VW type 82E, Tamiya 1/48 FINISHED!

Started by Erik Gjørup · 79 · 2 years ago · 1/48, airbum, beetle, car, civil, Haldværk, interwar, käfer, Tamiya, typ 82, vehicle, VW
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    Erik Gjørup said 4 years ago:

    a 1/48 automotive build!

    Being a firm believer in 1/48 I have been adding some vehicles and AM products to my stash over the years

    And with a 20% rebate on all things Tamiya I added quite a few cars and lorrys to the stash lately. I have fond memories of my Uncle having a beetle when I was a kid, spending my summer vacations on the farm, I often got driven everywhere in the VW.

    The general idea with Tamiya’s 1/48 range of vehicles is to please the military modeler, and with a huge market for 1/43 civil cars etc. and the general military model scale being 1/35 it is quite a bit uphill to add 1/48 to the stash if it is not something with wings.

    And with that intro, it is off to get the Käfer back on the road!


    I started with a round of primer on all the parts to ease the preparations.

    The Tamiya kits in general are highly praised, and these small ones are no exception



    There is some minimal seam to take care of, even though they are a bit out of proportion in a close up. To the naked eye they are not at all bad.
    The driver is rather well made too


    Even if he is leaning a bit up a soldier, he can be modified to a civilian with minimum effort.

    The wheels are of course with some rather coarse patterns to suit a military vehicle but there are two different rims



    One without the chromedome and one with, and the last one will be just fine for a nice civilian car.

    and with that it is time to start cutting. Some assembly coming up next.

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    Erik Gjørup said 4 years ago:

    Petrol is expensive – and hard to get

    Being a civil car during wartime makes it hard to get petrol

    There are some solutions to that problem. You can drive on official business or enlist.


    CMK makes some very nice AM kits for the 82E. one as a pick-up, and one as either a postal service or ambulance – and one with a wood-stove.

    Now, the last one always fascinated me, so the Holz Gas it is.

    You have to make room for the stove at the front


    There is lots of room as the engine is in the back

    And with the space now available it is time to testfit the “coalhole”




    Fits like a glove!

    next up some detail painting and more testfitting.

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    Jordyn Collier said 4 years ago:

    I’ve been eyeing this one a few times since I have gone to my local store. And from you say, it sounds like a good investment. Consider me signed up for this one!

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 4 years ago:

    Wow, a car, my friend @airbum!
    And what a subject!
    Ahhh, Tamiya! Makes you grab everything they make and start building...
    Love your wood stove!
    Please sign me in!

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    Robert Royes said 4 years ago:

    Nice choice! I had a uncle that had one too, but he drove it from Brooklyn to Queens NY.

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    Thank you gents. If you do choose this one as a civilian, please do note that the Tamiya offering is actually a Kubelwagen (Typ 82) with a Beetle on top (typ 82E). The major difference that I have found so far is that the tyres are somewhat bigger, and indeed there was a later version with 4WD and even larger tyres (Hauler makes a conversion). I still havent found any reesin tyres that will make it a real beetle, but as this will be one of the just shy of 700 82E versions, all is OK for now 🙂

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    Details

    Some of the details were painted

    As I still have to come to terms with acrylic paints, it is the good old Humbrol enamels that are being used.



    Some matt (dull) for most of the interior, and some brown base in the wheelwells to give a base for some black.

    A gloss black was initially sprayed as I thought it would be the color I would use for this car



    But I have since then decided on another color as a gloss black may be too dark for such a small car. More on that later.

    next up some assembly and testfitting of the resin parts

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    Looking very nice, my friend @airbum!
    Waiting for your resins and body color decision.

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    Erik, @airbum
    What a magnificent choice ! These new tool Tamiya 1/48 offerings look exceptionally nice... Now if they would make a Toyota truck with a Huck's starter on top of it in 1/48 scale, (and possibly one in 1/32), they would sell like crazy !

    I knew a guy who converted an old Ford pickup truck to run on coal gas smoke fumes many years ago. It's a pretty neat setup to see in real life, and although it's not quite as good as a conventional petrol burning setup, it still works in a pinch. The trick is getting the coal, wood chips (or whatever it is that you're burning) to make the proper amount of combustible "smoke", since that is what actually burns inside the original vehicle's engine, in place of the typical gasoline and air.

    I'm waiting to see what color you pick for your VW too... I also started my 1/48 Mosquito for your DE Havilland group...

    Spiro's, @fiveten
    I can start building our joint 1/32 scale Revell He-219 models any time you are ready. Please let me know when it's a good time for you, and I will get started with building on mine too. I would be posting more pictures here on Imodeler, but my cell phone battery is no longer holding a charge. I normally use the camera on my phone to take the pictures. Luckily I have sent pictures of most of my recently completed builds to our home computer, so I can start posting more articles in the future when I have more time available.

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    Thank you my friends, appreciate the comments

    • Spiros (@fiveten), I’ll have to check my colors against possible choices, but it will be done soon as it nears the point where I have to commit to paint.
    • Louis (@lgardner), Wouldn’t that be great. There are some old Hasegawa Isuzu kits around, but at collectors prices. I would order a handful if they went into production at a reasonable price. In the meantime if we all buy a 1/48 vehicle or two then the interest just might lure a major manufacturer into making some interesting kits. Italeri just re-launched their Opel fueltruck, so I went and bought one of those. Hauler/Brengun makes some nice resin kits, mostly German trucks, but there are some very interesting items for other areas too – how about their british carrierbased towtruck! That one will be on order for the Halfworks stash soon. And back to the Type 82E;

    Seats and wood-gas system

    I assembled the interior today and testfitted the Holzgas system

    With the paint dry to the touch, I went ahead and assembled the interior and brushpainted some details



    A few areas also got a touch of Molotow Chromepen.

    The system to move the gas to the engine is made up of a few tubes and boxes




    I went ahead and laid it all out to check. Some warm water may be used later in the assembling process to make it all fit, but right now it looks quite OK.

    next up the bonnet gets modified – and soon it will be time to paint the Type 82E

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    James B Robinson said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    This is looking marvelous Erik, @airbum. Looking forward to following along for the journey.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    This is a fantastic progress, my friend @airbum!
    What a nice mini escape from plane building!
    I love all those details you take care of.

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    Thank you gents, welcome aboard James.
    Spiros, I would have loved to add more details, but that will be for the next one (yes, there will be more bugs - I'm bitten!)

    My bonnet is over the . . .type 82E

    Installing the modified bonnet

    The resin part was cut out and superglued in place where it seemed to fit. I then brushed it repeatedly with Tamiya filler thinned in Tamiya lacquerthinner.


    That way it is drying a lot faster, and can be sanded almost immediately, another layer added and repeat until satisfied.

    Some final sanding



    And it is off to the painters next

    next up the true color is revealed

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    Walt said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    These Tamiya 1/48th Vehicles are so much fun to build. You are definitely making something very interesting with the changes you are making. Looking forward to seeing your painted beauty. The VW is a truly iconic vehicle, most people either have had one in the family or have friends that did.

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 12 months ago:

    Thanks Walt (@luftwaffe-birdman). Aren’t they just a bunch of fun – and rather fast too. I do not think there are anyone in Europe at least that did not have a beetle bug somewhere in their family! (or indeed at least one of the new beetles)
    And now for another update Spiros (@fiveten), James (@jamesb), Jordyn (@1corsair64), Louis (@lgardner) and Robert (@roofrat);

    Paint that dries!

    Back from the painters

    I thought I might just post a few pictures of the initial painting. The majority of the parts are painted, and will have to dry at least a week or so before I fumble more with this little bug. . .



    I still need to decide if Chrome will be added, but I do not think they used that for non-essential surfaces in those days, so I may leave it with painted wheelcabs and handles.

    Time will tell if Chrome is added. You may want to cast a vote on the matter, but so far it appears to me to be more realistic without chrome, and I do have a few other 1/48 vehicles that may be “true” civilians