I wish I had taken a pic of this
car when I first got it about a year ago. It came to me painted totally
red and no window glass. I stripped the body in SPIC-N-SPAN for about
2 weeks until it looked like you see above. There was still some
residual red paint in spots, especially underneath and some leftover factory
paint on the grill and tail lights but it is almost all gone.
You may want to visit my FAQ
page on PAINT for more info & tips.
No silver paint at all on the license
plate or wheelie bar either. The roof had some unsightly scratches
as well.
I had to get the remainder of the red paint off from underneath the
body that the Spic-N-Span didn't take off. I like to use Testors
#1159 Laquer thinner brush cleaner for paint removal on factory bodies
as it has about a 10-15 second work time without damaging the finish.
It will remove most thin leftover paints.
YOU CANNOT DO THIS WITH REGULAR LAQUER
THINNER!
I use a cotton swab and work the remaining paint out from underneath
the body and elsewhere.
Move from one-spot to another not working in one area for too long.
Use toothpicks to remove paint in door seams.
The scratches on the roof were deep enough that a polish couldn't remove
them by itself. So, I used 2000 grit wet sand paper and sanded in
a front to rear motion. The factory toolmakers typically did their
final sanding and polishing in that direction so always sand in the same
directions the factory did. If you need to, go ahead and sand in
a circular motion but then do your final sanding in the front to rear motion.
Once I finished sanding, I used Novus 2 (RRR
#PC2) plastic polish to bring back the shine. On some color plastics
like green and especially red, if you polish using a rotary tool the body
color will actually lighten and not match the rest of the car, so I simply
use a paper towel and vigorously polish this BY HAND. It took
a few minutes but I did not change the plastic color at all.
ELECTRIC POWERED ROTARY TOOLS ARE NOT RECOMMENDED
FOR USE ON ANY PLASTICS AS IT CAN CREATE TOO MUCH HEAT AND MELT THE PLASTIC.
2-Speed BATTERY powered dremels are recommended if
you must use one. Use a cloth sewn-together wheel not the felt wheel
for your battery dremel.
The roof is now nice and shiney, so I worked all around the body in
any other areas that needed polishing. After polishing I cleaned
the body scrubbing it with a tooth-brush to remove any dirt and residual
polish, then some soap and water to clean the entire body. The body
was ready to paint.
Once it was ready to paint, I used the new RRR Paint
Mask template for the Willys (RRR #1401-T). I laid in the top
hood scoop template first (above).
I used an airbrush to spray my silver paint. The silver was Dupli-color
Auto paint (small touch up aerosol cans found at auto parts stores).
I shot the paint STRAIGHT DOWN or, perpendicular to the hood, to give it
that factory fuzzy edge. Remove template.
I was then ready to paint the front headlights and grill so I readied
that template.
Install the front template on front of car.
Spray silver and remove template.
Do any cleanup now using some Testors brush cleaner.
The rear wheelie bar/plate template is ready to install.
It simply slips down between wheelie bar struts and align
license plate.
Painting STRAIGHT DOWN, or topside,
to give the wheelie bars that "topcoat" silver paint they always had.
With template removed, hopefully you can see the factory look paint
job. Sides of struts and underside of bar are not painted, but have
a little of that classic fuzzy edge overspray Aurora gave them.
I placed the rear tail-light template into position
and then covered the wheelie bars with masking tape
to protect them from red overspray paint.
Using FLAT RED Tamiya acrylic paint, I LIGHTYLY painted
the tail lights. The first time I painted it, they were too bright
so I cleaned them and reshot it again but with less coverage.
Here's the finished painted body.
Front view
This car didn't have glass, so I installed some RRR #1401-G reproduction
glass.
I had some crappy old AJ's alum. wheels, so I cleaned and polished
them up.
I think they were appropriate for this now great looking car.
Materials & equipment used:
Paasche Model VL Airbrush
Novus Plastic Polish - RRR
#PC2
Testors #1159 Laquer thinner & Brush Cleaner
Willys PAINT MASK Template -
RRR #1401-T
Willys Reproduction glass -
RRR #1401-G
Dupli-color Silver Spray paint
Tamiya Flat Red paint
2000 grit wet sand paper
Spic-N-Span
Paper Towels
Cotton swabs
Masking tape
Soap & Water
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Remember, all reproduction resin parts are
Made here in the USA
7184 Hwy A
Strafford, MO 65757
417-736-2494
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Images and information are not to be copied or reproduced without written
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