TheSamba.com :: View topic - Complete Dune Buggies & Hot VW's Magazine Collection

Mon Jan 23, 2012 1:40 pm

I just completed my Dune Buggies & Hot VW's Magazine Collection. From the first issue to the present (February 2012), and including the 8 specials throught the years, my count is 511 issues. I wonder if Hot Vw's know that their March 2011 was their 500th publication?

Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:57 am

Congratulation's on the collection bro :wink: Collecting is a hard thing to do but to complete your collection up to the present when dealing with magazines is AWSOME !!! I doubt HOT VW's realized their 500th publication but maybe they'll do something cool for their 1k publication. Well again Kudo's to you and the collection =D> =D> =D>

Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:17 am

Congratulation's on completing your collection of Dune Buggies & Hot VW's Magazine. Are there a couple of issues that are rare to find ?

That sure represents a lot of years covering the Volkswagen interests.

Burried in those 511 issues are 76 article I wrote for the magazine as a contributor. I have only kept the articles and not the magazine. You must need a lot of space for your collection?

SUPER !!

Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:04 pm

That's funny! I received my March 2012 issue of Hot Vw's today and the first thing I always read is the Semaphore article. This months article written by Bruce Simurda is titled, "45...And Still Changing". In the first paragraph Bruce recalls the 45 yeras of the magazine and states that there has been over 500 issues. I guess I must of had a premonition to add my post yesterday.

Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:14 pm

Hacksaw-BoB wrote: Congratulation's on completing your collection of Dune Buggies & Hot VW's Magazine. Are there a couple of issues that are rare to find ?

That sure represents a lot of years covering the Volkswagen interests.

Burried in those 511 issues are 76 article I wrote for the magazine as a contributor. I have only kept the articles and not the magazine. You must need a lot of space for your collection?

SUPER !!
Thanks Bob. Your handy work is in this months issue of Hot VW's. Some might think the Feb. 75 Cal look issue is rare, but I've had 3 or 4 of them. They do fetch the highest price though. The hardest issues in my opinion are the oldest ones, 67-74. In fact I didn't think there was a March 1970 issue for a long time because Hot Vw's doesn't even have a scan of it on their year by year archives page. Its the only one missing.I did let them know.
I do have a model question for you. I used to be pretty good with model kits when I was a kid. I always wanted to build a replica of the famous Cal Look 63 that is featured on that cover of that Feb. 1975 Hot VW's. Is there a beeetle kit out there that would be a good base for that build? Any thoughts.
Jody

Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:25 pm

Hi Jody,

I think the best resource for your queston about plastic Volkswagen model kits would be Blue Baron . . . . . I hope he will chime in :!:

Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:56 pm

1-4-3-2 wrote: I just completed my Dune Buggies & Hot VW's Magazine Collection. From the first issue to the present (February 2012), and including the 8 specials throught the years, my count is 511 issues. I wonder if Hot Vw's know that their March 2011 was their 500th publication?

You must have a whole room for this lot.

I have every issue of hot vw's upto 1982, then only selective issues from then onwards.

But mainly because i have every issue of VW trends (in all formats), VW Greats, Volksworld and VW Ultra.

Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:43 am

WoW Lids :!:

That is quite a dedicated collection of Volkswagen magazines that you have :wink:

Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:26 am

Hacksaw-BoB wrote: Hi Jody,

I think the best resource for your queston about plastic Volkswagen model kits would be Blue Baron . . . . . I hope he will chime in :!:

Thanks for the plug, Hacksaw BoB. Here's my answer for Jody.

It depends on what exactly you want to build. A lot of people are using the modern Chinese diecasts as a basis for customs. If you're looking to build something that's really old school, I would suggest the vintage IMC kit in 1/25 scale. It could be built as a stock VW or as a front-engined gasser.

I see toy guru Tom has a parts car in the classifieds.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1002647

The same kit was also reissued as the Union from Japan. Here's an old ad from the classifieds showing the box cover.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=971235

For your application, I would suggest looking for the Union, because it's molded in white to begin with. Plus excellent examples can still be found.

You can put a scoop in the decklid without too much trouble, but you may have a problem finding BRMs in 1/25 scale. Mine were made by a jeweler (Wagenmaster) and cast in solid silver.

Here's a couple construction photos of the choptop gasser I built, also from the IMC. I chopped the top similar to the way they would have chopped the real thing back in '73.

A word of caution, being an old-school kit tooled in the '60s, the IMC/Union is not a simple build. The technology was not as good as it is today, and many parts must be tweaked or modified to fit. (Especially the opening doors, hood and decklid.) But there's nothing like the satisfaction of working with something that comes from the same era as the actual car. It gives a you-are-there feel.

If this is too ambitious, the best detailed VW kit in 1/25 scale is the Tamiya, but it's a big-windowed '66 Beetle. The Polar Lights Herbie kit would also serve as a decent basis. And if you want to go to a smaller scale, the Airfix kit in 1/32 is excellent.

Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:03 pm

Complete collection of hotvw..wow! I have most of them from 1978. Complete UltraVW and many many other title collected over the year. In fact I do not collect them but mostly keep the magazines I read...The only one I collect is the UltraVw since I was able to buy issue 1 at the news stand...About the toys same thing... I only collects small Endoh now...but I have few others and I remember having this one somewhere so I took a few (bad) pics of the Union kit from Japan

Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:23 pm

1-4-3-2 wrote: I just completed my Dune Buggies & Hot VW's Magazine Collection. From the first issue to the present (February 2012), and including the 8 specials throught the years, my count is 511 issues. I wonder if Hot Vw's know that their March 2011 was their 500th publication?

Congrats!
I just completed my collection of HVW's recently also.
My guess we were probably trying to outbid each other on ebay at some point!
Still need a couple of issues to complete my VW Trends collection.

Thu Jan 26, 2012 8:45 am

After thinking about this overnight, I realized the model you wanted to build was a sunroof car. I'm now thinking the Polar Lights Herbie might be your best bet. It's easy to find, inexpensive, and comes with the sunroof cover. It also has decent engine detail, and the parts should fit together well and be a simnpler build than the IMC/Union.

I haven't built one, but I have one sitting on my bench waiting to be built, and it looks like a proper basis for your project. Let us know how it goes!

Fri Jan 27, 2012 11:02 am

Thanks for all your help. I'll be looking for a Herbie kit.

Fri Jan 27, 2012 11:52 am

Of all the Hot VWs issues, by far, the one issue that had the smallest print order was the Feb 1974 issue. At that time, there was a huge paper shortage, and that is why there is orange paper inside.... it was all we could find at the time. That issue almost didn't happen, due to the lack of paper. So, only a small number actually hit the newsstands.

Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:06 pm

Dean1 wrote: Of all the Hot VWs issues, by far, the one issue that had the smallest print order was the Feb 1974 issue. At that time, there was a huge paper shortage, and that is why there is orange paper inside.... it was all we could find at the time. That issue almost didn't happen, due to the lack of paper. So, only a small number actually hit the newsstands.
Thanks for that piece of Hot VW's trivia. Did you see my email about your archives webpage not showing the cover of the March 1970 issue?

Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:09 pm

Dean1 wrote: Of all the Hot VWs issues, by far, the one issue that had the smallest print order was the Feb 1974 issue. At that time, there was a huge paper shortage, and that is why there is orange paper inside.... it was all we could find at the time. That issue almost didn't happen, due to the lack of paper. So, only a small number actually hit the newsstands.
I have that issue in an ebay auction right now. Maybe I should update the listing and include that tidbit. :lol:

Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:22 pm

I can remember when that issue hit the newstands, I was a kid not even old enough to drive, but I was already infatuated with Volkswagens.

That issue still seems to turn up and I had no problem upgrading my old copy. I might even have an extra.

Tue Jan 31, 2012 7:31 pm

I recently completed my Hot VWs magazine collection as well. I had to purchase all 12 issues from 1975 to get the Feb Cal Look issue. I paid $125 for all of 1975 and most of the issues were in better shape than the ones I allready had. Win win for me.

1-4-3-2 wrote: Hacksaw-BoB wrote: Congratulation's on completing your collection of Dune Buggies & Hot VW's Magazine. Are there a couple of issues that are rare to find ?

That sure represents a lot of years covering the Volkswagen interests.

Burried in those 511 issues are 76 article I wrote for the magazine as a contributor. I have only kept the articles and not the magazine. You must need a lot of space for your collection?

SUPER !!
Thanks Bob. Your handy work is in this months issue of Hot VW's. Some might think the Feb. 75 Cal look issue is rare, but I've had 3 or 4 of them. They do fetch the highest price though. The hardest issues in my opinion are the oldest ones, 67-74. In fact I didn't think there was a March 1970 issue for a long time because Hot Vw's doesn't even have a scan of it on their year by year archives page. Its the only one missing.I did let them know.
I do have a model question for you. I used to be pretty good with model kits when I was a kid. I always wanted to build a replica of the famous Cal Look 63 that is featured on that cover of that Feb. 1975 Hot VW's. Is there a beeetle kit out there that would be a good base for that build? Any thoughts.
Jody

There is an old 1/24th scale Baja kit from many years ago, that is an early sunroof model. I have one of the roof sections that my buddy glued/graphed on to a newer kit from the 80s. The only problem is the sunroof is permanently open and its a 3 fold. That is the only 1/24th scale sunroof kit I know of. There are a few expensive 1/24th scale 66 Bug kits out there that are close looking to the 63 on the cover of the HVWs mag. If you are good, you can make it a sunroof yourself.

Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:36 am

Your friend did a good job of grafting the roof.

That's the old Revell kit. There were several versions with the open sunroof, both Beetle and Baja, but the Beetle is a '68 model.

It's not too hard to cut a hole and fold a piece of vinyl to glue to the roof. The Polar Lights car comes with a closed sunroof.

Fri Feb 03, 2012 10:55 am

Blue Baron wrote:
The same kit was also reissued as the Union from Japan. Here's an old ad from the classifieds showing the box cover.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=971235

For your application, I would suggest looking for the Union, because it's molded in white to begin with. Plus excellent examples can still be found...

Ahem, yes, they still do turn up from time to time...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=394048