Beach Buggies compared - Airfix vs Revell

 

I suppose we ought to compare the recently finished Airfix beach buggy with the Revell version I built three years ago. The web loves this sort of thing after all. 

Both are the same scale, and fortunately, not the same prototype. Revell is slightly cheaper, but Airfix uses stiffer plastic. Revell give you rubber tyres, but I think the Airfix wheels and tyres look better. You get figures with Airfix and not with Revell - and in this sort of car, I think that's a big thing. 

Around the back, Airfix has a Type 1 engine, Revell, Type 4. Another win for Airfix here I think. Interestingly, the British kit is right hand drive, the German left hand drive. I can see arguments for both as this is a vehicle you'd mainly associate with the sunnier climbes of America. 

I'd give a small win to Airfix, mainly because of the engine and figures, but both are fun builds. 

However, all this got me thinking. While I'm not big on customised Beetles, I do have a soft spot for a Baja bug. 

 

So, I wonder if I could take the buggy wheels and engine, plus the Airfix Beetle kit and make one of these? There would need to be some scratchbuilding of course, but that would be a big part of the kitbashing fun wouldn't it? 

Something to think about anyway...

The Airfix Beach Buggy is back!

 

Excellent news from Airfix - the 1/32nd scale Beach Buggy is back, and should be in stock early in the year. 

Young Phil built one of these many years ago, complete with orange bodywork. It wasn't great, and like most plastic kits, gradually deteriorated until it was thrown away. I've always fancied building another, but the prices for unbuilt kits were truly terrifying. 

You might remember, I had a go at the Revell kit a couple of years ago. It was OK, but (and it might be rose tinted specs doing this) I remember the Airfix version being made of proper, hard plastic and just a much better model. It also enjoyed a bikini-clad figure as part of the kit, which can't be a bad thing. 

So, I'm a happy bunny and plan to get the glue and orange paint out as soon as my kit arrives.  

I wonder if they can find the moulds for the Bond Bug next?

Ready for the beach

Finishing the buggy was simply a case of sticking on the prodigious number of transfers. I like those for the tail lights, it saves a fiddly painting task.

There are also loads of decorative stickers which bring the model alive.

Finally, the white walls for the tyres are transfers, but ones that don't seem to fit. I had to cut each one to wiggle it into position with the ends overlapping each other. Not difficult, but odd in a clip-together kit.

Anyway, the results are rather nice.11.5cm long over the nerf bars, it's a tiny model and really would have benefitted from some figures to set it off. Having said that, it's a really cheap kit so I can't complain too much. I'm still after a sensibly priced Airfix version though.

 

Buggy bits assembled

Revell has designed this kit to be easy to assemble. No glue is required, all the bits sort of clip into each other.

I'm not convinced. For a start, I grew up sticking plastic kits together so why can't the kids of today do the same? Never did me any hard etc. etc.

Really though, I find that without glue, nothing seems properly put together. Things wobble where they should be fixed. The silver parts aren't that well moulded either, plenty of flash needs to be trimmed away before assembly starts. Since it's a soft plastic, this isn't as easy as it could be either.

My dislike of rubber tyres was confirmed too. These are a little too big for the wheels and really do need some superglue to hold them properly.

Still, it all sort of fits in a lightly detailed way. Nerd note: you can tell this is an American kit as the car is fitted with a Type 4 engine rather than the more common Type 1. This is a bad thing as far as I am concerned. Airfix got it right all those years ago.

So, I alone in all the world can create the finest orange at will?

Reading the instructions, one point jumped out at me. Rather than specify a body colour, the modeller is told to mix equal parts of green and metalic gold.

Hmmm. Well, you are supposed to use Revell acrylic paints for this and around here they are slightly less common than rocking horse poo, but I couldn't see why enamel wouldn't work.

And you are supposed to use the finest green, and I had decided to use orange.

No worries, I mixed gloss orange and gold then blasted the model using my airbrush. Amazingly, it worked!

OK, the first go was a bit too gold. Adding more orange tilted the balance the other way. A bit more gold and finally I was happy. It's now gloss orange but definitely not just gloss orange, there is a different shine.

I can't imaging why I'll ever want to us this on a railway project, but it's a technique for a future racing boat I'm sure.

Beach buggy build

We're all supposed to have "Bucket Lists" - that is a list of things we'd like to do before we kick the bucket. You're supposed to want to chuck yourself out of a perfectly good aeroplane or annoy dolphins by swimming with them. Quite what Flipper gets out of having some loon hanging on to his fin while gurning for Instagram isn't recorded, but then we can't spot the Vogons.

Anyway, I can't be bothered with all that, but if I did, building a kit car would be on there. The car I'd probably build is a beach buggy. They look great, make no pretense at being practical and ye should be reasonably simple.

To build your buggy, take a VW Beetle chassis. Bolt the 1-piece fibreglass buggy body on top. Fit electrics etc. and you are done. It really doesn't sound too hard. Only a lack of space, time and money is stopping me.

As a kid, I built the Airfix 1/32nd version. Painted orange, it has long since disappeared into landfill. Attempts to replace it has floundered on it's unavailability at a price I'm willing to pay. £60+ seems to be the going rate as the model has never re-appeared in the Airfix range. Actually, this might be an orange car thing as the Bond Bug from the same series is also rare and never repeated.

Anyway, when Revell announced a version, I was ready for it. My model was picked up at the IPMS show last year for well under a tenner. OK, it doesn't feature the scantily clad driver or girlfriend Airfix supplied, but this still seemed like good value.

For the money, you get a lot of box and not that many plastic parts as you can see. Tyres are rubber, something people get excited about but doesn't bother me. I have black paint and you can model a realistic bulge in a hard plastic tyre. And clean the mould marks off.

So, I set off assembling the model, but not before reading the instructions and finding something new. More tomorrow.