Some recent Lesney restorations

[Lummox]

Of course you could always fill the black recesses with black paint and re-do the silver if you hadda.

Did the #33 Ford crinkle only after you baked it???

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Unless you have a really steady hand, trying to paint those wheels is difficult. You could try and mask the air-vents with some modelling clay which will be fairly easy to remove when the Silver is dry or try and put the Silver paint onto some smooth card and just dabb it onto the wheel, similar to basic Tampo printing.

Ghosthunter.

[MBXPilot]

Nope didn't get to the baking! It crinkled as I was putting the second coat of color on...

It was definitely the primer, I got a different sort of primer that seems to work better, thought I'm still not completely happy with it. I've been told on a Facebook group that I shouldn't even be using primer at all... Since Lesney didn't back in the day, it's worth a shot! That's the fun thing about this side of the hobby, experimenting, finding out what works and what doesn't. Anyways, onto the next car!

The field Car!! This is a fun little casting that I always enjoy. I found this one on eBay missing its roof and spare wheel, but had all 4 tires still in place. It donated the wheels and tires to another cause, but I thought I could give it a second lease on life!

Field Car by Logan Abner, on Flickr

It turned out as something I could definitely envision Lesney making back in the day.

Field Car by Logan Abner, on Flickr

Field Car by Logan Abner, on Flickr

Field Car by Logan Abner, on Flickr

Field Car by Logan Abner, on Flickr

There's only one other Field Car in my collection at this time, a transitional that I restored a couple of years ago:
Field Car After 1 by Logan Abner, on Flickr

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Nice restrained repaint on the Field car Logan, the Maroon with Black roof example. For some reason it reminds me of some sort of Military staff car, must have seen something like it in a film.

Ghosthunter.

[MBXPilot]

Thanks! I agree, it does have a bit of a military look to it.

Finally got this metallic blue Zephyr done! Took a bit longer than expected haha. It started out as just a regular old model, just a little bit past being display-worthy (in my opinion)

Ford Zephyr by Logan Abner, on Flickr

First setback happened while I was stripping off the old paint... I accidentally dropped the window glass in the paint stripper, and melted most of the front windscreen!!! I grabbed it as fast as I could, but the damage was done. The project had to wait until I found another donor car with good glass and at a decent price!! One was finally located on eBay, and I carried on...



Until, this happened...

Ford Zephyr by Logan Abner, on Flickr

Turns out, I had tried a new sort of primer, which didn't agree with the top coat. It took 3 ruined paint jobs on various models to figure that out...

So I tried it with NO primer, as the chaps at Lesney did back in the day... I think the results speak for themselves! Enjoy, thanks for looking.

Ford Zephyr by Logan Abner, on Flickr

Ford Zephyr by Logan Abner, on Flickr

Ford Zephyr by Logan Abner, on Flickr

Ford Zephyr by Logan Abner, on Flickr

Ford Zephyr by Logan Abner, on Flickr

Link to my last Zephyr restoration: http://ladiecast.blogspot.com/2014/08/l ... ation.html

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Probably not a good idea having an open container of paint stripper right near where you are working in the first place, that is asking for trouble...

Looks good in that dark colour and there is a certain "Z-CARS" theme starting to make itself apparent on my brain as I look at it.

Ghosthunter.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

I could have added this to my post above, ah well, was not thinking clearly, anyway, love what you did to the 'Royal Mail' Zephyr and I agree with you about preserving it's past history and one Day when you sell it to it's new owner, make sure the history and those pictures go with it, just as we do with real cars, great stuff Logan.

Ghosthunter.

[MBXPilot]

Oh the stripper isn't near my workbench normally.. Don't know what I was thinking with those windows lol.

And thanks! I do enjoy trying to keep these toys true to their form when possible. Just like real cars, I think the best restorations are the ones that respect that car's history and honor it as the car goes forward.. I try to keep the same theme when possible.

[Malibu]

Finally got this metallic blue Zephyr done!

Looks good to me two.
Only one Thing I would pay some more attention are the axle ends.
If you do not want to remove the axles just soak them together with the baseplate in Coke.
They will bee much cleaner and shiny after that.
Stephan

[motorman]

Looks good in that dark colour and there is a certain "Z-CARS" theme starting to make itself apparent on my brain as I look at it.

Ghosthunter.

Great minds.......i had exactly the same thought Kevin!