beetle | air ride stance

Volkswagen Beetle - there is no need to remember the (hy)story of this car. Everybody, even isn't a car addicted, knows about it. Just tow facts to remeber:

1. The Beetle (Kafer) was produced since 1938 until 2003 in 21,529,464 units

2. In 1997 The Beetle is reborn : New Beetle is the successor of the well-known Kafer. In 2011 the A5 generation is simply named "Beetle".

What does it means? It means that this cute car is made from 1938 till today. And there are no perspective to stop its production

The model I grabbed is an 1|24th scale Beetle (2o11), the last generation and the most technically evolved, produced by Welly. The quality of execution lets me speechless, especially seeing the price. Around 10€. But enough words. Please enjoy the ride:

© M . C . H and custom | scale | car

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited.

willys jeep | the chassis

Italeri KIT of the little Willys Jeep is amazing.

The design of this kit shows us the experience Italeri got by designing truck kits.

The scale of 1|24th give you enough room to create something pretty nice to display.

The kits has only two sprue moulded in green (khaki) plastic, and one sprue in transparent plastic. They are mainly one sprue for the body, the other for the chassis, engine and axles. On the transparent sprue you can find two tail-lights for a civilian vehicle. You can use for making a non-army version or on another vintage or classic car.

But lets see how the Jeep was born. The car was demanded by US Army as a need of the replacement of the old transportation vehicles in service since the WWI. The initial demand was launched in 1930 but not formalized until 1940. Several manufacturers presented their project. In July 1941, due to the fact that the War Department wants to standardize,  the Willys were chosen for producing the next 16 000 vehicles. In October 1941 it becomes obvious that Willis-Overland can not keep the production at the desired volume and Ford was contacted to produce the little 4x4 vehicle.

The origin of the name « Jeep » for me is uncertain. The most accurate explanation I fin dis the reading of the acronym, GP. The GP were the name with the Ford cars went in production. « G » is from the word « Government » and the « P » is the standard Ford letter given to the passenger cars with an 80 inches wheel base. There is also a link between the name of the car, « Jeep » and the Eugene the Jeep, Popeye's pet. Personally I get it as a coincidence, not as the origin of the name of the car.

As I told you, I was very pleased by the Italeri’s design of the model. 

By putting together the parts on this sprue, we can get the chassis as you can see below.

© M . C . H and custom | scale | car

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited.

Mercedes 500K | Spezial-Roadster | custom

Together with the Duesenberg Model J in the United States, the Talbot-Lago Teardrop in France, the Mercedes-Benz 54oK Spezial-Roadster brings, over the time, the beauty of the automotive design in its purest shape!

The car was first time viewed at the 1934 Berlin Motor Show and, soon, it became a flagship of the Mercedes-Benz fleet. The Special Roadster was built only by special order.

During the two years of production of 500K (between 1934 till 1936), 342 units were made including 29 Spezial-Roadster.

Maisto, one of the cheapest die-cast makers, reproduces one of this special demands builds at the 1/18^th scale. The model they reproduces it must be the 500 K Special Roadster Maharaja which in reality was an 540K. Here I cannot say exactly what Maisto did or wanted to do…

Unfortunately there are more 'inaccuracies' with this model.

Unhappily I cannot make a list of the differences because I was not able to find many historical  information about this car. And what I found is divergent also.  
It is sure that Maisto combined another version of their existing 540K Special Roadster without too much consideration for historical accuracy. To make the model correct, would have required a complete new body tool.

Those being said, I tried to detail my own version for this superb roadster. The improvements I made are :

corrected the under-body

detailed and corrected the engine

covered the interior in real leather

carpeting the interior

building the lateral doors windows

wood trims for interior 

bare metal foil chromed trims

And many others little details you can see (and identify if you own an Maisto MB 500K)