Guppy Posted October 16, 2003 Posted October 16, 2003 I got my dirt-cheap yammie the other day from hlj for customising. Around here most of us dis-assemble our valk and soak it in pine-sol (floor cleaner) overnight to loosen the paint so it's easy to remove with sandpaper. I've also heard people using engine oil and other stuff. Try liquid sugar soap! It's a concentrated liquid diluted with water used to clean tough dirt and grime and remove paint from walls. I diluted some in pine-sol and the paint came off like butter! Let me tell you this was a great discovery as yamato aren't afraid of slapping the paint on thick! .. if this is common knowledge, please delete and ignore me! Quote
Toonz Posted October 17, 2003 Posted October 17, 2003 how does your colourless valk look now? i imagine it to be white with silver legs? Quote
EXO Posted October 17, 2003 Posted October 17, 2003 I diluted some in pine-sol and the paint came off like butter! I thought the whole point was to not use Pine-Sol anymore? Or did you men that you don't have to ait overnight anymore? BTW I think it's Brake-Fluid not Engine Oil... Quote
Guppy Posted October 17, 2003 Author Posted October 17, 2003 Exo - Well I had to dilute the sugar soap with something so I used pine sol instead of water to make it even better. oh yeah... brake fluid! That was it. Toonz - yep, he's white with shiny metal legs now! Quote
scand Posted October 17, 2003 Posted October 17, 2003 I'm going to be doing trying something like this pretty soon! Where can you find liquid sugar soap? And what grit sandpaper to use? Quote
StealthLurker Posted October 17, 2003 Posted October 17, 2003 can we see a pic of this naked valk (valk porn)? hehe Quote
Guppy Posted October 17, 2003 Author Posted October 17, 2003 Tnx, Gup, BTW how long was the soak? I just left it overnight. With the legs though, as they put SO much paint on, it takes a few goes to get it all off. Scand: You can get it from any hardware store, and probably most supermarkets. For the die cast parts I used a coarse sandpaper and for the plastic a medium/mild was plenty. Stealthlurker - I was thinking of putting it back together naked for a laugh! At the moment it's a big pile of parts. NB - it's a good idea to use rubber gloves as my hands are all dried out and wrinkly today. Quote
Sebastian Posted October 17, 2003 Posted October 17, 2003 Hey guppy. An Advice. PLEASE buy a Mr METAL PRIMER (Gunze Sangyo) for the diecast parts of the toy. If you apply the paint directly to the toy, or if you use a normal primer and then paint, the paint will fall after a couple of ours. dont forget it! METAL Primer. Good luck with your custom Wombat ! Quote
Guppy Posted October 17, 2003 Author Posted October 17, 2003 Hey guppy. An Advice. PLEASE buy a Mr METAL PRIMER (Gunze Sangyo) for the diecast parts of the toy. Yep - I've got metal primer! What I find works best is to really rough up the surface of the diecast parts with coarse sandpaper so the paint sticks to the surface better. You've done a couple of yammie customs - what parts do you find wear from transformation? Ie, what parts should I give an extra coat of clearcoat to? Quote
Sebastian Posted October 17, 2003 Posted October 17, 2003 I will send you (or post here) some pics with those complicated parts. I think pics are much better than words. Quote
Manji Posted October 17, 2003 Posted October 17, 2003 Yep - I've got metal primer! What I find works best is to really rough up the surface of the diecast parts with coarse sandpaper so the paint sticks to the surface better. Add to your "customizing collection of tools" Bulldog Adhesion promoter...available in any auto parts store...works great on diecast...it will even allow you to get reliable results on chrome, so diecast (particularly roughed up with sanding as you described) will be a snap...I've used it on everything from resin to chrome and bare metals...it works great... Quote
Sebastian Posted October 17, 2003 Posted October 17, 2003 Ok my dear freaky Wombat abortion. Here you have some pics. I hope they help! Anything else you know you can email me. This one is really funny. dont meka my mistake!! Quote
Guppy Posted October 17, 2003 Author Posted October 17, 2003 Thanks Sebastian! (except for the 'wombat' comment! ) LOL! You put his right foot on backwards! Thanks for the advice. I'll put extra clearcoat on the insides of the legs and the peg holes on the back of the legs. And thanks for the advice too Manji! I didn't know about that stuff. I'll give it a try. Quote
Sebastian Posted October 17, 2003 Posted October 17, 2003 Thanks Sebastian! (except for the 'wombat' comment! ) But I did said DEAR Wombat... You know it is a love demostration Gup! Quote
wm cheng Posted October 17, 2003 Posted October 17, 2003 Hey Sebastian, Very nice custom scheme - I love the light grey accents!! One of the best schemes I've seen - subtle yet totally in keeping with the genre! Great work! Quote
scand Posted October 18, 2003 Posted October 18, 2003 A couple of questions: What should I use to strip the paint from the plastic? Sebastion- How did you get the hinges off the legs? Quote
BoBe-Patt Posted October 19, 2003 Posted October 19, 2003 Wow, those customs look awesome! So all you did was take off all the paint, and then paint some of the parts grey? or did you have to paint the whole valk white as well? Nice. That would be a nice exclusive for like ehobby or something. hehe Quote
Guppy Posted October 19, 2003 Author Posted October 19, 2003 (edited) A couple of questions:What should I use to strip the paint from the plastic? Sebastion- How did you get the hinges off the legs? That's what the thread is about! Get an empty ice cream container, and put all your parts into it with some pine-sol and sugar soap. leave it overnight to soak and then remove the paint with sandpaper (I also used a small flat head screwdriver to remove the thick paint from the legs). How did you get the hinges off the legs? A screwdriver! Seriously though, if you want to do a good looking custom job you have to completely dis-assemble the valk first. Edited October 19, 2003 by Guppy Quote
Sebastian Posted October 19, 2003 Posted October 19, 2003 A couple of questions:What should I use to strip the paint from the plastic? Sebastion- How did you get the hinges off the legs? That's what the thread is about! Get an empty ice cream container, and put all your parts into it with some pine-sol and sugar soap. leave it overnight to soak and then remove the paint with sandpaper (I also used a small flat head screwdriver to remove the thick paint from the legs). How did you get the hinges off the legs? A screwdriver! Seriously though, if you want to do a good looking custom job you have to completely dis-assemble the valk first. WOOOOW!!! Guppy! You are talking like a Suppa Duppa Custom Master! Gup is allright. to teake out the hinges you may need to force a little bit the Zink Allooy pegs. The Diecast is easy to bent, but it is also ESAY to break, so BE CAREFULL while bending the pegs that secure the hinge metal bar. So Gup?? How is your Suppa Duppa Custom VF 1 going??? Pics? Quote
scand Posted October 19, 2003 Posted October 19, 2003 (edited) Thanks! I was a little confused. I thought the pinesol and soap was only for the die-cast parts. I wasn't sure if fluid would dissolve any of the plastic parts. The valk is sitting in pieces all over my desk right now! The landing bay doors were giving me a hard time. I used a screw driver to pop them out and broke one of the steel hinges. I don't think it' that big of a deal though the door still seems to operate fine. Another Hard part was the nose cone. That single screw inside the tip of the nose had me going for an hour. Is there anyway to get the very tip of the nose off? It looks like it may be glued on. And by the way, very nice custom work on the low-viz! Edited October 19, 2003 by scand Quote
Guppy Posted October 20, 2003 Author Posted October 20, 2003 Sebastian: I haven't started painting yet.. I am still shopping for paint! I've been to 3 stores now and none of them have what I want. But I might put it together to show what a 'naked' valk looks like! Scand - I had trouble with the landing bay doors too - so I left them on. I think I can paint it OK with them in. Same with the nose - I left the tip in. I figured by the time I got it apart there would be scratch marks all over it. Quote
irishman Posted October 21, 2003 Posted October 21, 2003 What scale is this cheap Yammie, and which one did you get? Im hoping to pick up either a 1/55 and get Robs GPB or, a 1/60 and get the GPB when it comes out. What was your total cost after shipping on the HLJ cheap Yammie? Quote
Guppy Posted October 21, 2003 Author Posted October 21, 2003 Unfortunately the yamatos are not on sale any more, but there's a 1/55 going cheap. You should just check this page regularly so you don't miss out! http://www.hlj.com/cgi-perl/hljsalepage.cgi But I reckon I would have paid about US$30 including shipping to Australia - it was 70% off! Quote
Sebastian Posted October 22, 2003 Posted October 22, 2003 Hey Gup... WHERE are the pics of your custom?? hu? At least give us some Porn Pics of the Naked Valk! Quote
gnollman Posted October 22, 2003 Posted October 22, 2003 (edited) What should I use to strip the paint from the plastic? Best thing I've found yet for removing paint from plastic (or metal, for that matter) is Castrol Super-Clean. It's an automotive degreaser that comes in a purple bottle. The liquid is also a tasty shade of purple, for that matter... It is also reuseable, provided you keep it in a sealed container away from sunlight. If you leave it in the light it degrades pretty quickly.... Pine-sol will damage plastics eventually, but you can leave your stuff in Castrol Super-Clean and forget about it, and it will not damage the plastic. It will dry out your hands really bad, so wear gloves when handling it. You can find it at Walmart, K-Mart, Meijers... most major department stores in the States carries it. I don't know if you can get it outside of the US.... Edited October 22, 2003 by gnollman Quote
Druna Skass Posted October 22, 2003 Posted October 22, 2003 I'm a little paranoid about wreaking my 11, and I'm a bit hesitant to take it apart. I'm just trying to get the paint off the legs. Can I just have it stand knee high in that Castrol Super Clean or that sugar soap, overnight and not worry about the feet getting warped? Do I reallt need to take the paint off the plastic too or can I just spray paint over it? Quote
Sebastian Posted October 22, 2003 Posted October 22, 2003 Yep you can spray over it, but if you want a better paint job, you better remove the original paint. Also is if you want to sray over better use a primer first. Quote
scand Posted October 22, 2003 Posted October 22, 2003 Thanks for the tips guys. I've been painting and sanding all day. The top half of the valks is almost done. The legs are still apart and soaking in pinesol. Another question! As far as clear coats go what do you guys use. I've been using Tamiya Acrylics and Primer I don't want any thing to conflict with the coats. The last times I used a clear coat I used testors. The valk turned yellow within in a month. What's the opinion on using future as a clear coat? Will it yellow over time? Quote
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