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wetWilly

'87 Lunchbox Body Advise

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Hey all,

I've enjoyed reading the many threads in the forum.

This body has a copyright 1987 and an arrow pointing to PS (styrene), not ABS.  I'd like some advise as to what to do with this body. On the outer shell, it appears that there is that "chrome" top paint that's sold that isn't chrome at all. And some really rough, to the touch, green paint on the inside.  It looks like marking paint to me.

I did some wet sanding on the outer shell and it's very smooth.  My thoughts are to get the outer shell wet sanded smooth a bit more, not touch the inside, and prime it inside and out for painting.

I've read about Easy-off and other chemicals.  I'd hate to ruin this thing.

Thanks for the input.

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I went through a terrible painting experience on a Blackfoot shell this past summer.

You can see most of the pains here. Vid.

 

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I’ve used the easy-off method on an original Bruiser Body and an original Monster Beetle body, both with great success and no negative effect on the bodies. It’s not hard and you won’t loose the details on the bodies from the existing coats of paint. I’m sure there are several posts here about this method.

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I would be cautious ovetpainting that silver. No idea what kind of paint that is but even priming it first you could potentially be chasing paint reaction problems. Even if a small test goes fine, even if the primer goes fine, when you start to lay some real paint on the solvents seep through and reactivate the coats beneath.

It may be absolutely fine.

It may not.

If it was mine id be trying to strip the paint off, inside and out. Main reason for doing the inside too is you can see if what your using to strip is damaging the plastic or not.

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Thank you all for your comments.

I live in the states and picked up the yellow can of Easy-Off.  I figured I'd have, at least, a cleaner oven :-)

I took the Easy-Off challenge and it worked out pretty well.  I did 2 separate applications, toothbrush and rinse about a half hour apart.  I "massaged" the Easy-Off through the clear cheap garbage bag.  The silver color went away quickly, underneath, the silver, there was this brownish-yellow residue that wasn't too hard to remove.

The green is a different story; I'll do more of the green tomorrow.  There was no sign of styrene degradation of the body what-so-ever.

If anyone ever suggested to put an oven cleaner on "plastic", I would have said "you are crazy".

Thanks and see the pics!

 

 

 

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ABS is Styrene. :) 

Caustic EazyOff is the only one that works.

You can leave it on longer, overnight or whole week if you have to... does nothing to the plastic. It keeps working as long as it stays damp, even tough enamel paint eventually crumbles. 

Some paints can stain the white plastic though, it won't bleach the dyed bit.

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@wetWilly

Looks great. As messy as stripping a shell can be, it is also pretty rewarding to see all the previous crimes undone and a fresh start appear from underneath those layers. 

Have you decided on a color scheme and found decals to suit yet?

As you are in the states, the Tamiya TS series of paints is ideal. Fast cure and pretty tough finish with good gloss. After trying to be fancy on my Blackfoot with a custom mix, in the end I stripped it back again and started over. Couldn't be happier with the result.

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Looks good and ready for paint.

I hit my LB with Tamiya white primer, smoothed it out with 600 wet and then cleaned it prior to paint. I used Dupli Color for both colour and clear. Polished very well and is super hard wearing.

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@geniusanthony

I think I'm going with the box classic yellow.  Boring, yes, but I like it, it's out of the box for me.

The paint, alone, is going to cost me more than the car.

Thanks @WillyChang!

There's an '87 date on the front window as well.

...this was a find for sure.

 

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