Workbench

Rick Wilson continues his new regular monthly section sharing current project progress.

Hints, tips and restoration project updates.

I’ve been playing around with restoring old diecasts since my early teens and some of my projects have occasionally appeared in the magazine since I first got involved editorially in 2013. I’ve just started a huge project from Ixo Collections and it gave me this idea for this new section to bring you updates and tips as I focus on some other projects along the way.

CORGI TOYS NO 267 BATMOBILE RESTORATION

A little progress has been made over the last month.We now have a stripped body and baseplate – in fact we have two baseplates. I’ll explain...

I’ve acquired a second, slightly later version to strip for parts (donated by Stewart McGeoch – thank you!). I noticed a difference to the baseplate, so stripped that too.As you can see in the photo, the first release (right) differs from the later version (left) really only at the bottom (back of the car).Where the original has just “BATMOBILE”, the casting has been modified so that it appears on a raised rectangle, with “BATMOBILE” in smaller text, next to a copyright symbol. On the line below, in even smaller text,“NATIONAL PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS INC” has been added.

The next step for this one is to source the necessary replacement parts. I’ll bring you news when that happens and the stripped parts have been sprayed, and reassembly has begun.

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SUPERFAST RECOVERY

Restoring a Matchbox Superfast isn't as difficult as you might think because, although it has rivets on the base rather than screws, these are quite easy to remove. I use a 4.5mm drill bit for this and, actually, if you do it just right you can remove just enough of the rivet for there to be enough of a ‘snap’ on what's left to hold the base plate in place when you put it back.This doesn’t work all the time though and it won’t work on all models, in which case, drilling out the rivet stem with a 1.5mm drill bit and finding suitably sized self-tapping screws will do the job.There are other methods but you will soon find which one you prefer to use.

First up is No 32 BP Tanker – once I’d taken it apart,

closer inspection showed that it was really only the rear body that was in poor shape, bizarrely the main cab and chassis were in very good condition. Next is No 20 Lamborghini Marzal, which was actually one of the first three released in 1969. One thing that has always bugged me, despite the fact that Lesney produced several different colours over the years, is that it never replicated the real car.There was only ever one Lamborghini Marzal, because it was a concept show car, painted silver with a slightly space-age chromelook interior.An easy thing to rectify apart from the fact that Lesney always produced the window unit with an orangey/amber tint.To fully replicate the real car this obviously needs to be clear to replicate glass. Thanks to a Facebook conversation with Dean Benton, a fellow Lesney restorer/customiser, I was made aware that Steve Flowers' Model Supplies produces these to special order.

The third of the trio in the image is one I’ve been after for a while as I have the two earlier colourways of the No 53 Zodiac – transition metallic bluey-green and metallic minty mid-green, both with skinny wheels – but the later fat-wheeled version in lime green is surprisingly hard to come by. I picked up a scrapper for a few pounds but it was tatty and missing its bonnet.

So the models have been stripped down to their basic components (but leaving the wheels attached to the baseplate as we are only restoring the bodies here), using a caustic soda solution to quickly strip the paint off. More on these next month. DC

▲ A friend (our postie!) has kindly donated a later version that can be raided for parts. These have now been stripped (see photo on the opposite page).

Three Matchbox Superfasts awaiting my attention. The Zodiac will be restored with a new bonnet and resprayed to the original, hard-to-find Lime Green. The Marzal will replicate the original concept car in silver with a chrome-effect interior, and the BP Tanker just need tank body restoring. Depsite its appearance, the rest of the truck is in pretty good nick!

▲ Both Corgi Batmobiles have now been dismantled and stripped. I've included the later version's baseplate (left) so we can compare it with the original issue (right).