A long time ago, in a dark alley on fleabay, I came across the offer pîctured above: a clear manifestation of the madness every young boy seems to go through (yours truly not excepted!) by trying to improve some old toys, usually with a heavy-handed paintbrush. In this case, a number of vehicles had been updated with various items of heavy-calibre ordnance from model kits as well. But the Apollo Tracker at top-right looked relatively unharmed, so a price was paid that was quite commensurate with its condition.
Upon arrival, the two poor Surveyors were confirmed to be quite beyond salvation. The Cricket was equally ruined in having had its launcher extended by somebody who applied polystyrene cement even thicker than the paint. But happily, the Tracker had indeed been spared any Frankensteinian surgery; it was merely covered in a thick crust of Humbrol.
So without much decorum, the whole thing was dunked into a jar of brake fluid and left overnight. This is medicine fit for a horse, and successfully got the paint off. As well as the original chrome plating (which after all is paint as well). And the printing on the sole surviving name sticker. Worst of all was the transparent dome, which had turned opaque white almost entirely and eventually cracked. The other plastic looked a bit whitish as well in places, where I initially thought the brake fluid might even have leeched out some of the colour. Thankfully however, it turned out to be mere residue from the paint and brake fluid.
The Tracker then stayed like that for a long time, while I tried to find a way of getting the chrome finish replaced. Which eventually was handed to me by my good neighbour across the road, who builds large airplane model kits at an industrial rate and to museum quality. He showed me a P-51 he'd just finished, done in late-war bare-metal finish. Which was most splendidly reproduced on his model, far removed from the dull silver that Humbrol does. Here was the stuff I needed, and thankfully it's available in a nearby town. (For those interested, see alclad2.com )
Things now progressed by leaps and bounds. The whitish residue proved rather resilient, but a lucky combination of automotive cockpit cleaner and lots of elbow grease made almost all of it disappear. Some good photographs by Bill Bulloch confirmed that colours were as they should be, and that any fears of bleaching were definitelty unfounded. Next, the chrome parts received a couple of coats of the wonderful alclad and shine like new.
The hubcaps couldn't be removed so the wheels were masked with Maskol. The metal axles and weight (fitted inside the chassis) were cleaned with steel wool. The driver was glued black in place and a wrecked Cricket provided a replacement dome. When refitting the wheels a bit of chrome on the edges of the hubcaps was rubbed off, but this looks quite like the wear on the original plating so will probably stay like that.
Final item were the name stickers, and here Mike Burrows came to the rescue with good detailed photographs of the ones on his Tracker. A bit of photoshopping turned these into black & white artwork of the right size, which was then output onto adhesive transparent stock, trimmed to size and put in place. The end result is below, one Apollo Tracker looking like it should!
Wow! Paul, you're giving the other modelers on this blog a run for their money. Good save!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ed,
ReplyDeletebut this is 'just' a restoration. I greatly admire the modelling talents of Kevin and Mike which I doubt I could match. :) As it is, I've managed to salvage a very sorry-looking toy, which is very satisfying to do. And I couldn't have done it without the kind help of Bill and Mike, to whom my Tracker and myself are most grateful!
Best -- Paul
I reckon you've done a great job too Paul. I would say its conservation of the highest order. Not only have you stripped away paint but you've replaced missing decals. Recasting the whole radar array on Scoop's model went even further so hats off to you. It can be a conundrum In think, restoration: should those scratches on the Scramble Bug be sanded off? Should the melt marks on the Nuclear ferry be sorted out? The bumps and nicks that some of my SWORD toys have are part of their story - the same with the boxes - but in this case, your Apollo Trackers, I think you were right to bring it back to its former glory. That Mad Max paint job was a story too far. And as for the Surveyor! As you say, Yikes!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, Woodsy.
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you mean, in knowing where to draw the line. I usually leave scrapes and dings alone as well - as you say, they're part of the object's history. But missing pieces are always good to replace. With original parts if they can be salvaged off a wreck, or with copies if they're available.
Like my first 1920s Bing Table Top loco: took it apart to straighten the tinplate and fitted original buffers from a wrecked coach but left all the litho damage as it was. And the wrecked coach will get repro parts (thankfully available elsewhere) so I'll have a loco that's as good as can be, and a coach that'll at least become presentable and useful again.
In the case of my Tracker, the decision was easy. Though in hindsight I could've taken it apart first and tried to clean the paint off the dishes with steel wool to try and keep the original plating. Could've dunked the dishes in the brake fluid as a 2nd option then. Though I'd still have had to re-chrome the hubcaps.
As to the repro array for Mike, I remembered him once mentioning missing that, and since I had my set in bare plastic and was mucking around with copying a couple of other parts anyway, the opportunity was ideal to help him out and rescue two Trackers at the same time. :)
Best -- Paul
And very pleased I am to, Paul : D
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