What's your take on removing those stupid molded in wipers? No drag car on earth had wipers. Scrape ? Sand ? Slice ? All the above?of them ?

[dragsterguy]

What's your take on removing those stupid molded in wipers? No drag car on earth had wipers. Scrape ? Sand ? Slice ? All the above? All of them ?

Hoping for a genius solution ! THANKS !

[TarheelRick]

I have done all three, but the final detail will be judicious sanding. Care must be taken to preserve the window frame detail and if you are extremely careful you can also preserve the cowl vent detail.

[StevenGuthmiller]

40 minutes ago, TarheelRick said:

I have done all three, but the final detail will be judicious sanding. Care must be taken to preserve the window frame detail and if you are extremely careful you can also preserve the cowl vent detail.

That’s the problem.

It’s generally not too difficult to preserve the window frame, but depending on the design of the cowl vents, it can be very difficult.

I don’t build drag cars, so I usually leave the molded in wipers and just try to detail them to the best of my abilities, but I have removed them on occasion and replaced them, as well as opened up the cowl vents if possible to add even a little more realism.

It worked quite well on my ‘68 Coronet, but there have been others that I won’t even try.

 

 

 

 

Steve

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Sorry...there's no magic solution.

Just precise control exercised over a variety of tools.

[Muncie]

Nicely done Steve, well done and it adds a lot of realistic appearance.

with a very sharp knife, I take very thin slices, baby steps.  It's more of a shave than a cut - thin cuts to avoid putting too much force on the knife.  Pushing too hard can cause the knifer to slip, gouging into the cowl vent or creating a big cut in my finger... so far, no blood.

Edited October 16, 2024 by Muncie

[dragsterguy]

Pretty much what I'm doing. I wondered about sanding "matches" (thin sanding strips and even bought a battery sander. Hoping these might take the initial bits off, followed by whatever. Right now I'm working with a 25 year old MCW resin body. It seems there are umpteen resins and plastic!

[Bainford]

All of the above. 
A tool I find particularly useful for jobs like this is a curved blade heated and bent to about 30 degrees, and the cutting edge ground off save for 3 mm (.120") at the end.  To bend the blade I clamp the cutting end in a vise, use a pencil torch to heat the bend-area red and bend with a pair of pliers. It's important to clamp at the cutting end to sink the heat away from the cutting edge to preserve its temper. 

 

 

[bobss396]

I use a very sharp chisel blade to do most of the removal. I sharpen them up on a hard stone.

I really rarely change blades out. I keep sharpening them instead.

[Mike 1017]

I tape around the wipers to protect the area surrounding them from scratches. I use a Tamiya chisel to slowly scrape off the wipers.

Mike