"Bendy Bus" VW Doka / 5th wheel camper kitbash

[Allen Dewire]

It'll definitely stretch my mediocre scratch skills and the pressure's on a bit with such an accomplished audience, but as long as I have fun and learn something it'll be a win.

Morn Scratchy,

Off to a great start I see!!!

Your scratch skills are very good to say the least, hence your name. You will do a bang up job and you probably already have a fantastic idea for a paint scheme in your head too!!! Please don't tell us though, if you do. Like you said, have fun and this will be a gem to watch Sir...……...

Bleib Gesund
Allen

[Tim Marlow]

Nice tip on a great start to the build....

[outrunner]

Looking good so far, a great one off build which I am sure will turn out brilliant.

Andy.

[Ian M]

Bit late joining in here. You are off to a great start. I would/should have wrote in my post with the picture that There is a kit of the pick-up out there as well. Built one many moons ago totally slammed.
I like what you have done so far and will be watching.

[stillp]

Nice tip on getting rid of the scratches. I was taught by a metal polisher to change the angle of attack by 90 degrees each time you change to a finer grit, which also helps.
Pete

[Guest]

Welcome all, and thanks. This seems to be drawing quite a crowd. No pressure lol

Allen - no firm colour scheme as yet, although it will be a "shiny" rather than rat & rusty looking. I do have some ideas though.

Ian - I did find a pick up version on Scalemates thanks but had trouble sourcing one. I even found a resin double cab body conversion for it, but I'm sure making my own will be more rewarding. If it turns out ok of course.

Pete - yes, that's very useful, and you can probably make out my sanding pattern from the picture which is similar. Back & forth to start, then turn 45°, then 90°. I still had trouble seeing what I was doing on the white plastic though.

[Si Benson]

A’noon Andy,
excellent idea for a build....great start so far :thumb2:

[Guest]

Thanks Si.

I had a couple more hours on this today as a break from digging trenches in the back garden, but it doesn't look a great deal different so no pictures.

Lots of tweaking, sanding and dry fitting to get thing in line before I commit to a big glue up.

[Guest]

As expected, progress is slow on this but I'm fine with that. With so many pieces to modify, shape and glue into place I'd rather think it over well first. Plus I need to leave most joints to harden fully before I can move on, so that adds time.

I've finally figured out how to glue it together into a manageable "lump", while still being able to access the interior, chassis and engine bay for adding the details and later painting. I've had to cut off most of the locating tabs & pins to be able to separate the chassis, but now it's in some kind of shape I won't need them so much.

Lots of work has gone into this with not much to show so far, but here's a cross brace I added to support the new rear deck. I added some longitudinal "beams" across the top of this to support the deck, but didn't take a picture. Some inventive clamping was needed to stop it slipping out of place as it dried.

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Then a piece of card was added for the deck. This will be level with the existing rear part once I've sanded it's detail off, and also slips underneath the upper rear panel and window area to support that. Up to now it's been very fragile and has broken a few times so it's nice to get it stiffened up. It's made from the upper rear quarters of the original van body moved forward, with the tailgate in between. I had to widen it a little to fit, which is what made it so weak. I know I should have put a shim in both sides to keep the window perfectly central but just the one has given me so much grief that I'm glad I didn't, and I'm hoping it's not too noticeable once finished.

I did get the heights pretty spot on to the deck though so all that planning must have paid off. There's a tiny gap visible under the curved corner, but I filled that with a thin shim of card. Most of the black line you see is marker pen ink dissolved by the glue.

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It looks a bit rough on the inside but I'll tidy that up as best I can given the limited access, and besides the rear seat hides most of it. Again, the van kit contains many spare parts that would be used on the Samba, including 2 full rear bench seats, one of which fits perfectly and matches the fronts. The gaps around the rear deck have been filled, and once dry it'll all be sanded flat, removing the ribbed details in the process. I still need to sort the 5th wheel bit out but I'll do that once I have the trailer chopped up and I know where to position it. This deck will then be trimmed with checker plate to finish it off.

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[minitnkr]

Some excellent silkpursery on display here. A worthy project for sure. PaulE

[Mini Me]

My kind of "cut and stitch", Now you're living Andy!
Rick H.

[papa 695]

Cracking work so far Andy, looking very good.

[Tim Marlow]

Excellent work on display here. Bet you didn’t think you’d be doing something this good this time last year....

[Guest]

Thanks for the comments and likes all. Definitely not something I'd have seen myself doing a year ago Tim, but I'm still a very long way off so I won't get too cocky just yet, it could still end in disaster :smiling5:

I've been tempted to start on the trailer section as a more efficient use of my time - working on one while the other is drying, but I think I'll get a bit further down the line and see if it works out first. At least that way I'll only have wasted one kit. I've already been backwards and forwards a few times since it's all new to me, but it's a great way of learning new things.

[Guest]

Morning Andy, very late in, looks a great build.Top rate scratchery. :thumb2: Our grandson would be in heaven with that.

Here is the joiners version. :nerd: