Remember that awesome Karmann Kombi Safari that edu-petrolhead squarely put on all of our diecast want lists? Well with the help of vdubyajohn’s exquisit Photoshop skills, I was able to plan for, and start, making one out of the Matchbox VW bus. Let’s see where things stand.
After a lengthy back-and-forth and exchange of ideas, vdubyajohn emailed me a good clear photoshop file of the Kombi template that he made from the papercraft version Edu linked in his post. I made some minor adjustments to the front “bedroom” area, lengthening the overhang somewhat to match the 1:1 better, and printed it out to test fit. Looks pretty good so far!
Then I cut out the templates and school-glued them onto a sheet of 1mm thick styrene to prepare for cutting out the sides. I am using school glue because, as vdubyajohn reminded me, it’s water soluble, so after its template function is done, I can take the paper off very easily.
I only pasted one side onto the styrene, because I’m trying to make left and right match perfectly. So basically I’m stacking two pieces of styrene and then cutting and sanding them at the same time so they take on the same shape. I started out with some wiggle, so after a while I drilled two small holes and stuck a piece of aluminum tubing in that snugly fits in the holes so they two pieces don’t shift while shaping. Perfect!
Now I just have to cut out the windows and the sides will be done.
Up next will be the back and top, but I’m going to make those out of thinner styrene, as it will be much easier to bend and shape that than the 1mm styrene, which is very rigid. I’ll make some crossmembers out of the 1mm stuff to hold the shape, though, but they will be hidden by the top after it is glued on.
The ultimate goal is to make it fit in such a way that i don’t have to take the base bus apart, and the camper top will be fully removable.
Tune in next time to see more!
Bonus work in progress: DTG’s Alfa 4C Spyder! it has since also gotten tail lights and is almost ready for clearcoat!
