1/16th "California Charger" Front Engine Dragster

This is the one I bidded for on ebay last month and aquired for $43. Finally , now it has turned up. Even though it is partially built, I will have to dis-assemble engine and sand back paint on the chassis as it is the wrong colour. I also find that one of the decal sheets is missing, but found that SLIXX decals has the correct one, probably better than the original. Anyway this is where it will begin.

Cheers Ron

Hi Ron. My first post here and I might be able to help out ! I recently picked up a started Monogram 1/12 57 Chev with the same problems. the work was terrible and the colours all wrong. What I did was put the parts in a ziplock bag and squirt in a heap of Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner. Seal the bag up and work the cleaner around the parts. Leave it overnight, or longer, then wash the parts off with a toothbrush and cold water. The paint should peel off easily and it doesn't affect the styrene. I also used this method to strip the chrome off the parts in my kit. You might need to do it a couple of times if the paint is stubborn, but it's much easier than sanding. I will start a thread on my 57 Chev progress soon to show some pics of how it worked.

Cheers, Damian

Looks like it'll make a cool build mate, will be keeping an eye on this build

Thanks for the tip Damian, as that is what I intend to do very soon. Removed paint that way many times . Was just going to give the chassis a light sand and recoat, but it still had moulding seams and where some of the attachments were fitted on the chassis, there was extra use of glue, so ended up sanding more than I intended.
Cheers Ron

All the mould seams were sanded of along with the paint -Rest of paint now gone --soaked in brake fluid and brushed clean with a tooth brush. Chassis and engine block painted with Tamiya Racing Blue last night.



This is how chassis was outof the box - Diff was glued on with big gobs of glue. Engine was the same, luckily , the paint and chrome was left on , so was easy to separate the parts.

Well I have the chassis all sorted now with a nice solid coat of Tamiya Racing Blue.

On the way I attacked the engine block , scraped all the excess glue away . The paint wasn't too bad so it formed the base for the Tamiya Racing Blue also. Chrome Parts just needed a bit of tidy up. Oil Pan was a different matter as it was 2 piece , so the join seam was sanded and smoothed then sprayed with a liberal coat of Dunlop Gold (Bunnings). The blower is just a loose fit at moment , while I attempt to start adding wiring and fuel lines.

Great work Ron look forward to seeing this next April in Tumut. (I hope!)

Yeah! If your lucky . I did a bit on the motor during the last week as I've been off work for a week- crook as a pack of mongrel dogs.