When I was 15 years old, way back in 1983, my brother-in-law gave me my very first car! It was a early VW Fastback. We spent days working on the car to get it to run and it eventually did! However, the body of the car was shot! So much rust that we determined that it wouldn’t be worth trying to fix. I ended up selling for scrap. I’m going to try to replicate that old VW Fastback in 1:64 scale! Unfortunately, I never took any pictures of it, so I can only base the look from memory! Luckily, I have a pretty good memory! We’re going to start with this Matchbox 1965 VW Fastback. It’s a nice casting, but it’ll need some work! You have to take your time when drilling, especially if you’re dealing with a plastic chassis. Keep in the center of the post. Painting the interior black. I use cheap paint for this, no need to use the good stuff. Remember, use what you have. Now it’s time to remove the paint from the body! Apply the paint stripper thoroughly then walk away for about 10 minutes. I use compressed air to remove the paint and stripper. Anything left over, I use a brass brush to clean it up, then give it a good wash in soapy water. Now it’s time to remove the European license plate holder on the front and rear of the body. The Dremel and small sanding roller should do the trick. I’ll refine this with my diamond files and sand paper later. The Dremel removed the bulk of what needed to be sanded away. I won’t be using these wheels, but I’ll hang on to them for a future project. I’ll be painting the chassis black. Again, using the cheap paint for this. Once the paint is dry, I’ll give the chassis and the interior that I painted with the same flat black paint a couple coats of clear matte. Now I’ll use the burr tip on the Dremel to roughen places on the body where I want to indicate rust. This is a different than I used on the Charger custom and the Golf custom. The markings won’t be as prominent. Then I’ll prep the body for a couple coats of red primer. I let the primer dry for at least 24 hours, then coat the body with a mist of water and apply the table salt. Some times I’ll add some larger Kosher salt as well. I’ll let it sit and dry for at least 12 hours before moving on to the next step. The Peekaboo paint is close to the Diamond Blue of the original Fastback.

I’ll apply 2 coats of the paint. The first coat will be a light coat, just enough to cover everything. The second coat will be a heavier coat for final coverage. Make sure that the first coat is completely dry before applying the second coat. Depending on conditions, you should wait about 15 minutes between the first and second coat. I’ve found that this next step is very important to achieve
the desired, final result. While the paint is still pliable, you want to begin removing the salt deposits. I use a stiff brush and my thumb. This will provide some of the texture that will add dimension to the body. After removing the bulk of the salt, I’ll leave the paint to fully cure for at least 12 hours. Then I’ll use the same stiff brush to remove the remainder of the salt while soaking
the body in a bowl of warm water. Now you can really see the texture and depth in the body. More to come soon! Hope to finish this custom in the next week.

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