Vintage Monster Beetle - A New Look

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

Testing out my new action cam. My first on board recording, at the minute the camera is just strapped on but I will be screwing the mount on.

 

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

Long and rather boring video from yesterdays run, was mainly just testing out my camera

 

[Terz1 734]

If you could only keep one between the lunch box and the monster beetle which would it be?

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

1 minute ago, Terz1 said:

If you could only keep one between the lunch box and the monster beetle which would it be?

Well the Lunchbox is my nephews so I have never really used it for more than a couple of minutes every now and again but if I wanted a reliable basher then Lunchbox all day, I have never known a car like it for taking endless abuse! He got it when he was 4 and is 11 now and it has never suffered an issue to stop it running  

Personally though I have always loved the Monster Beetle, mainly the way it looks though! 

[Terz1 734]

Yes the lunch box is great fun and soo tough too. I've got a blackfoot which is the same as you know and a lunch box. Just have so much more fun with the lunch box. Still love my blackfoot though.

 

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

Just now, Terz1 said:

Yes the lunch box is great fun and soo tough too. I've got a blackfoot which is the same as you know and a lunch box. Just have so much more fun with the lunch box. Still love my blackfoot though.

 

TBH I should have bought a Lunchbox really but I wanted a restoration project and this popped up. Since I fitted the Frog Universals it's been great. Next job is a fresh paint job when the weather warms up 

I never really enjoyed running my box art MB, it always seemed far too fragile but a few upgrades on this one and it's awesome! 

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

Suspension has been noticibly poor lately. I'm thinking I must have skipped rebuilding it when I stripped and cleaned this, no idea why! It's been squatting when running with pretty much no rebound it seemed. 

Anyway, rebuilt them this weekend, just stripped, cleaned, and ensured they all matched (as they where mismatched) 

Seems quite unbelievable that a Monster Beetle is now my most reliable runner 

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

Some new parts arriving, a change is afoot  

 

 

[Cooltoys 125]

You can try to paint a plastic scrap piece first to see if the paint will match sometimes you get lucky. May not 100% exact shade but sometimes it will be close enough.. 

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

I was giving the body of this a wash a couple of weeks ago and the nose cone fell off, at this point, instead of screwing it back on I started on my project to give it a new look  

Body flatted.

All primed

Getting to the fully primed took a fair amount of work, one of the rear arches was constantly reacting and blistering. Luckily there was very little purple / silver on the body and the previous owner hadn't primed it so removing the paint back to the original black was easy enough. 

Base coat done, went on very nice. 

Lacquered

I'll be giving it a few days to fully harden before giving it a flat and polish but I am very happy with it, looks awesome and is exactly what I wanted - a nice bright bug!

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

Gave the chassis a quick clean tonight as thought it would be wrong to fit my fresh body to it caked in mud. 

Couldn't resist placing the body to see how it looks, i love it

[chevelle 993]

Custom decals maybe? 

 

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

The colour is actually called peppermint green unsurprisingly 

[Chilihook 50]

I really enjoyed this thread and seeing your progress. Looks like you're having great fun with your Monster Beetle! Looking forward to seeing your finished color scheme and new decals/look!

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

Had it out in the sun today to ensure its fully cured before body build up and decals this evening

 

 

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

Following the changes over the last few weeks I took it out today for its maiden run as the sun was shining  So, to recap it´s had..

• Suspension rebuild
• Superstock BZ stripped, cleaned and refitted
• Body refresh

It ran great, handling is now much improved with the refreshed suspension and the Superstock was running great, very punchy 

I applied a few decals last night, I have decided against adding the full boxart livery as I just really like the colour and I don´t want to hide it away! I purchased some rubber pin protectors to hopefully stop the body getting damaged when being ran. The rear lights still need work as I messed them up the first time. Only casualty today was the rear number plate but I knew that wouldn´t last long tbh. Oh, one thing I have noticed is that the Re Re window glass is a terrible fit, just a shame my original full window piece is in such terrible condition but overall I am absolutely loving the new look 

Some pictures 

[loco_oso 95]

That new color is beautiful. Green is my favorite, and that's such a pretty shade of it. It matches with the rest of it really well too. Great job! 

[NWarty 1141]

Looks beautiful!

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

1 hour ago, loco_oso said:

That new color is beautiful. Green is my favorite, and that's such a pretty shade of it. It matches with the rest of it really well too. Great job! 

 

1 hour ago, NWarty said:

Looks beautiful!

Thanks guys, this shade of green is one of my favourite colours and it's turned out just how I hoped

 

[Pumesta 285]

3 hours ago, Ian_Gsi16V said:

 Oh, one thing I have noticed is that the Re Re window glass is a terrible fit, just a shame my original full window piece is in such terrible condition

 

Mine has had super glue spilt on it and now has white 'runs' on it . But I still can't bring myself to fit a re re one.  

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

8 hours ago, Pumesta said:

Mine has had super glue spilt on it and now has white 'runs' on it . But I still can't bring myself to fit a re re one.  

I'm going to keep going at trying to restore my original one, it's never going to be perfect but the new one is awful 

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

Managed to find the time to redo the rear lights after my disatourous first attempt 

I've also removed the boot handle as it's only going to end up getting snagged or snapping off, i think it looks alright with just the sticker tbh and is certainly more 'runner mode'

Also refitted the VW badge.

 

[Jason1145 3836]

Looks ace Ian, tasteful decals for a runner, never did like the red MB, this however

[Ian_Gsi16V 529]

Superstock BZ died again today so that's that done now, refitted the Sport Tuned for now and I'm gonna to look into a new motor, want something around the same performance as the SS so it anyone has any ideas, feel free to suggest

[taffer 659]

When my super stock motors die, just take apart, clean comm and fit new brushes (approx £5), good as new!?