Paint thinner will melt the plastic? Had no idea. I have no intention of disassembling such an old model straight away then... I'll find a newer model with metal body. Hopefully the rivets will be easier to get through.
Firs things first: Thinner will NOT get that paint out. maybe it will take some of it away, but not all of it. You need to disasemble the entire car and then buy real paint remover, it's like a gel that you will apply with a brush, the paint will start to look like corn flakes:
And then with the same brush, take it away, and repeat the process until you have bare zamac, then wash THOROUGHLY with water and a bit of soap to get rid of all the paint remover. You'll have a clean zamac car in 10 minutes.
WARNING: use kitchen gloves as thick as can be. That damned thing is highly irritating and your hands will
ITCH for a good hour if you apply it straight.
Alas, thinner WILL take away your plastic windows and wheels, if not melt them at least distort them REAL BAD. You need to take the car appart unless you plan on shooting over the original finish, but of course I would not recommend that.
And if I remember correctly, based off the cars you are planning to restore, the rivvets have rounded tips that will make harder to drill trough them. If you're going to attempt to open a car for the first time, grab something that's absolutely worthless like a stomped-on car or something like that and try to open that first (mine was a stepped-on Holden race car which donated it's interior. Waste not...). You'd be surprised at how much the drill can move on your first attepmt, and you don't want to destroy any of those I'm sure. Take it in steps and easy.
And I'd go for the Spoiler Sport. I'm still lacking one to restore, and want one sooooooo badly.
Hey show some of your frakencars, I must see.
I've posted them before, and will post a bunch more in the near future, I've been editing pictures of some more customs and wheel swaps.
Anyone know a cheaper way of getting these wheels:
Without having to pay $10+ for this car on eBay? I need 3 sets.
If you have patience, hang on with me. A friend and I will try to duplicate some parts, including wheels, out of plastic. They might not have rubber tires on them but, if we suceed, will look exactly like those. I already have the donnor axles out of a HW Garage 59 Vette, which is in pieces already:
And yes, I also plan to put them on every japanese car ever made. I've already fit-tested them in the Hakosuka, the Kenmeri, a Datsun, and even an old Miata, and they look fantastic.
I also have a set of front ChoroQ axles, I'm sure all of you old enough remember Takara's Penny Racers, known elsewhere as ChoroQs. Well I had a couple of 1980's ones lying around and took two of them apart for their axles (yes I took apart a $50-$100 car for it's axles, it can be put back together again with no problem as it uses screws); the rear ones do not work, they are overly gigantic and, of course, are attached to the motor, but the front ones are ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC and look like a Watanabe wheel with center cap. I'll take some pics later. And yes I'm also going to try to replicate that.
Patience?
EDIT:
About Mebetoys:
http://www.grantoros.com/
check it.
nowadays the packaging might even state its exclusive to kmart target...etc
) that sound something like this:
