As you all know Sand Scorcher bodies are one of the best detailed vintage shells out there, With all those gorgeous body parts (around 40 separate parts!) it's a no no for a modern day runner. Especially the cost of it all!

That's why many people have now opted for the Blitzer Beetle body, Customised. Volksrod (Joe) was one of the first people to start this craze off & he still knocks out some amazing stuff!! You don't need to find many body parts & it's as cheap as it gets to make your Scorcher runner look the part.

Here's my latest attempt, So you can all have a 'behind the scenes' glimpse at the work involved. Plus we have been asked soo many times how its done..

Getting rid!

1. The first thing to go is the runner boards at the bottom of the doors. Just scribe along the bottom of the doors with a sharp knife (I use a scalpel) until it becomes weak & you can snap it off.
   
   
2. All the arches now need trimming back to give a more realistic look. This depends on how much you want to take off & what shape you want. Leave the back edge of the rear arches for now. Don't take too much off!
   
   
3. The rear engine cover can now be taken off. Again scribe around the body line until weak, To bend & snap off. You can finish off the rear arches now, As the engine cover is gone.
   
   
4. Here comes the hard part! Removing all the window rubber, As there will be no glass in the body. You can scribe around all the side windows to remove the rubbers.
   Or a Dremel will do the trick. The front & rear windows I sanded away as it was the quickest & easiest.
   
   
5. With all the bits removed.. You can now glue your sunroof in & fit the nose cone. Now, I bonded the nose cone on with epoxy & sanded/filled the roof to make it all smooth. And you can't see the joins. Looks great but takes a lot of doing! I glued the roof & nose cone to start, with super glue. When dry I started sanding/filling & sanding.. Oh & sanding!!! Yes it takes some time!
   I also filled the indicator holes & side mount holes on the nose cone to keep it neat. Finally, Fill the window wiper holes. As you wont be using them. Don't bother with the side holes behind the doors, Cover these up with decals. Now sand it all down the best you can ready for the first lick of paint! Oh & give it a dam good wash/dry before any paint layer.
   
   
6. I use plastic filler primer to start with. So I can see all what I've missed & it does fill those small marks in the plastic if you put plenty on. Let it dry & out comes the 'wet n dry' to prepare for the white primer. Remember, Try not to go through that primer if possible. That black plastic can show through any paint not primed correctly.
   
   
7. Some colour! I used a combination of colours on this one. I mean Tamiya & Halfords paint. As I couldn't get the right colour I needed from Tamiya. Tamiya light blue & Halford VW Mars red. Blue was the first colour on, So no masking. I let it dry for a day before masking. I do honestly hate masking up! It takes ages & HAS to be done RIGHT! With the red now sprayed. I gave it another day before the lacquer went on. When dry this was flatted back a bit with 1500 grain wet n dry paper, Then polished.
   
   
8. Now you can go mad with all the stickers!! I tried to keep this one nice & simple. I had to paint the blue shadow on the door numbers, Then used a white decal sheet to cut out those 43 numbers.
   
   
9. With all the main body finished it's time to do that driver & finish off.
   I painted all the inside of the shell with matt black to give it that polished finish look.
   All done!
   
   Now you can go out & enjoy smashing it up!! LOL!