More Airfix Beetles

Pat

Thank you for that description of Sid and his Woodbines above. I knew a few chaps exactly like that when I was a boy. They always spoke in riddles, when they spoke at all, and smelled of oil, turps and baccy. They were infamously married to someone called Vi or Lil and spent their lives in large sheds surrounded by automotive treasure.

Remember their hands? Ingrained with years of black lubricant and deep scars from past misadventures, they always had a mad project on the go. And, as you point out, their sheds were stuffed with magic potions, dusty ol' British bikes and half a Lagonda chassis hanging on the wall.

Occasionally, they'd proffer gruff dissent on the subject of everything made east of Dunkirk, France's foreign policy, "stupid" GP cars, and Britain having gone to the dogs after 1945. Their solution to all the world's ills came in the form of beer, National Service and severe corporal punishment.

Their like has gone sadly, for they formed the backbone of Britain's cottage industries, but I suspect their return today would would not only be of great benefit in some quarters, but would severely increase the workload of the Thought Police.

Pat

Sid overdoes it on the Woodbines.

To be 100 per cent fair to Pendle, the boys in Lancashire have been in touch to inform me that missing parts from two recently-purchased chassis kits will be in the post on Monday.

A fine example of a company doing its best. Excellent. Thank you, chaps.

Had this newly-finished car apart again today because, completely unaided, Dr Sodt ensured that the bl**dy windscreen had dropped out again so, I've binned it and made a new one.

Trisha said:

Had this newly-finished car apart again today because, completely unaided, Dr Sodt ensured that the bl**dy windscreen had dropped out again so, I've binned it and made a new one. View attachment 300998

Click to expand...

Fustrating I'm sure Laurence.

I had an issue with a windscreen in an old Vauxhall Viva GLS many years ago while overtaking another vehicle on a fairly quiet "A" road. Just as I was almost level with the other vehicle the screen not so much fell out, but accompanied by a seriously loud bang shattered completely, totally obscuring frontal vision. I managed to bash a small hole in it with the back of my hand in order to see where I was, returning to the correct side of the road (for the UK) and eventually back home almost in one piece.
After repairs to both hand and windscreen (and a change of underwear!!) I concluded the cause of breakage to be the strong smelling windscreen cleaning product (advertised as such) I had applied both inside and out a few weeks earlier (summer months).

Is your issue that of fitment/clearance of the windscreen to the body or a suitable method of adhesion of the windscreen to the body Laurence?
The mould (Airfix?) for the windscreen/body could be modified (metal on or metal off the mould cavities) in the affected areas but as their production batch runs are likely to be relativley small in comparison to what I was used to (batch/production quantities weekly/monthly in the millions of parts 24/7/365), the mould modification costs would likely prove prohibitive.
Hopefully one day your problem will be solved and detachable windscreens (when you least expect it) will become a thing of the past.

An extremely rare 4-door cabriolet by Austro-Tatra. A slot version would need severe butchering, but conversion from an Airfix kit wouldn't be difficult.

Most interesting comments, chaps. Many thanks. Where primary and secondary safety are concerned in modern times, please have a look at Alan McNish's Audi crash at Le Mans on YouTube. A miracle of survival.

Safety in the 1930s was rarely uppermost in desighers' minds, for there were fewer people, and even fewer vehicles on a limited road network. 'Elfs didn't exist at all. The nannying State remained two generations away, and individuals still carried responsibility for their own safety.

Beetle safety testing before the War comprised chucking a car down a steep slope end over end. That the ensuing damage comprised nothing more than scratched paint and a few dents was considered good enough. A cabriolet Beetle without doors by comparison with the unnecessary misery inflicted by the deranged Austrian corporal between 1939-45 was neither here nor there.

Today? The irony of a military tank with a catalytic converter, eh? As long as you go into battle with a clean exhaust, you can blast as many people as you 'like' with nasty guns. Madness!

Crash testing a Beetle before the War comprised rolling a car from nose to tail down a steep slope.