Disney's VW Love Bug aka "Herbie": Finished

[David G.]

 

 

Hello Everybody!

Polar Lights VW Love Bug This is the Polar Lights snap together kit of The Love Bug, the main character from Disney's 1968 movie by the same name. The car, more commonly known by the name "Herbie" is based on a Volkswagen 1963 Type 1 Deluxe. All the Volkswagen corporate emblems were removed by the movie studio to prevent copywrite infringement and the model kits follows suit.

The kit itself is of good quality and engineering, as are all Polar Lights snap together kits I've built so far. Though simple in nature, Polar Lights kits lean more toward the complex end of the snap together spectrum and sometimes straddle the boundary between snap together kits and more traditional kits that require glue to assemble. This means that Polar Lights snap together kits can be assembled well enough without glue and paint but to achieve the kit's full potential, these kits should be regarded as simplified glue together kits.

And I build them as such.

For those who may be interested, I have a build thread in the WIP section, here is a link.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As always, thanks for taking the time to look and please feel free to post a comment, question or suggestion.

Thanks,

David G.

[NOBLNG]

Herbie looks great David!? Nice work?

[Anglia105E]

Well David , your Polar Lights VW Love Bug has turned out nicely . . .  Interesting background information regarding the VW copyright, and also the snap together aspect of this kit . . . I forgot to mention that my favourite number, and in fact my lucky number, is ' 53 ' . . . This is for several coincidental reasons, one being that I live at house number 53, then I was born in 1953, the latitude of my home village in England is 53° N, and from the year 1970 when I passed my driving test, finished school and started work, up to the year 2023 as I reached 70 years of age . . . is precisely 53 years  !!!

Congratulations on finally getting those pesky decals done and dusted !

David W.

[michelle]

Nice work 

[Mr. Metallic]

Thanks for taking us along on the journey. Fun build (except the stripes ?)

[karbuildr]

Very nice build of the Love Bug. I had no idea Polar lights even made this kit.

[Yeah Nah]

Nice build! I suspect Herbie will live on forever.

[Chuckyg1]

Way cool!

[PappyD340]

Very nice!

[David G.]

22 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

Herbie looks great David!? Nice work?

Thank you so much Greg.

 

22 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

Well David , your Polar Lights VW Love Bug has turned out nicely . . .  Interesting background information regarding the VW copyright, and also the snap together aspect of this kit . . . I forgot to mention that my favourite number, and in fact my lucky number, is ' 53 ' . . . This is for several coincidental reasons, one being that I live at house number 53, then I was born in 1953, the latitude of my home village in England is 53° N, and from the year 1970 when I passed my driving test, finished school and started work, up to the year 2023 as I reached 70 years of age . . . is precisely 53 years  !!!

Congratulations on finally getting those pesky decals done and dusted !

David W.

Thank you most kindly Sir. 

In an amusing follow up to the copywrite story, upon learning of the movie's popularity and the affection it created for the venerable Beetle, Volkswagen asked Disney to include the corporate badges and emblems on the car for all future films. It seems that sales for the Beetle were flagging around this time and VW was in amenable to any promotion it could garner.

Coincidentally, or maybe not, it was in 1968 (the same year the movie released) when VW copywrited the name "Beetle" for their Type-1.

Wow David! There are way too many coincidences tying you to the number 53 than happenstance should allow for. 

thanks again foe following along on the build with me, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

19 hours ago, michelle said:

Nice work 

Thank you Michelle.

 

17 hours ago, Mr. Metallic said:

Thanks for taking us along on the journey. Fun build (except the stripes ?)

Thanks Craig, I'm glad you enjoyed the trip. The stripes weren't that bad. I mean the actual build was so easy that there had to be something to complicate matters.  

Because there's always something. 

15 hours ago, karbuildr said:

Very nice build of the Love Bug. I had no idea Polar lights even made this kit.

Thank you David. I didn't know either until I found it at my LHS. But given their other novelty kits, I'm not surprised.

 

13 hours ago, Yeah Nah said:

Nice build! I suspect Herbie will live on forever.

Thanks Garry! Indeed he will, everybody loves Herbie!

 

11 hours ago, Chuckyg1 said:

Way cool!

Thank you John.

 

2 hours ago, PappyD340 said:

Very nice!

Thanks Larry, I appreciate that.

Thanks again to everybody who followed along with the build and thank you all for your kind comments.

I have a final few photos to post, I'll probably get to those sometime tomorrow then this one will be officially wrapped-up!

David G.

[espo]

Great looking finished build looks just like the movie star car.  

[70 Sting]

?what espo said. Very nicely done. ?

[carrucha]

Cool build. One of my favorite movie cars.

[Street Rod]

Very cool, great job on Herbie! 

[Kah puts]

That’s a bingo ?

[David G.]

12 hours ago, Kah puts said:

That’s a bingo ?

Thank you Glen.

 

12 hours ago, Street Rod said:

Very cool, great job on Herbie! 

Thanks Doyle, It's most kind of you to say so.

 

14 hours ago, carrucha said:

Cool build. One of my favorite movie cars.

Thank you Hector, it's one of mine too.

 

18 hours ago, 70 Sting said:

?what espo said. Very nicely done. ?

Thank you Harry.

 

20 hours ago, espo said:

Great looking finished build looks just like the movie star car.  

Thank you David, I'm glad it worked out as well as it did.

Thanks to everyone who followed along and offered your support.

David G.

[David G.]

Hello Everybody!

It's time to put a cherry on this sundae and call it done.

The boot opens to reveal a spare wheel complete with hubcap. I'm working to find a replacement old style wheel without a hubcap.

 

 

The engine looks like a VW engine but there are some inaccuracies. 

 

 

And last but not least, my traditional Display Case photo.

 

Again. my thanks to all of you who followed along on the build thread and offered your comments and support.

On to the next project!

David G.

[Edward Gore]

Very nice finish. I watched your build thread on this model because I'm starting the CocaCola version kit this weekend. 

[1hobby1]

Herbie! Great build. 

[Bronzekeg]

great little build!

[David G.]

18 hours ago, Edward Gore said:

Very nice finish. I watched your build thread on this model because I'm starting the CocaCola version kit this weekend. 

Thank you Bobby, it's nice knowing that you followed the the WIP thread. I hope I was able to provide you with some good information for your upcoming build. Do you plan to post a WIP thread? I'd love to see what you do with the Coca-Cola version of this kit.

 

10 hours ago, 1hobby1 said:

Herbie! Great build. 

Thanks Steve.

 

3 hours ago, Bronzekeg said:

great little build!

Thanks Ken, I'm glad you like it.

David G.

[Rattlecan Dan]

Cute. Very nice job.

[Edward Gore]

12 hours ago, David G. said:

Thank you Bobby, it's nice knowing that you followed the the WIP thread. I hope I was able to provide you with some good information for your upcoming build. Do you plan to post a WIP thread? I'd love to see what you do with the Coca-Cola version of this kit.

David G.

Yes, WIP thread will be posted ?

[David G.]

18 hours ago, Rattlecan Dan said:

Cute. Very nice job.

Thank you Donato. "Cute" is an apt description. If nothing else, Herbie is certainly that!

10 hours ago, Edward Gore said:

Yes, WIP thread will be posted ?

Excellent! I'm looking forward to seeing it.

David G.

[slusher]

Fantastic Herbie my friend!