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Ecclesley wrote:

GHOSTHUNTER wrote:We know the level of plating on bare metal components at Lesney was not 100% successful, many components losing their brightness very quickly once subjected to the Atmosphere and even more so when subjected to Children's hands.

GHOSTHUNTER.

I use a spray can of chrome paint and it really makes the front end shine.

Thanks for demonstrating. Very nice lilac colour silver shadow!

Thank you Ritchie for doing the finger nail test on your light Pink #24c. While the result was half expected, I am rather relieved to read your comment about the paint coming off "quite easily" and this is as good a confirmation as anything that your model seems now not to have been trimmed by Lesney, it is a standard early issue that at some point in it's life has had the rear lights and bumper painted by the owner.

There are collectors on this forum that have successfully removed non factory paint from Matchbox models using brake fluid. I would in fact try some White Spirit liquid first on the bumper, this is what modellers use for cleaning paint brushes, so should work on the Silver paint on your bumpers. The Red paint may be a bit more stubborn so you may want to try a tiny bit of brake fluid, restricted to the area of the light unit itself, so I would prop up the model so it is resting on it's nose and just let the brake fluid rest on the light units for an Hour and see what reaction there is and repeat until the Red paint can be seen to be soft ready for removal with tissue paper or an old cloth. If this has worked you want to really clean the area well as you don't want surplus brake fluid spreading to valuable objects or other models in your Home.

GHOSTHUNTER.

Many thanks for your professional advise. i will definitely try it later on to the model.

Cheers,
Ritchie