That blue Ferrari is a real beauty now! And you're certainly right that the bead blaster makes the castings look brand new, probably the ideal way to pre-treat models before primer. If only this method would be more practical for average Joes with sometimes far from perfect area conditions.

Now onto some of my latest Restorations. Actually one is a converstion of a Guy Show Plough to a Guy Flat deck with headboard. The second one is a Restoration to original colors but it had a broken Chassis at the body where it meet the rear. I have show that process in Tips and Hints.

As Received from my customer with a reproduction deck. Not the best repro either. I had to do some filling in of pits and the whole deck is slightly warped at the rear.



In Pieces ready for Stripping.



After Paint stripper, blaster next.



That Yellow is hard to get off. This is the first time I have had to bead blast hubs and I tell you it is not easy with those big gloves on to protect your hands from the sand. There is also a bit of black I missed. Sometimes I don't go over a toy for too long as it raises the temperature of the toy and that also heats up any air pockets in the casting. Some castings are better than others though so you don't have a problem. If this does occur, just use a round metal instument to push the metal back down to where it is supposed to be.

I will use one of my dental tools to chip off the black you see here.



Primed and ready to paint. Most of the pits in the deck are filled in and sanded down again.





Here is a before shot of the deck after I primed it. I then did the putty onto the primer. I find it holds better than on to the bare metal.



Paint the truck Red and the Deck Blue. The deck turned out alright after all.





Here is the completed Truck after detailing. You can really see the warp in the rear deck in the above photo.



Complete with the 20 Mile Per Hour speed limit for the truck inside the city limits. Most of us in NA will know U-Haul and they have the same thing on all their Trailers. Look out your rear view mirror to see it on the left front of the fender behind you. LOL



The underside showing the spare tire mount. I have also ground off the Snow Plough that was imbossed on the toy. After all it is not a Snow Plough any more.

This is the second one in this batch for the same customer. Very play worn and the spare tire washer is missing so a kit is in order.








This is the broken cab version. You can see that part under Tips and Hints, Here


www.planetdiecast.com/index.php?option=c...0883&Itemid=2333





Next is strip it and get it ready for the bead blaster.






Again, you can see the paint is a little stubborn to remove. The bead blaster will take care of the left over paint.



I was not happy with the first go so did it again.





That looks better.

Here you can see where I have welded the cab to the chassis again. Either side of the cab at the deck. I have left a little extra material to get it strength.





Deck Hubs and Base turned out nicely







Cab and Chassis fully painted and ready for details.





I usually identify my restorations with a decal on the inside of the car or truck. This time I decided to do it on the Back of the Chassis and the underside of the Deck. If this is ever taken apart the truth shall be revealed to all.










And now for the finished Truck. Very nice colors Combo on this, Dinky Did Right.

Very nice work on both Guy trucks Jim.

My Guy truck (the converted snow plough), is waiting for a new deck that I have ordered

 

ideal way to pre-treat models before primer. If only this method would be more practical for average Joes with sometimes far from perfect area conditions.[/u] 


 


Yes, I really like my blaster. It is a bench box and is fully enclosed but it does leak some. I think it cost me about $89.00 cdn plus tax. The compressor I used to have was about $150 but it blew up last fall so had to get a new one. I paid over $400 for my latest Ridgid compressor but it goes to 145 pounds pressure and has 2 outlets so I have a regulator on one at 40lbs for my spraying and the other is set for 100lbs for blasting and running my framing guns and other air toos.


You can also buy what is called a total loss sand blaster. All you get is a gun and some hose to connect to a compressor and a hose for into a bag or box of sand.


Once hooked up you need a place to blast and maybe collect the sand and reuse it. A wooden box outside would do the trick, Don't forget to WEAR A MASK

Thanks Theo and I can't wait to see what you do with yours.

Love the diecast toyguy stickers inside the restore. leaves no doubt that it was restored.

Yes Rob and I should have been doing that years ago. I just started about 2 years ago after a brainstorm and the wife's mention that I should put something on or in the toy so say it was my work.

Oh, they are actually Decals I make myself.

I usually sign the inside of the customs I build. Someplace unseen by casual inspection, but they are signed and dated for month and year of construction.

I really should date them but.....I do decals. Makes it expensive to do the individual dates of completion.


I have seen one of my restorations, recognized it right away. These are hard, very hard to find in excellent to mint condition and that is what this one was, sitting on a repo box. My rivets, yup. He would not let me take a photo of it though. Hmmmm. I did it for a guy in Alberta. This guy said he paid a good dollar for it. Hmmmm. Here is the one I did from my own files. This goes back about 3 years, at least.


Unfortunately, I did not take final shots before I mailed it off to him. Dang, it looked really good.







The base with it ready for rivets, yet to be installed. This even had Brass Axles.







As Proof, this is after disassembly.

Hi Nobleco you could always put the date with a fine tip permanant marker.

I don't know if I like that watermelon pink and green colour together. Otherwise nice gloss finish.

It is a stock color Combo and does take some time to get used to. What I would call an anomoly in the Dinky Color Schemes.