Restoring Redlines

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Restoring RLs

Get Yourself a New Rear End by Mark Hosaflook

Like most kids that were into autos who grew up in the 1960’s, I cut my teeth mostly on die-cast cars. Matchbox, Johnny Lightning and Hot Wheels helped me spend countless hours racing around, doing stunts, sandbox wars and any thing else we could think of. Most of the castings that had opening parts would suffer in the long run as doors fell off, hoods disappeared and the clamshell rear ends would give out from abuse and wear and tear.

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

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Hot Wheels in particular had some castings that were notorious for losing parts. The Chaparral, Ford MK IV, Lola GT 70, Ford J and McLaren race cars always seemed to lose a wing or rear end. It was a battle scar and a given that in time those parts would soon be gone. For that reason, it seems the best prices one can find for original Redlines usually includes any of the above castings and often times you’ll find whole groups of these sold as a lot for that very reason. The shell is long gone and what do you do with a casting missing half the body?

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Replica parts to the rescue.

[at the time of writing this article] Mini-Motors, Inc and their replica parts line has stepped up and come to the rescue. They make the wing and clamshells needed to get these warriors back on the track. The beauty of this is, now you can go buy a load of these castings cheap and with a little time and effort have yourself some nice original Redlines at a fraction of the price. These extra parts can also make excellent dioramas since everybody knows in the garage area many spare clamshells and front nosepieces are lying around ready to step up when needed.

A little flash clean up and you’re ready for paint.

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A quick test fit.

These pieces are sent in the raw form and require just a little prep work to get them ready. The first thing I always do is clean any flash off. Any sharp knife or sand paper will do. Then I clean the parts just in case there is a little mold release agent or other oils still attached. Sometimes there may be little imperfections in the metal that need to be addressed. I like to use auto body glazing putty. It works great, dries fast and is very sand able. Before I paint, I always test fit to make sure any more modifications aren’t needed first. If everything looks good and matches up well I get ready to paint.

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The easiest restoration here would be to go the enamel route. Many of these casting came that way and unless you have your own chrome plating equipment, this is the way I’d go. Some people have had good luck at taking the casting down to bare metal, buff it until it has a high gloss sheen and then use various brands of stained glass paint or use the two-step candy chrome style paints. Some look good but I can always tell they are not real chrome mirror paint jobs so why not just take the easy way out and go enamel?

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Save the details, go light with the primer.

The first thing I do is put a light coat of primer on. The shells have small detail lines that you don’t want to lose so a light coat is all you need. Just to see if I could go on the cheap, I’ve even tried those white .97-cent spray bombs. To my surprise they do a really good job and since most of these casting came in white enamel you can do a whole fleet of cars for pennies!

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What a difference!

There are two ways you can go here, paint the shell separate and then carefully re-clamp the rear end or like I do, attach the rear end first and then paint it. Carefully masking out the windows, removing the wheels and masking off the belly. Yes, you will get some over spray paint on the underside of the shell and in the wheel wells, but take a look at the originals because that’s how they really look. Either way you can’t lose, as it looks good using both methods.

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The enamels are the easiest to work with, but try the new candy color paints too.

A nice set of reproduction stripes and numbers really brings back the look of the casting or if you want, use new rubber style wheels, and stickers to make a cool custom. This is one of the easier restorations I have ever done and I must say the results are just great. Mini-Motors makes the rear ends for all the popular castings as well. So, the next time you see a bunch of Can Am style cars for sale because parts are missing, buy them and give this a try. You will not be sorry you did.

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A whole new look for the completed cars!

Thanks Mark for the GREAT article!!!

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