matchboxkiwi wrote:The comparison pictures are interesting.
I was aware of the 6 and 9 labels and as commented on thought the labels were applied by machine and that the 6 and 9 can easily occur by the roll of labels being put into the machine the wrong way around. Looking at the photo's, why is it that they appear to be cut off at different lengths? The 6 appears at the front of the bonnet/label and on another model it's in the middle of the bonnet or label !
Cheers Steve
Matchboxkiwi
That would be because the decal or label is made as one piece and not cut off a roll surely...Put it the other way up and its shorter at the top......
nickjones wrote:It is possible to swap labels and decals so I would not pay big money for them.
But I think the 9 versions are quite hard to find here in the uk although it seems they are more common in the usa.
Label swapping is well known but I imagine it must be very difficult to re-assign older decals. These were only toys and the fact that they have lasted this long is a testament to their quality. I know some restoration of decals may be possible in-situ, but generally they seem brittle to me and many suffer from cracking, yellowing and general deterioration and to try and lift them (especially larger ones) without destroying them must take some skill and knowledge.
There used to be a method used by plastic kit modelers that involves liquid preperation to soften the decal in situ, then it was possible to gently lift from the model or reposition it more accurately into the position intended on production. I have not used it myself and I don't know if it is still available, it only consisted of two little bottles of liquid, (constituentcy of which I do not know) but believe it was called or made by...'Modeldecal'.
Maybe "Tinman" knows of it or knows of a similar way for working with Decals on old models.
I've not looked at these for years Ghosty but there were ranges of products for people working with decals, including clearcoats, softeners, varnishes, fluid films, removers and so on. Tinman is the man, as they say, but it might not be the place to expand too much on this
I found my #9 label version a number of years ago. I had to search for many years to find the #9 decal version. I do a #41Ford GT search constantly on my computer as it is my favorite casting. I hope to get all the variations of it that I can. I know, however that I will not be able to get all the Bulgarian varies, even if a billionaire dies a leaves me his fortune!
It's amazing to me to hear all the extents that people will go to to fake stuff, even Matchbox cars. I must not be a real hardcore collector, I mean I'd love to have a Greyhound bus with clear windows or a Dodge wrecker with the green and yellow reversed but mostly I just enjoy the trip down memory lane that I get from them. My first goal as a collector was to replace all the cars that I used to have that were lost or played with into the ground. Now I'm mostly concentrating on models that I drooled over as a kid but never had, particularly the king size models. Thankfully I was always pretty careful with my cars so I still have a number of cars going back to when I was 3 or 4 years old. The GT-40 was one of the ones I had to replace. No matter how careful a kid is there were certain Matchboxes that could never survive being played with with all their tires intact.
johnboy wrote:I've not looked at these for years Ghosty but there were ranges of products for people working with decals, including clearcoats, softeners, varnishes, fluid films, removers and so on. Tinman is the man, as they say, but it might not be the place to expand too much on this
Microscale makes a host of decal products: Restoration fluid to salvace old unused decals, another coating to make them snuggle down and lay flat over ridges etc. and several more useful products for decals. I make my own soak to release old decals and salvage them on restorations. I will be happy to share my formula with other responsible restorers but will not publish such information.
A member commented about decals where the 6 was situated low on the decal. One maker of reproduction Ford GT decals makes them with the actual 6 riding lower (down towards the grille on the bonnet) than Lesney's. It a good way to spot the decal as a replacement/reproduction.
