Off we go to the Volksworld Show

What a day! We got the new rear wings from the painter at the last moment. At the same time the car finisher took care of the Scorcher, to give it a last good polish. Besides that a packing list has to be made, we have to think of everything.

Doing the hoovering, the polishing, the wrenching. Don't forget anything, don't scratch anything...

Markus is taking care of the billboard, mounting brackets and chains.

The others try to build up the huge banner - our box replacement - for the first time. "Ok, let's see, we have to put A into B and then..."

Done! Jörg and Herbert proudly present the banner, while Walter is still working on it.

Now we have to load everything. That is going to be a long night for sure. Tomorrow at noon time we will leave for Calais.

New shirts

The brand new limited BUG BOX Sand Scorcher 2010 shirts arrived today. Looking good! We used high quality "Fruit of the Loom" shirts with the silk-screen printing on the front. They are 19 Euro each plus shipping and they are available in the following sizes:

Men: M, L, XL and XXL
Girls: S, M and L
Kids: 104, 116 and 128


Order one now from Daniel (daniel@bug-box.de), while stocks last! Or pic yours up at the Volksworld Show in Esher at the last weekend in March!

Sign of life

The BUG BOX Sand scorcher will be in the comming print issue of Evo magazine. As a teaser the Brits put a short video of the Scorcher on their website. It shows the first test run so don't forget to turn up the sound.

We think the Scorcher is the only Beetle we wouldn't be embarassed running it with a stinger on official German roads.

Wing commander

The Scorcher spend the last days at the paintshop do get some minor scratches touched up. Now it is back at the BUG BOX and we are working on it again. Some already noticed the limited space beteween the rear wings and the tires in the area close to the running board. We noticed that as well, but didn't want to do anything against it before the Toy Fair. Now, as the Volksworld Show is coming up next, we want to make everything fit. Therefor we ordered a pair of 10 centimeter inner widened fibre glass wings from CSP. Out of these fenders we cook up our own Scorcher wings.

No Robert, you can't fit the tire with that fender on. Walter wonders already where and how we cut the fenders.

Walter aka "Tship Fus" skillful draws the new lines. If this is going to look good? We are sceptical.

With the wing roughly cut off the tire and wheel combo can get back on to the car. Now we can finalize the new lines even better. Well, we will see how the work progresses in the following days and if the idea with the Beetle wings is really less labor-intensive than modifying Baja fenders.

Three times

The local newspaper DER NEUE TAG dedicated some lines to the BUG BOX Sand Scorcher as well. In overall three editions the journalists cover our project, the temporarily last time in the issue from February 19th. Good to get so much positive feedback.

Pure indulgence

Finally there is time for us to enjoy and photograph the Sand Scorcher in every detail. We don't write anything to the photos, because pictures are worth a thousand words. Enjoy!

Over

Monday, February 8th: We pick up the Scorcher to bring it home again. Enough of "beeing in the spotlight". And moreover little Sand Scorcher is waiting in Weiden for his dad. A last souvenir photo is beeing taken, together with Markus (left), Konrad (middle) und Daniel.

The boss himself

The international Toy Fair opens the gates officialy. Die Spielwarenmesse öffnet ihre Tore offiziell. The first day seems to be the busiest day like on every exhibition. And all the bosses are there as well - they want to see how their stands turned out. Suddenly he is there - the man: Tamiya Shunsaku-san, Chief Executive of Tamiya, Inc. and son of founder Tamiya Yoshio-san.

Like everybody Tamiya-san asks if he can take place in the Sand Scorcher. Why certainly! He praises our work and the execusion of the car. Entire in the sense of Tamiya, whose model kits are also well known for their high quality. The next thing we knew a cluster of people were surrounding Tamiya-san and Walter, all trying to take a picture of the two.

And, of course, the Tamiya boss has to sign Walters Scorcher box as well - there is no way around it.

And eventually the two lined up for the obligatory shakehands photo. Do you know who is pleased more?

Enthusiastic reception

After one and a half hour drive we are reaching Nürnberg. You can't miss the exhibition area, there are signs everywhere.

We just have to turn right and we are there. At the Toy Fair - cool! Usually it is open just for dealers and the press. But this year we can have a look as well...

Just a few more meter to go and we are at the huge Tamiya stand. The trailer is opened up and the first people stop dead in their tracks. You don't see cars like the Scorcher here very often, most of the time the exhibitors use super cars like Ferrari or Lamborghini.

The Scorcher rolls in the direction of the Tamiya stand, one of the biggest in this hall.

Unfortunately we have to clean the car, some kind of dirt came through the blankets of the trailer. Franz buckles to work.

There he is, the first Tamiya celebrity. 30 years ago Taki Fumito designed the original Tamiya Sand Scorcher. He was overwhelmed from the 1:1 Scorcher. It must be a fantastic feeling, when you know, that the toy you developed is an icone today. And then there is a guy like Walter who build the car for real.

Taki-san just had to take place behind the steering wheel of the Scorcher. Look at his face - he is one happy man!

The glovebox lid is a favourite place for autographs. Taki-san signed the Scorcher with name, date and time.

Now they are all here: The real size BUG BOX Scorcher and Tamiyas re-release Scorcher. They will stand there for the next five days. And in front of both is the box of Walters kit - also signed by Taki-san.

Travel arrangements

Today the Scorcher goes on its first big journey. Of course in a closed trailer, because we don't want to clean it for hours in Nürnberg at the international Toy Fair.

I think Jonny is of another opinion. He would preferebly drive to the show. :-)

We carefully load the Scorcher onto the trailer, watching out for the Padla Traks, because they are really close to the edges. Hopefully we don't blow it and scratch the white tire letters.

"Daddy, daddy, I want to come with you." "No little Scorcher, you stay at home!"

Thorough rigging is obligatory, because we don't want to have dents in the freshly painted Scorcher. But Konrad and Franz know how to do it, so we are not worrying.

Ok, now we just have to close the trailer and off we go to the Toy Show.

Boulevard bomber

Germanys biggest popular paper puts the Sand Scorcher on the cover page of their website. Who would have thought that?

We do not want to deplore ourselves, this helps the whole scene eventually. And the scene is not only hobby and fun, it's also about jobs and earning money. That way we get recognized by the puplic, they can see that there are Beetles and their fans. And myabe one or the other will be inspired, thinking about buying one of those old aircooled cars.

Second photo shooting

The Brits are in the house! They flew in from London and arrived in Nürnberg Monday night around 10.30 a.m., then got into the rental car and drove down to Weiden through a blizzard. Now they sit in the warm workshop (Jonny Smith to the left, Stuart Collins to the right) and wait patiently for us to finish the Scorcher. We just have to do some little improvements...

Now Scorcher and Acoms are where Stuart wants to have them for the shooting. While he is doing his work, Jonny is gathering information from Walter and Georg.

Say cheese! Meanwhile Walter is used to do that. He eventually did that more then once in the last 16 years. We had over 58 BUG BOX build cars in magazines all over the world.

At the end of the shooting Stuart mounts his tripod to the Scorcher to simulate fast action shots. How that works? It's a photographers secret, but you can admire the results soon in the british Evo magazine and in Auto Express.

Toy workshop?

These two pictures seem so unreal. One doesn't know if this is a toy workshop on a scale of 1:10 or the real thing with a 10:1 radio control. Especially the upper picture seems to be a scaled down workshop with the roof taken of for the potographer.