The Lego VW 1200 is the later, shorter version of the Beetle. Like the earlier long version Beetle, the most common damage to these little cars is missing bumpers. The red one above is a case in point, where I was considering how to replace its bumper.
Meanwhile it also had a lot of paint scraped off its roof, which I could fix straightaway. Like the older Beetles, the newer ones are also made from transparent plastic that's coated in a realistic VW paint colour.
Using Humbrol gloss enamels left over from my youth, I mixed and matched the colour of the paint on the Beetle. This should always be done in daylight (preferably a bit overcast) to achieve an accurate match. I then touched in the missing paint on the bare patches taking care to not have too thick a layer.
After a thorough dry (I gave it til the next weekend) the new paint was then wet-sanded down to match the thickness of the original paint. This was done with extremely fine sandpaper (1500 and 2800 grit), the kind used for finishing paint on real cars, obtained from an automotive supply store. The trick is here to apply almost no pressure and let the paper do its work.
Once the repainted patch was smooth and even with the original paint, the whole roof was very lightly sanded and then received a final layer of paint, properly thinned to achieve a smooth finish.
The short Beetle is constructed as described in the later Lego patent (see earlier post). The windows insert has feet that fit into slots in the chassis, and the lower edges of the windscreen and rear window hold the body in place. Opening up one of these Beetles requires gently lifting up the body (starting at one side and then lifting the front bonnet) while pressing back the windscreen. The red Beetle took a bit of jiggling, the blue version came apart quite easily.
The short Beetle with the repainted roof and another one I have had broken front bumpers. Spare chassis aren't easy to come by, so I decided to reproduce the bumpers in polyurethane, cast from a mould in silicone rubber. I did both front and rear bumpers while I was at it.
The gaps you see are the result of air trapped in the polyurethane while casting, but since I only needed the bumper ends these gaps weren't a problem.
The reproduction bumper ends turned out slightly thicker than the originals, but look alright after having been painted. Not 100% perfect but much, much better than before.
Just to be sure, both Beetles have a sticker underneath to point out the repainted roof and repro bumper ends. Should these ever get sold, then there's no cause for misunderstandings.
And then a couple of months later I was sold what looked like a brown VW 1200, but which turned out to have a long Beetle body. Which of course doesn't fit on the shorter chassis. So I exchanged the repaired chassis of the better red VW 1200 with this all-intact example. Which leaves a repaired chassis to spare but means this VW 1200 now consists of all original parts in very good condition.
The spare chassis came in handy after I was very pleasantly surprised to receive two more short Beetles in a trade. Both of which had missing bumpers but both of which I could improve.
The creamy white Beetle got the repaired chassis, thus gaining an extra original bumper end. The red Beetle was in lesser condition, so received the lesser chassis from the white Beetle. Which received a repro bumper, while the red body received a repro piece of wing to replace a broken-off corner.
As will be described in a later post, I've made reproduction long Beetle bodies to cut parts from, and it turns out that the rear wing of a long Beetle has the right curves to match the front wing of a short Beetle.
After the chassis swap, I now have an almost bumperless spare chassis, but two more short Beetles with an improved appearance.
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