AMT '65 Buick Riviera

[charliechaindrive]

A friend of mine asked me to help him finish the Buick Riviera kit he had started, and I was happy to help. He had got as far as painting the body, with a brush. It didn't turn out quite as good as planned, so I decided to strip it.

[Snake45]

Very cool! The '65 Riv is a classic, alltime great design. Can't wait to see what you do with it.

[slusher]

A real nice AMT kit..

[charliechaindrive]

Thanks snake! And it is indeed a very cool kit slusher. I'm looking forward to building this one. It'll be the first AMT made kit I've done. The way they do their floor pans and frame assembly isn't all that detailed, but it's no biggie.

Here's what it looked like before I stripped it I can't find anything on stripping the paint out of the engine bay easily, fingernail polish remover won't touch this paint. I think it's testors, from the little bottles. The owner wants me to shoot it in blue or dark purple, and to use the optional 5 slot mag wheels and dirt track tires.

Edited October 26, 2014 by charliechaindrive

[Snake45]

Easy Off oven cleaner will strip Testor little bottle enamel, but if you don't want to bother, the engine compartment of GM cars of that vintage was semigloss black, so you can just shoot that right over it if you want.

[charliechaindrive]

I'll have to remember that. The oven cleaner doesn't hurt the styrene?

I got the engine almost done, just waiting for the paint on the exhaust manifolds to dry before those go on.

I don't think I'll wire this one, I might just keep it simple. I'll put a lot of work into the exterior paint work though. A dark metal flake blue or purple would look great on this..

Edited October 26, 2014 by charliechaindrive

[StevenGuthmiller]

Easy off oven cleaner works nice Charlie. It won't hurt the plastic. Or you could go to your local auto parts store and get some "Super Clean". The stuff in the purple bottle. This stuff will strip your parts as clean as a whistle & it will never hurt your plastic. I've soaked parts in it for a month or more with no affect on the plastic. Mind you, some flat paints & primers can be a little tough to remove no matter what you use, but I'm confident that once you try these options, you'll never go back to finger nail polish remover. Besides, the acetone in the polish remover will damage the plastic if you're not careful. If you do decide to try either the oven cleaner or Super Clean, be sure to wear gloves & in the case of oven cleaner, a mask. The fumes in the oven cleaner can bring you to your knees in a hurry & the Super Clean is as affective at removing skin as it is paint. The Super Clean can be used over & over again & it is biodegradable. Very cost effective. I bought a gallon of it a year ago & am still using the same stuff. Here's a couple of shots of what can be done in a couple of hours in Super Clean. Steve

[charliechaindrive]

Easy off oven cleaner works nice Charlie. It won't hurt the plastic. Or you could go to your local auto parts store and get some "Super Clean". The stuff in the purple bottle. This stuff will strip your parts as clean as a whistle & it will never hurt your plastic. I've soaked parts in it for a month or more with no affect on the plastic. Mind you, some flat paints & primers can be a little tough to remove no matter what you use, but I'm confident that once you try these options, you'll never go back to finger nail polish remover. Besides, the acetone in the polish remover will damage the plastic if you're not careful. If you do decide to try either the oven cleaner or Super Clean, be sure to wear gloves & in the case of oven cleaner, a mask. The fumes in the oven cleaner can bring you to your knees in a hurry & the Super Clean is as affective at removing skin as it is paint. The Super Clean can be used over & over again & it is biodegradable. Very cost effective. I bought a gallon of it a year ago & am still using the same stuff. Here's a couple of shots of what can be done in a couple of hours in Super Clean. Steve

Thanks for the info Steve, I'll be sure to get gloves and a mask when I'm using the oven cleaner. I'll grab a can next time I'm in town. And what model is that? It's a very sharp looking kit. Looks similar to a 1-1 '60 Buick that's sitting across the road from me.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Thanks for the info Steve, I'll be sure to get gloves and a mask when I'm using the oven cleaner. I'll grab a can next time I'm in town. And what model is that? It's a very sharp looking kit. Looks similar to a 1-1 '60 Buick that's sitting across the road from me.

It's an old annual AMT 1959 Pontiac Bonneville that will be gracing my bench in the months to come. Steve

[charliechaindrive]

Steve, I can't wait to see you work your magic on that.

[charliechaindrive]

Finally got a go-ahead on paint, she's going to be gloss black. I'll be throwing the first primer coat on tomorrow at lunch, and we'll see how it goes from there.

[dartman]

When you get the oven cleaner,get the stuff in the yellow can and not the blue stuff.