Volume X, Last Updated February 13, 2007

The 'Bone Blazers' 1957 Chev coupe recently appeared on the local shop's Hot Wheels pegs. This is the first time this casting has been released in Hot Wheel's main line, after its previous showings in the Classics and Ultra Hots premium ranges.

Not a good photo, but you get the idea. Skulls and flames and all that.

As is often the case with Hot Wheel's 5-car series, the Chev is highly decorated. It also wears a set of bright red foil wheels. Under all that tampo ink, the car is quite a reasonable metalflake slate grey colour that looked worth preserving. With that in mind, I decided to see if it could be cleaned up without having to strip the lot and repaint it.

First up, to dismantle. I use a variable-speed cordless drill on slow, first tapping in a guide hole in the rivet using a 1mm drill (use a sharp one and don't put much pressure on it- these break very easily if they jam) and then taking off the rivet's head with a 4 or 4.5 mm drill. Once apart, I could examine the Chev in a bit more detail.

Base, seats, windows and body all apart. Ready for a spot of work.

The axles are held in with little plastic lugs on the baseplate. A careful bit of twisting using a small blade screwdriver and the lugs can be 'pushed' out of the way and the axles will pop out. I found a spare set of chrome 5-spoke wheels with the correct narrow axle width (Hot Wheels seems to use three standard axle widths) and popped them in, pressing the plastic lugs back down with a large blade screwdriver. The chrome base looked okay, so I let that bit alone.

And so, to the body- tampo decorations can often be easily removed using acetone-free nail polish remover (Acetone based products will often take the paint off as well). Steady work with cotton wool buds in a circular motion will lift the decorations. I change them regularly as they clog up with dissolved tampo ink and can spread it to other parts of the casting. Crevices like door shut lines can be fiddly to winkle the ink out of. As I worked, I decided to try to keep the black stripe in the tail fin moulding on each side.

Progress- half the roof and half the side is cleared. The paint underneath is unaffected. Still haven't got the camera settings right.

Once all the tampo was gone (except for the black fin stripes which I'd managed to preserve) the body was given a good hot wash to neutralize any nail polish remover residue. A quick buffing up with a dry cloth and it was ready for re-assembly.

Done. I decided not to detail the headlights and tail-lights and so on. Looks fine just as it is. Got the camera working a bit better, too.

Not a bad result- the yellow windows don't seem too intrusive, and the chrome wheels set it off nicely. The charcoal interior doesn't need any attention, and that black fin stripe gives it a bit of flair, too- I'm glad I was able to keep that bit. Now its ready to go sit on the shelf and gather some dust.

If you intend to try this sort of customizing work, it is worth remembering that acetone-free nail polish remover is a fiddly chemical. While gentler than regular nail polish remover, it is still an effective solvent. Plastic parts may be attacked- windscreens, baseplates and so on may become discoloured or lose any finish they may have. Chromed plastic will lose its shine. Always dismantle the car first, just to be safe. Some paints can be susceptible (spectraflame type finishes in particular), and you never know until after you try it out whether it'll strip the paint as well as the tampo. Try a test-patch under a wheel well or somewhere out of the way, to see what it does. Some types of tampo will resist the nail polish remover too- particularly the metallic inks that Hot Wheels uses. My advice- never use it on a car that you wouldn't mind doing a full repaint on anyway. Just in case. Don't say that I didn't warn you!

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