About Me

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No Fixed Abode, Home Counties, United Kingdom
I’m a 60-year-old Aspergic gardening CAD-Monkey. Sardonic, cynical and with the political leanings of a social reformer, I’m also a toy and model figure collector, particularly interested in the history of plastics and plastic toys. Other interests are history, current affairs, modern art, and architecture, gardening and natural history. I love plain chocolate, fireworks and trees, but I don’t hug them, I do hug kittens. I hate ignorance, when it can be avoided, so I hate the 'educational' establishment and pity the millions they’ve failed with teaching-to-test and rote 'learning' and I hate the short-sighted stupidity of the entire ruling/industrial elite, with their planet destroying fascism and added “buy-one-get-one-free”. Likewise, I also have no time for fools and little time for the false crap we're all supposed to pretend we haven't noticed, or the games we're supposed to play. I will 'bite the hand that feeds', to remind it why it feeds.

Sunday, January 14, 2024

D is for Dirty Daimler Done a Decency!

I picked up a ratted old Airfix 'readymade' polypropylene 1:32nd scale Daimler Armoured Car a while back, and thought to get it cleaned-up over Christmas, this post is a quick report on the results of those efforts.

As you can see, paint and markings had seen better days, a few of the smaller pieces are missing and what you can't see is rusty axles one of which was bent two ways!

The various plug-ins were hot-screwdriver welded in the factory and while the hope is I can find a worse one, with it accessories, going cheap, most of the second-hand ones in a Google image search are missing the spotlight, so hope isn't high!

After disassembly, all the pieces went in a bleach-soak which got a shaking every hour or so for most of an afternoon/early evening, after a few shakes you can see the colour of the bleach suggesting things are happening! The wheels, being a different material, were easy to clean with a bottle-brush, it was only a bit of overall grubbiness, and paint-overspill on the insides.

Before (above) and after (below), axle before straightening.
 
Where the paint had worn-off, presumably years, even decades ago, there is some sun-fading, rather oddly to RAF dessert-pink! Silicon bumper-gel might bring out the colour, but I'm not sure if I can be faffed to try, it looks a whole lot better as it is.
 
The other missing item is the stowage-box and rack which is more likely to be found, while the ariel needs replacing, really, I got it a bit straighter than it had been (along with both weapon-barrels), but really you can't do hot-water treatments with 'propylene like you can with PVC or even 'styrene or 'ethylenes - it's too rigid in its final form, especially when that form is the result of chewing or bending!

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