Restoring a vacu Fiat kubel

Polski Fiat 508 Łazik

Original: Poland boomed their car development in te 1930's with Fiat production lines. The smal Fiat 508 got beefed up to be more suitable for off road. This kubelwagen like version got the nickname "Łazik", meaning something like "vagabond". In a kind of a friendly way saying: getting around, hardly at home. (It's pronounced "Whasjiek")

Model: 35th scale, vintage Polish kit, resin and vacuformed parts, from S-model.

Build: Building a vacu kit has it's challenges. Rebuilding a ruined vacu turned out to be a dimension tougher. My aim was getting it optically looking more straight, and using as much as possible the original parts. The thinnest parts dissolved into crumbs in my fingers here and there. Desolving the thick layer of enamel paint was necceasry to reveal a lot of nice details, but after so many years the enamel kind of became the strenght on some thin vacu corners.
Our Polish days in Historama World where the inspiration to complete it anyway. The figures found their way into the build by accident, and presto, a vignette was born.

June 15 2024

Painting done. Again in the bright light of the outdoor. Nothing wrong with it. Bright as intended.

May 9 2024

In the bare outdoor light the first coat of paint for the figures give it more idea of composition.

May 6 2024

Amazing what an even coat of primer does. Always a strange point in the build where it all comes together.

April 19 2024

All fittings added, check pictures for now, show no problems. Ready for paint!

April 11 2024

Front chairs and spare wheels on their way. And it's on it's wheels!

April 5 2024

The rear part is fixed for now. The check pictures show no big ommisions.

April 1 2024

The wheels are fit together for now. After the glue is completly set, the gaps wil be filled, but the main thing: tyou can see through them! I printed a logo of the first Polish armoured division. (and some tests) to go with it. The road is sanded to tone down the lines of the printing, and the first paint is on it.

March 22 2024

First placing of the rear of the car. The original place of the rear is consistant with drawings and pictures. Quitte an achievement to design these parts to fit so wel. It's fixed on 2 very smal spots, so the whole needs to be supported from the inside.

March 9 2024

I printed a section of road on my 3d printer to get the figures and the car a stand. I'm actually making this my first vignette.

March 7 2024

the wheels are to thick. The original casting and the added glue. After carefully splitting them and sanding down the get the 2mm for each half. The wheels open up like the original. The trim on the sides of the fenders makes for more stability and gives the botoomplate it's original finnish.

March 5 2024

After some sanding and adding sessions the left fender is back.

March 3 2024

The bonnet got the logo and strippes of the Polski Fiat factory. The handle and the tie down's of the bonnet are added.

March 2 2024

Left fender reconstructed with smal pieces of card. And our Polish friend gets more faith in it. He put his daughter on the bonnet.

February 26 2024

My Polish officer doesn't seem to be happy with the progress. But, both running boards are fixed, the right rear mudguard is reconstructed. The material is so brittle, that here and there it crumbles under my fingers.

February 17 2024

Started with the front mudguards and the nose. It can definitely be saved.

February 12 2024

The rear mudguards were already a failure during construction, but the stripper made them fall apart completely. The base plate consists of 2 parts, and I'm leaving them together, but the paint has bonded with the glue here and there. rock hard. But the details that emerge from under the 2 mm thick layer of paint are a clever piece of model engineering! And along come a Pollish officer and a little girl.

November 24 2023

At the IPMS nationals 2023 in Houten I bought a few pre-built vehicles for next to nothing, including this only known model in 1:35 of this tiny brave little Fiat. It looks like a nice vehicle, but it's al curved and bend.