Kubelwagen conversion

Here's my first completed conversion project - a plastic static kit modified to fit a slot car chassis.  Starting point is Tamiya's Kubelwagen Type 82 kit:

It has a fair few pieces although of course a number of them (e.g. axles and wheels) are not required.

The model is 1:35, a little bit smaller than the 1:32 Scalextric scale as you can see from the chassis and underpan in the photo below:

So the chassis needed shortening and trimming, the axles were cut down, and the underpan had a hole cut into it for the motor (leading to the unfortunate thumb injury...).  After building the model and completing the chassis, this is the state before final assembly and painting:

And the finished article, painted up for use in North Africa:

In the original model, the driver's door is open and the driver is facing out of the car with one foot out.  After some delicate surgery, I repositioned his legs so he could properly sit in the car to drive it around the track.

The next project is a British equivalent to race against!

Andy's 50th Birthday car

I bought a brand new Spirit model of a VW Golf in Jagermeister livery, and then proceeded to take it apart and strip everything off it, including wing mirrors, windscreen wipers, petrol cap and lights.

I resprayed the car in French Blue over a grey undercoat, and repainted the figures in their orange overalls so that the driver was in blue and the co-driver in pink.  I also painted the roll cage.

I numbered the car with 50 on the bonnet and doors, and added the driver and co-driver names to the top of the windshield.

A personalised number plate...

...and the car was completed.  A special edition of 1!

Vee-dubs

Thanks to Andy's 4WD, we made it across town to get together for Rivals Christmas.  And also thanks to Andy, I'm now the proud owner of another couple of slot cars - VW Golf Mk 1s produced by Spirit, who also made the fabulous BMW 2002s Andy tracked down for my birthday.

I kept my coat on to go up in the loft to try them out.  It's minus 8 here at the moment and the track had contracted and come apart in one place, but no permanent damage.  Like the Beemers, these cars are a hoot - they drive very fast and slide all over the place.