TOPIC:

The small body parts on the vintage Sand Scorcher can be problematic:they're fragile and need to be screwed/glued on, and often fell off back in the day - whether through actual driving, or just sitting on the shelf/being handled moved. Some can be replaced with re-release parts (although this will bother some people, and they should never be passed off as original), some are available as reproductions (ditto, but more so), others you can fake/make yourself, but in some cases the only way to go is original parts.

Most used cars for fixing up will have some parts missing, others have been systematically stripped, possibly donated to another project, possibly sold separately - which just isn't cricket

• Screws: re-re/modern fasteners are JIS cross point screws - brown passivated M3, BZP M2, BZP nuts/washers, and they just don't look the same as the flat point M2 screws, brass nuts & Cadmium passivated vintage items;
• Bonnet VW badge: re-re is indistinguishable from the vintage item;
• Exhaust: ditto
• Rear body clip parts: ditto
• Wipers: re-re (or Blitzer Beetle re-re once painted), ditto;
• Front lights/turn signals/lenses, rear light cowls/lenses - rears can be delicately Dremelled to match the originals, fronts are I think all the same;
• Window Glass: re-re just doesn't have the same brownish/yellowish tint as the originals;
  
• Licence Plates: repros are poor quality and very, very fragile, re-re are flats & decalled , making your own is fiddly (and based on my experience, nowhere near as good)
• Mirrors/brackets: re-release look nothing like the originals (although they can be modified for a better fit, and they show you care); making your own is possible, but getting the chrome finish is very difficult (I've yet to try Alclad);
• Door Handles: repro are poor, re-re are moulded on & quite different anyway, making your own - ditto above.

In the past the irreplaceable parts have often been listed as fixed price (Buy It Now) lots & the values were therefore always had a bit more to do with how desperate the buyer was than a "fair" market value, however due to one brave (and now considerably better off ) seller, we have an indication of what the market is willing to bear ... these are for used parts, taken off a shelf queen I imagine - "New Other" seems a bit of a stretch IMO:

• Plates - 40 GBP (UK posted);
• Mirrors & Brackets - 89 GBP (UK posted);
• Door handles - 26 GBP (UK posted)

All I can say is ouch - but it does fit with me feeling I'm increasingly being priced out of the vintage market The last "proper", must be all correct parts restoration I did was a Super Champ, three years ago - and prices to my mind were getting a bit silly, even back then. No wonder my projects since then have been with re-release parts, customs, or scratchbuilds...

I made repro rear lights for the blazing blazer. 3D scanned and printed. A little work is needed to have smooth surface but they are exactly similar in size to the original.
It is maybe possible to do that with door handles and licence plates?

Those prices are insane...
I remember I bought the entire chrome parts sprue for the vintage Sand Scorcher for USD 50,- in 2005. It was a good price at the time, but still...

I better move my SRB parts box into the safe now...

stingray-63 wrote:

I made repro rear lights for the blazing blazer. 3D scanned and printed. A little work is needed to have smooth surface but they are exactly similar in size to the original.
It is maybe possible to do that with door handles and licence plates?

You'd think someone would have done it ... not going to be me as I can't get my head around 3D CAD drawing

No Jonny. I am in the ground -12 with cad. But there are some 3D scanners.
In France, darty makes one for around 200€. ( from a friend info).
My rear light was scanned before printing not drawed. I probably could have the opportunity to do some other spares at work. Printing is not a problem. I need to ask if it possibke to scan spares and I could have the spare program. I made several pairs of blazing blazer rear lights.