For this review, I built the Hasegawa Police version of the VW Beetle. This says Limited Edition on the box and, if that is true, I would pick one up ASAP. You get a really nice car kit here, and it includes three versions of the bug to build – a green and white German Polizei auto, a black and white Canadian bug, and the version I built: the white and blue Belgium Politie. The good news about that is if I am ever in Belgium and see a white bug with a blue stripe behind me, I won’t do anything stupid.

The kit is a basic curbside kit – not much in the way of frills and no engine, just the tailpipes and muffler you would see on the real thing. The tires are rubber, which is nice because it allows you to paint the rims and then attach the tires. There is a metal transfer for the VW symbol which is very well done but fragile, so be careful. There is also a metal 1300 transfer for the back, but it does not look like this is for the police version, but rather another version. It has a one-piece window for the entire car. The decals were excellent. They went on with no problem at all.

There are some chrome parts, and one of the things that took me some time was researching how to strip the chrome and use bare metal foil. Tony from my local club gave me a great tip on stripping the chrome off the tree: you soak it in a bowl of bleach. It actually worked, and then I washed it off, pretty simple. The bare metal foil took several attempts but I think I finally got it right.

This kit has a flaw. To a non-car builder like me, it seemed weird, but I have been assured nearly every car model has this flaw – it is a mold line which covered the entire car. This has to be sanded, and it was a bit hard to get at it in the front and rear fender areas. Other than that, the kit went together well.

I loved building it. It is a very interesting subject, so I went out and bought a second one. Maybe a Canadian version, eh?

I need to apologize for a lack of photos of the car in progress like I normally take, but my laptop crashed and took everything with it, and I mean everything, including my programs and Photoshop. However, if you are coming to the National Convention in Loveland you will get to see this up close. I plan on bringing it and entering it.

I would like to thank Hobbico and apologize to them for the time it took to finish this review, and offer a big thank you to IPMS/USA for the review sample.