Restoring a Tamiya Ford Ranger XLT body

[unclemikey1978]

Hello,


I recently bought a lot of used vintage Tamiya vehicles including two with hard plastic bodies. The first one is a Ranger XLT body that is in great shape except for a cracked A pillar and a broken and missing wing vent pillar. The A pillar looks repairable with a little body putty or whatever one might use to fix this and some paint. I was thinking I could find a used and abused Blackfoot body to cut out the wing vent pillar off to use for repair. All of the stickers are in great shape also but the paint needs to be re done. Is there any way to save these stickers or do I have to bite the bullet and......gulp.....buy new ones? I'm open to all suggestions. Thanks in advance for your replies.

[bearrickster]

in any hobby shop they sell plastic in all shapes and sizes. plasticstruck, evergreen are two brands. their for scrach building it will work great. I just used so to redo a pumpkin body I am working on

[jwscab]

the hard plastic bodies are ABS, the stuff bearrickster is talking about is also ABS, which you can glue and repair with regular old testors model glue, the 'good' stuff, not the citrus' green', that stuff doesn't work too well. Then use the testor's filler and sand it all up. if you have old models lying around, you can scavenge sprue or even parts of the model to cut out and repair.

as for the stickers, if you are sticking with the same paint colors, just tape over them carefully and repaint. the color underneath might not match exactly(if you can see through the stickers), but it should be pretty close.

[unclemikey1978]

That's great information guys. That sounds much cheaper and easier. I will be using the same color paint so it should match ok. What kind of tape should I use to mask off the stickers? I wouldn't want to mess the stickers up when removing the tape. I've been using DOT 4 brake fluid to remove paint from lexan. Can this be used on these bodies or should I just scuff the old paint with fine grit sand paper and repaint?

[jwscab]

if the old paint is in OK shape, I think I'd be inclined to scuff and sand. DOT4 might work but it also might damage the sticker adhesive, I also don't know how it affects ABS. Don't use acetone, you'll turn the plastic into a puddle of goo, just fyi.

I'd use regular old masking tape of your choice, and carefully remove it after applying paint. I would doubt it would lift the decals if done with just a little care.

[unclemikey1978]

Ok great. Another small issue I have are the chrome bumpers are a little scratched up but still in really good shape. My goal is to make this truck perfect again. Is there a way to bring this chrome back to life or do I need to buy a set of bumpers? If I need to buy them, will the cheaper Blackfoot bumpers and grill work?

[bearrickster]

you can use Alclad chrome model car paint it looks just like chrome when done right

[unclemikey1978]

Oh Nice! I just watched a video on that stuff. The results look amazing. I'll be sure to practice on some less valuable plastic before I attempt it for real. Thanks again for all your hep.