Schwimmwagen Reproduction

[Brian Florness]

hey everyone,
thought some of you might be interested in a build i'm about half way through and some of your advice and input would help me out.
this project has been mentored by a kind fellow in england who has been a total inspiration to me! Thanks Mark!!
i found myself a 1/6th scale model of the 166 to copy, made patterns and scaled them up with an old overhead projector.
here's a few pics of the undertaking;
i started with a '64
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/bug001.jpg

stripped her down......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/bug0013.jpg
welded a 4'x8' sheet of 18GA to the shortened spine.......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/bug2010.jpg
made up a tube frame;
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/bug3007.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/schwim001.jpg
i broke the bank and found a source for the swimdrive in germany.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/schwim004.jpg
here's a pic of the rear end. you can see where a rubber boot goes between the axle cuff i fabricated and the transaxle flange to seal the water out.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/schwim0087.jpg
here's one of the 2 RGBs (reduction gear boxes from a '63 van) i added to emulate the 166.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/bug2002.jpg
here i reused the door skins and the rear fender wells to make up the body contours of the schwimmwagen. my bud dubbed her 'david'
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/schwim0024.jpg
a bit of scabby sheetwork on the front;
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/schwim00515.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/schwim0144.jpg
lots of work to do yet!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/schwim007.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/schwim014.jpg

any advice for the sheetmetal work woould be appreciated!!
i don't want to fill it with bondo!
brian

[Rick (madera)]

that is a interesting project!
good luck

[Jacob]

Looks like a fun project!
Welcome to Metalmeet!
In what part of the world do you live?

[oldgoaly]

Welcome Brian to the forum!
Wow! a Rumley Oil Pull and a Shwimmwagenin the same day!
I'm still absorbing info from the pics, different than the DAF Amphicar. Somebody here could use the top??? for a chop repair. Keep posting pics cause we probably won't see another! tt;)

[rustydog]

Interesting project ,

what toy model did you use ?

are you going to try and make it 4WD :)

Rusty

[kfs]

cool prodjekt :) are you making it water proof ?

some old pictures for you

http://www.vwnorge.no/index.php/topic,30864.0/topicseen.html

[Brian Florness]

thanks for the welcome and the kind words.
Jacob, i live just outside of moose jaw sk,can.
Rusty,i would have loved to make her 4wd like the original but the budget would not permit. may be the next one......
the model is a 1/6 scale from dragon.100 bucks on epay.
and Karl, sweet old pics! "and OH YES, IT WILL FLOAT!!":-D

[Guten i Norge]

The VW boat thing.. is it still going on or just going down ;+(

Nice stuff there... hope to see some more of it.

Greetings
Ørvar

[Brian Florness]

...still in progress..
had a bit of a set-back at xmas. broke my back in a snowmobile accident. much better now. made my way out to the shop a couple times in the past few weeks.

here a used the rear deck lid from the bug to make the engine cover.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/schwim014-1.jpg

i started to make the fenders on the weekend....
....slow going.
i'll post up more when i get a chance.
Cheers!

[Brian Florness]

here's a couple more pics after installing the fenders.
it's kinda of starting to get that bug/speedster shape.....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/P5150183.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/hmrbri/P5150191.jpg

[Iron-Iceberg]

WOW Cool lot of work