M6a Restoration

[Tinman]

These can be had on the cheap when the tow bar ears are broken off and the tow bar is missing. They restore pretty easily and you can have a super nice model for pennies on the dollar.

[matchboxtom]

Looks great.

[Tinman]

Thank you Tom, always nice to get kind words from another fixer-upper like yourself.

[slicc64]

Another tick in the box Tinman.

I noticed you dont show pictures of the base on your resto's.

Do you use screws, glue or repaint with base still attached?

[Tinman]

Rear Bogie is attached with a removable glue. Front (movable) bogie is drilled just enough to force off the rivet post then peened back in place. The joint on the movable bogie is tenuous at best, but there is no room to drill it for a screw or rivet. In the past I have used more elaborate measures to secure the front bogie. Now, I save all that extra time and I just lightly drill and then lightly peen it over and sent it with a warning to support the front bogie while handling or moving the model (along with my usual "not a toy" disclaimer). After all, it is meant to sit in a display or on a shelf.

In the past, I painted one front bogie while still firmly connected to the drop center trailer portion. What a hassle that was. After it was painted that way, I set the model aside for a month (the average time it takes paint to cure) before I would pick it up and handle it again. I was very afraid the turning action would peel the paint right off the top of the bogie if I handled it any sooner (which I'm sure is something that could easily happen). That took too much patience and I like to get projects finished much faster then that.

There is often a base photo when these models hit ebay. Even though the words "repainted" and "restored" show up several places in the auction, it can't hurt to show a pic of drilled rivets as well. But still, there are some buyers who never look at any photos other than the one ebay features as a thumbnail and they never read the listing details (one former member here was infamous for this kind of ignorance).

Oh yes, before I forget, the tractor has a spread rivet so that's kind of self explainatory.

[Tinman]

Just adding a couple additional comments. Some restorers feel drilled & glued base rivets are "unprofessional." They like to attach every drilled rivet with a screw (or some use very small aluminum rivets). That can be risky on some models as drilling the rivet post doesn't always go smoothly. I will use a screw in certain cases like re-securing a crane boom or a heavy tanker body.

Outside of those cases, I prefer to leave the drilled rivet head exposed and secure the base with a single drop of epoxy. When removing wheels from peened or rounded over axle ends, I never attempt to replicate the axle ends and leave them as is. I like the drilled off rivet heads to be plain as day and for the axle ends to show up as tampered with upon close inspection. These are two plain as day signs I leave to mark my models as restorations. If the base is in decent shape (with only light chipping or scratches), I leave the base as is too.