Is there a safe way to remove nails from old promo models?

[Motor City]

Hi,

I was wondering what is the most effective way to remove old nails that were used instead of screws to secure the body to the chassis on old AMT promos and many Jo-Han promos. I saw on another forum that using a soldering iron on the nails will heat them up enough to remove them from the body. Wouldn't that melt the plastic mounting posts?

Thanks,

Jim

[Eshaver]

Possibly, If the iron is held at the tip, chances are good one could be ready to remove the head of the pin and not do damage to the surrounding post hole .

[Art Anderson]

Those "nails" are actually simple screws with a very steep thread to them--that "thread" is what held them in place. Virtually all AMT and JoHan promo's from the early 1950's used these, even nearly all AMT "annual series" 3in1 kits 1958-64, and JoHan's similar kits 1959-through the end of the 1960's at least. Originally, those "screws" had slotted heads, to make them easy to assemble on production lines as promo's, and we kids used screwdrivers to put them in when building our 3in1 customizing kits as well.

I've removed those many times by simply gripping the head securely with a plain old pair of "slip joint" pliers, and then twisting the head SLOWLY to the left (they are conventional right-hand thread), at the same time carefully "pulling up" on the screw head. This can take several tries, but almost always I've been able to disassemble the promo chassis from the body without resorting to any heating of the screw.

Art

[Ramfins59]

I've also done exactly what Art said on several promo's that I've recently worked on with complete success and no damage at all to anything. I have several more promo's also lined up to be worked on that I will also use the same technique or

method to remove the chassis.

[Mike Kucaba]

I never found the "Nails" in AMT promos, Those were usually a screw with a slot. The nails in the Jo han promos I removed similar to Art's method, but I used a small pair of side cutters.

[Motor City]

Thanks to all for your suggestions. I'm at work, so I don't have any promos in front of me . To clarify, the early AMT promos used nail heads from 1948 or 1949 to probably 1952, slotted screws in 1953 and 1955, nails in 1954, and slotted screws from 1956 onward (disclaimer: don't quote me on all of those years as I'm going from my memory). I think all of my Jo-Han promos have the nail head or non-slotted screws. Some of the promos have the nails in so tight that there is no way to get a pair of pliers on the nail head, and a putty knife or chisel is too thick to pry up with. Is there some other effective tool to pry these up without damaging the head or gouging the chassis?

I have a few windows to reglue, as well as a few chassis to straighten out from kids leaning too hard on the models when playing with them.

I could also use a couple of screws for a '56 Roadmaster 4-door hardtop. These are smaller than the screws used on the AMT models of the 60s.

Thanks,

Jim

[Casey]

Cut a slot in them with a cut off blade in a rotary tool (with the shield) or something similar, then use a small bladed screwdriver to remove them.

[Ramfins59]

Try using a sprue cutter like a side cutter to raise the head enough so you can then use pliers to unscrew or pull out the screw.

[Motor City]

_{thanks, Casey and Richard!}