Best scraping tool for removing molded-in exhaust?

[Monty]

I've got the AMT '55 Nomad, which, with the exception of the molded-in exhaust, is a decent kit. My goal is to remove the exhaust pipe & muffler by scraping them down to chassis level. I'll use small bits of Evergreen plastic to repair any of the chassis detail that was lost in the process & then find* or fab up a replacement dual exhaust.

What would you recommend as a scraper for this project? Pics & P/Ns would be appreciated if possible.

*Recommendations welcome here, too.

[Modlguy]

If you really want to go that route I'd suggest grinding them with a Dremel, and finishing with a hobby chisel. But why not cut them out along the edges with an X-Acto blade? Wouldn't that give you more control and a cleaner line?

[Monty]

I'd more or less ruled out the Dremel because unless you have one with speed control, they tend to rev too high & melt the plastic.

I was thinking I'd just scrape it from the "top" down, leaving less to clean up, but you may be on to something with your side-cutting idea.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Monty

[Ace-Garageguy]

In my own experience, It's always been easier to remove the entire section of floor that includes the molded-on pipe with a Dremel, then file nice clean edges on the remaining frame rails, and fab a new floor section out of sheet styrene. Yes, you DO lose some details you might want to keep...like ridges that represent stamped-in stiffeners, but they can re re-replicated with small styrene shapes if you want.

These two may seem a little extreme, but replacing the floors with clean styrene really isn't so bad once you bite the bullet and just start cutting.

This is an AMT '32 Ford chassis that I ended up making new floors for, for a variety of reasons. It's really not too hard once you just decide to go for it.

If you really DO want to remove the molded-in pipes, etc, and leave the floors intact, a Dremel makes quick work of the job, but it's easy to go too deep pretty quickly, and really make a mess. If you take off most of the offending molded-in detail with a Dremel (milling tips, barrel-sander tips, and shaped grinding attachments are all good), you can then use a chisel-tip X-acto to get the rest. There are several chisel tips that work well...#17 is a narrow tip for the small handle.

#18 is a 1/2" wide blade for the larger handle... and #19 has an angled tip...

[Snake45]

Yeah, you can just cut the stuff out, put tape on the underside of the chassis and fill in from the top with J-B Weld or another cheap epoxy, and then clean up to your satisfaction with sanding.

In this particular case, you also might want to consider substituting the complete chassis from another '55-'57 Chevy kit. The cost might be minimal compared to your time and effort in removing the exhaust. Something to think about, anyway.

[Mark]

I did the exhaust removal on a '55 Nomad chassis a couple of years ago (nope, the model isn't finished yet!). The Nomad chassis would be great as a first-time project. The only area where you will break through will be the muffler. That can be filled in with thick sheet plastic after the muffler is gone. You can use a Dremel for the muffler area, to do the rough cutting. The rest can be done with SHARP X-Acto blades, slowly and carefully so as not to nick the surrounding areas. I did the bulk of the removal with the narrow #17 blade as shown above. Make sure the blade is sharp. If you have a dull blade, you'll put more brute force into moving the blade through the work. The more muscle you put into doing the work, the less you have available to guide the blade. Start by grinding away as much of the muffler as you can, to the point of breaking through. Then, cut a piece of plastic as a press fit in the muffler hole, then hit it with some liquid cement to hold it in. While that is curing, work on the other areas. I'd start at the tailpipe and work forward. When most of is gone, sand the areas smooth, putty the muffler area and anywhere else that is needed, sand again, then get some Evergreen strip and reconstruct the missing floorpan detail as a mirror image of the other side. The Nomad piece is good practice for some other project where no replacement chassis is available.

[Swamp Dog]

get you a dremel tool with a flex shaft..u will love it..if u can't afford the brand name look on e-bay i brought one with the shaft for less than 40 $