1970 GTX Reclamation Project

[BeakDoc]

I originally built this Monogram GTX when I was about 12-13 years old. I recently recovered it and a few more from my pops’ basement a couple months ago. (Crazy. I found two model boxes full of instruction sheets; maybe 30 or more; and only 8 built up cars. Makes me wonder where the heck they all went.) I remember mixing the color using yellow, green and white of some sort and brush-painting it. I recall it so well because it was the last kit I built before my dad found me an Old ( with a capital O) airbrush at a garage sale. As a sidebar; by the time he and I got the airbrush to actually lay down an acceptable coat of paint the entire apparatus resembled a prison tattoo gun. While it was wildly frustrating to operate and a nightmare to clean (rubber bands, paper clips, ink pen springs and chewing gum don’t hold up to lacquer thinner well at all), I wish I still had it, too, for sentimental reasons. Luckily, I have the last model I built pre-airbrush and the first one (a 1970 Superbird that has been set aside for a later redo) that I actually painted with the aforementioned airbrush.

Anywho, this is my first attempt at a redo (reclamation, restoration, salvation.....semantics, whatever) and my first WIP post. I cannot promise an action-packed, thrill-a-minute thread but I will post as I make progress. Any tips, tricks, suggestions, questions or comments are more than welcomed. 

Thanks for looking.

 

[BeakDoc]

Deconstructed. Used some Z-7 debonder. Worked really well on some parts, not well at all on others. Even 30 years ago I was a big fan of using 2 part epoxy for certain steps. I suspect those are the areas that rendered the debonding agent impotent. I think most of the parts can be salvaged. Gonna have to dig around for exhaust manifolds or maybe even headers. I tried some debonding alchemy of my own creation and reduced the manifolds to goo. Live and learn.

Now it’s off to the purple pond. Dilly dilly!

[espo]

I was going to suggest you think about leaving it as is for sentimental reasons, but I see you're already committed to the rebuild. Your model appears to be from the BP period, before primer. This may make the bath in the pond more effective removing the old paint. With your new found skills and with better products of today you could easily recreate your original build ideas.    

[BeakDoc]

Thanks David. You’re comments are virtually the narrative of my stream of consciousness. ? I considered leaving it as is, but my affinity for those majestic 1970 B-bodies has me wanting to do it better justice than I did in my youth. I’m still not certain which direction I’ll take the rebuild or which direction the rebuild will take me. I only know that I want to do a better job and that I love a good challenge. 

Also, yep, it is from the BP era. LOL. Here’s hoping you are correct about the effectiveness of “the big soak.” ? 

[Dann Tier]

This is gonna be AWESOME!!…..this was the third model I ever built.

[iamsuperdan]

There is something satisfying about doing these restorations. I'm doing a Monogram Superbird right now I originally built in 1988.

 

Watching!

 

[Bucky]

As a lifelong MOPAR fan, I'll follow along with great interest! B-body, and C-body MOPARs are my favorites! Carry on with the rebuild, my good man!

[BeakDoc]

2 1/2 days in the pond. Took the paint right off and stripped the chrome off the bumpers. A little needed boby work has been revealed, nothing major other than the taillight valence that I’ll have to perform some fabrication hoodoo upon.

Finally, got some directional ideas for this build bouncing around in the ole noggin. More later.

[Jantrix]

I'm usually an advocate of leaving old childhood builds alone. However now that the damage is done, looking forward to seeing the new version.

[DEL]

Let me display my ignorance:  What exactly makes up the 'purple pond'?

And was removal of the chrome a purpose or an unexpected side effect?  

I have more than a few of the same kind of builtup back in the day models on hand.  For the most part, I leave them alone. I can recall where I was and what frame of mind and point of life I was in for each individual one at the time when I built it.  Crude as they can be.  I have taken a couple apart and used them as donors for other projects though.  To each his own.

I'll follow this one with interest.  Good luck sir!  (PS: I didn't think it looked too bad as it was at the start)

[BeakDoc]

5 hours ago, DEL said:

Let me display my ignorance:  What exactly makes up the 'purple pond'?

And was removal of the chrome a purpose or an unexpected side effect?  

Dwayne, my version of “the purple pond” was a rectangular Rubbermaid container full of Castrol Super Clean. A few weeks ago while cleaning out my garage I found a gallon of it tucked away in the back of a cabinet. I remembered reading good things on this forum about how well it stripped paint without harming the styrene (DOT3 brake fluid is also very well regarded as a paint stripping agent.) As I recall, how well it would strip chrome plating from parts was vigorously debated on here. I’ve gotta say, from my single experience stripping model parts, the chrome put up less of a fight than did the paint. Once I decided upon the approach I want to take with this rebuild I tossed the bumpers and grille in with the other parts. After experimenting with successful results, I’ve dropped the 5 spoke wheels in for soak.

I understand the sentiment of holding onto older/childhood builds. It was a conflicting decision to rebuild this one for sure. I guess, somewhere in my head, I rationalized my way around sentiment with the thought that it’s the exact same kit I built 30 years ago. To me, this hobby is as much about “the build” as it is about the finished product. If not more so, sometimes. And I do have a few built up kits from my teens tucked away, never to be mettled with.

As always, thanks to all of you fine folks for looking and caring enough to comment.

[Rider]

This is going to be fun to watch, best of luck.

If money isn't a concern you may want to consider Molotow Chrome for the rechroming step. It's acrylic based chrome liquid, I use it exclusively now for everything chrome. No need for base of gloss black, no need to dust it on like Alclad or Spaz Stix Chrome. The thicker you lay it down the brighter it gets, of course you need an air brush. It can be found on eBay, I buy the refill bottles for the pens. 

 I dig watching these rebuilds. 

[DEL]

I'm with you Chris on the old models. Thanks for the stripper tip.  Up till now, it's been just DOT3 brake fluid for me, but lately, I've had a few projects that did not work as well on as it had for me in the past so I may give the other you mentioned a try.  Thanks!