Bumblebee, Autobot Transformer in car form [WIP - Assembly of the Volkswagen Beetle Interior]

After the tough challenge of having to paint tiny interior details, comes the fear inducing process of having to assemble a series of fully painted and fragile parts, components and sub-assemblies of a car interior. That all consuming fear soon became a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the process of building the car's interior, I broke the Stick Shift again, not once but twice more. In addition, I also broke the vehicle frame (i.e. chassis) on the rear. The former had to be fixed with a thin, low viscosity glue while the latter was put back together with a super glue and baking soda combo. This then are the photos and story of the assembly of the Tamiya 1/24 scale Volkswagen 1300 Beetle Interior.    

Painted sub-assemblies and components that make up the Volkswagen (VW) 1300 Beetle Interior

Small little details in miniature form, especially when they mimic real-life objects, have always held a strange fascination for me. I'm sure it's the same for you too, dear reader, for if it wasn't the case you wouldn't be involved in the miniature figurine/scale model kit hobby. So amidst all that tension of trying not to break fragile parts while applying more than enough force to do so during the interior assembly, I still found simple joy marveling at the Beetle interior. Hypocritically, I found myself both praising Tamiya's tiny, detailed parts, and cursing at its fragility. If you had been a fly on the wall, that scene of an old scale modeler oohing and aahing and cussing would've been downright weird.     

VW Beetle dashboard within the car interior; an isometric closeup view from above the right seat

VW Beetle dashboard within the car interior; a closeup view from an angled, top down perspective 

VW Beetle dashboard within the car interior; an isometric closeup view from above the left seat

So what then, did I break? Well, attaching the Front Boot Interior to the chassis was supposed to be an uneventful event. It was anything but. For some reason I had inexplicably ignored assembly instructions to glue the dashboard and front boot together before gluing the resultant sub-assembly onto the chassis. Feeling cocky I only snap-fitted both together before proceeding to glue them to the chassis. Lo and behold, the parts came apart mid-assembly and broke the stick shift into two. This I did twice before coming to my senses. I was lucky not to break the steering wheel as well. 

Front Boot Interior with the Fuel Tank, Windshield Washer Container and Brake Fluid Reservoir

Front and Back Seats of the VW 1300 Beetle, with the PVC covers painted in beige-like colors

Apart form the cover, the Front Boot is also missing the Spare Wheel which will be added later

Grooves on the Front and Back Seats were panel-lined using an oil-based, dark brown hue

Outer surfaces of the Interior were left mostly unpainted as they will be covered up by the main bodywork

When it rains, it pours. Getting the rear section of the interior to fit onto the chassis required quite an excessive application of force. And surprise, surprise, the rear bodywork frame also broke during assembly. If you look towards the bottom of the rear engine compartment (see below, fifth photo from bottom) you should notice what looks like a welded surface on the lower right corner where the yellow bodywork meets the black engine floor. That weld-like eyesore (painted over in black) is actually a byproduct from a mix of super glue and baking soda, used to create an extra strong bond.   

Tamiya 1/24 scale VW 1300 Beetle (1966 Model) Interior; an isometric, zoomed out view

Outer surface of the interior were mostly left unpainted as they'll be covered by the Beetle's main body

Note the light turquoise piece on the partially completed engine located at the rear section ...

... it's the only engine part that had work done on it at this stage (as in being painted further) ...

... and as you petrol-heads out there will know, that light turquoise piece is the Beetle's ignition coil.

Also currently missing from the Beetle's chassis are its four road wheels

All in all, putting the VW 1300 Beetle Interior together had been a rather stressful experience ...

... as it was plagued by the constant worry of fragile, painted parts being broken, which sadly did break  

In a zoomed-out view of the Volkswagen 1300 Beetle (1966 Model) Interior (see last eight photos), one gets an even better sense of how important the intricately molded interior details are to making the car look like a miniaturized slice of real-life. It is after all the prevalent view we'll all have of the car sans the artificially zoomed-in view of a macro lens. And with that I leave you for another week, with yet another unrelated quote, this time from legendary science fiction writer Isaac Asimov ... The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.