than the Pink Kar effort and should be fitted if available before gluing the interior in place.

I only had a chassis and so I took a mould from one of my other interiors and cast one in resin at the same time making a copy of the Airfix dash which is close enough for my model. The 1980s steering has a more solid centre and I cast this in resin. Its not very good but being all black doesn't show. A female passenger had her arms cut off and realigned so that she could drive.

The Pink Kar bumpers are similar in style to the 1968 ones and would be stronger and less prone to damage than the resin ones provided with the kit,. however the mounting struts are at different widths so modifications would be needed to make them fit.

To create the 1980s car, in addition to the interior modifications described above I had to:-

Remove the indicators from the tops of the wings and model new ones on the bumpers.

Build up the rear light cluster to the "elephants foot" style introduced in the early 1970s.

I attempted to carve the small black grills behind the rear side windows but found it too hard so they are just paint.

Problems

1) The kit instructions gave a warning about the bumpers being fragile and this is true - I managed to break the rear one when cleaning up. There is a groove in the back of the bumpers which I have filled with filler to give extra strength to the repair and would suggest doing this anyway, particularly if you are intending to use as a slot car.