Mom Stuff Toys

How to Repair broken Ostheimer Figures

January 16, 2021
Ostheimer Camel with red Saddle

Broken toe, broken crowns.

Two of the most common injuries. Today I’ll share how to repair a broken foot. Once we get our other Snow White from Germany, I’ll attempt to fix it and update this post.

First up, we have this brand new Otheimer Camel with saddle. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way his foot broke and we received a broken camel. Luckily, the store was great to work with and I ended up opting to keep the Camel just to keep things easy.

What you’ll need:

First up, assess the situation.

Depending on the chip, you may be able to even it out or just try to repair the splintered area. For the camel below, the chip was minor enough that I could completely sand down the foot to create something more even. For other figures, you may want to try to smooth out the break. And if it makes sense, try to even it out – even if that means sanding down the other side of the foot to make it look more intentional.

Note: if you’re able to recover the missing piece, you could try to fix it with a thin layer of wood glue.

First up, sand down the area as much as you can until it looks acceptable to you. In the camel’s situation, I found it easier to lay down a small piece of sand paper on a hard surface and run the foot through it until it levels off.

What you’ll be left with is a smooth finish that appears white, showing the natural wood.

Sanded down toy

Once you’re happy with the level of sanding, start to gather your paint and try match the paint with the rest of the damaged area. Once you’ve achieved a decent match, dilute the paint down to a watercolor like consistency and slowly cover the sanded down area. Wait in between coats to see if you need to build it up. This will help give it a more natural finish.

Ostheimer Camel with red Saddle
With repaired foot.
Repaired Ostheimer broken foot

There you have it, a repaired foot.

What do you think? Noticeable?

You Might Also Like

No Comments

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.