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On to Hazzard County project #10: Hughie Hogg's Volkswagen!  

 

The first thing I discovered was that it was NOT a true convertible.  Rather, it was a chop-top, as evidenced by the sedan-style windscreen, and the bottoms of the window posts still remaining.  

 

The second thing I had to learn was the difference between the classic Beetle and the Super Beetle.  I have no doubt this is a "duh" to some of you, but I don't come from a major automotive background.  Now that some folks in at an auto site were kind enough to educate me, I see clearly that Hughie's ride was most definitely a Super Beetle with the roof cut off. 

 

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After much more research and guidance from some folks at an automotive modeling forum, I realized (after much frustration) that I was going to have to kitbash THREE different kits to do this.  

1) Aoshima Beetle 1303S for most (not all) of the body and the bumpers 

2) Revell '68 Beetle for the chassis, engine, windscreen, rear body vents, tail lights and much of the interior

3) Revell VW Cabriolet for some of the interior and some of the body details

 

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I should also mention part of my research was to go through every Dukes episode in which this vehicle appeared, pause the DVD whenever a good view appeared from any angle, and photograph the scene.  I then had the photos made into prints to use as I build.  Maybe low-tech, but it works for me.  

 

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The excellent Revell '68 chassis actually fit the Aoshima body *mostly* well.  Only two issues to face.  First, it needed widening on both sides with a .040 strip (easy fix). 

 

The bigger problem was that the aft wheel wells and engine area didn't fit.  So I took a saw and cut partway into the plastic at that area so that the aft area could be bent upward, and then fit quite well, considering.  

 

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Final step for now was scratchbuilding the large McPherson struts, a vital item for the Super Beetle.  The struts themselves were made from plastic tubing, then the springs made by wrapping metal wire around an appropriately-sized plastic rod then trimmed to shape and installed.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Alright Andy!  Let me pull up a seat and watch the master of mod once again.  Ever thought of going into the car customizing business for real?  You could be the next George Barris!   Hey, did you bring any of your Dukes of Hazards kits to the Nationals?  Would have been nice to see them all together. K/r, Dutch

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Hey there my friend, you're too kind :cheers:

I did bring three Dukes builds to Nats, namely the General, the Jeep and the Tow Truck.  I did have high hopes for the Tow truck, while the other two were afterthoughts (the General because of the crazy engine bay I did).  Was disappointed in the truck being a non-placer, but Model Cars Magazine requested a photo shoot of the General.

 

Actually, here are some shots of the whole fleet to date:

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1 hour ago, Dutch said:

Andy,

I was just browsing eBay for 1/24 & 1/25 scale license plates when I came across this one with several TV show tags, including DoH!  Don't know if you saw this before.

I am going to ask if he will do my state tags and a USMC front plate for me.

V/r,

Dutch

 

Hey, nice! I was going to have to piece together Hughie's plate letter by letter, but maybe now I don't have to, seeing as he has some Hazzard plates all ready to go...

Thanks for that! :cheers: 

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Andy, 

Again, while searching for 1/25 scale 1968 Adam-12 Plymouth Belvedere police cruiser parts on Shapeways, I came across lots of DoH stuff by a guy that goes by the tag General Lee Creations.  Worth a look. Sorry if I am late to the dance as some or most of it may be OBE for your builds, but thought I would let you know anyway.

K/r,

Dutch

Edited by Dutch
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2 hours ago, Dutch said:

Andy, 

Again, while searching for 1/25 scale 1968 Adam-12 Plymouth Satellite police cruiser parts on Shapeways, I came across lots of DoH stuff by a guy that goes by the tag General Lee Creations.  Worth a look. Sorry if I am late to the dance as some or most of it may be OBE for your builds, but thought I would let you know anyway.

K/r,

Dutch

 

Hey there Dutch,

Yep, definitely some neat stuff in there; took special notice of how much of his stuff is for the big 1/16 one.  

The fleet's basically finished if I could just figure out more solutions for this VW...ugh.....

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Definitely, Adam 12 would be a great build! I still often watch.

 

As far as the Lee Creations, at the risk of sounding arrogant, I much prefer how my own cage for my "Lee 1" wreck came out as opposed to the one they're offering for $65 😄 

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Fireball Model Works also has tires / wheels and push-bar for the General Lee.

 

FMR-053 RUBBER/RESIN GENERAL LEE WHEELS/TIRES, SET OF 4, 1/25 $15.00

 

FMR-169 3D-PRINTED GENERAL LEE WIDE PUSH BAR, 1/25

$5.00

 

 

But, most importantly, they have the MOPAR steel rims and dog dish hubcaps I am after.

FMR-085 RESIN 15x7 MOPAR STEELIES DOG DISH, SET OF 4, 1/25 $6.00
Edited by Dutch
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Yep, that's the late-season push bar style.  I'm going to be selfish again and say I love the early one I did 😄

I did use Fireball's tires for my Daisy's Satellite build, though.  Saw in the previous link you gave that they had the wheels for this car; wish I'd have known, but I was lucky someone from the car forums sent me the (same) wheels from a Chevy van, if I recall....

 

Thrilled you found the wheels you needed :cheers: 

Edited by Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy
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Really neat projects here. 😎

Don't watch much TV but did watch some of that back then while living in central Georgia in the 1970s, was fun.

And then the brain is having word fun, "Beetle kitbash" ... Beetlebash, which is actually fun to say.

 

There is a model show phenomena which explains things such as, for a hypothetical example, a 100% strictly accurate rendering of a utilitarian work vehicle being overlooked in favor of an imaginary fluorescent scooter. 

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  • 2 years later...

Okay y'all, I must apologize for shelving this for a couple of years, but I've had a LOT to deal with, including a wedding, some health stuff, plus just got totally burned out on this due to the intensity of what I had to do to it (FAR more than I originally planned).

 

Time to get this thing done.

 

Major body modifications.  Had to take pieces from the two Revell bodies and graft them to the Aoshima to reflect the correct vents, trims and such.  Flat windscreen framing on the hardtop was too narrow, so I widened it with an insert of plastic, above and below.  I'll worry about the windscreen itself later.

The hood was a nightmare, part of the upper section being scratchbuilt.

 

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Just found this thread, the most obvious external clue (to me) is that the classic beetle had a flat windscreen, the super beetle had a curved windscreen. 

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Just now, habu2 said:

Just found this thread, the most obvious external clue (to me) is that the classic beetle had a flat windscreen, the super beetle had a curved windscreen. 

Hey there,

Discovered the Super is wider and squatter, and the front fenders a more stylish curve.  Classic is much more narrow, almost felt my claustrophobia when I finally could see it between the two.

Apparently the '71 and '72 original supers had the flat windscreen, which this build apparently is.  After that they went to the curve.

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Man, what a comparison, my friend! 😄 

Got to splice the chopped door posts from the classic body onto the Super's convertible body.  Always better to cut and graft too much, then cut it down to size.  Then a bit of grinding and sanding to blend it all in.

 

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