A friend of mine has just brought me a HUGE F4U that he built as a youngster that has been collecting dust for 20 years. It is the Ike Kepford Jolly rogers Corsair. I am wondering is the revell 1/32? It seems so big, was there any 1/24's made? It doesn't have any obvious revelletc markings on it. It was only partially painted and the decals are pretty much history. What the heck should I do with it? It is actually put together pretty well, a little sanding, maybe some putty, and it would look good. How hard is it to get old decal remnants off? how hard is it to take apart an old model to repaint and rebuild parts of it? What should I do with it? Any hints?

Hi,
Back when I was restoring old model car kits, I kept a plastic bin in the garage filled with Brake Fluid. I'd submerge the kit in it, seal the bin and forget about it for a week or two. Go back and it's paintless! Not only removes paint, but most of the glue joints are loosend too!

Good Luck!
Chuck

wel, i am restoring old planes too. my luck is that there is no paint on it, and i can take the decals from revell, if they have them. if not, i am asking for them in here. if no luck i use decals from other planes. the ones thati usually repair are well build but they aren't painted. the ones that are not well build, usually are build with bad glue and the parts unglue easy with a cutter or with no. i use break lichid too. it has very good efects. so keep the model and try to make a good one of it,

fix it, it is worth it man.

Bison, this certainly sounds like the old Revell 1/32 scale kit.

Here's a way to check-look on the underside of the wings and see if there is any raised lettering indicating the manufacturer and date. Revell likes to do this. In fact, the 1/32 Revell P-47 I'm working on has this same lettering under the port wing.

Bison,
Another option is to use Easy Off or any other brand of oven cleaner to remove the paint. Simply spray the parts and put in a ziplock bag, or seal it up in some other way if it won't fit in a ziploc. Let it sit overnight and rinse off with water the next day, you may have to scrub some areas with a toothbrush to get all the paint out of the nooks and crannies. It also softens the glue for disassembly. Good luck.

Until recently, the only ;arge scale Corsair was Revell's 1/32. And, yes, that's gonna be gig bebcause the Corsair is a BIG airplane.

There were a handful of 1/24 a/c from Airfix in the late 60's or early 70's which have been rereleased form time to time. There was a Bf-109, a Stuka, and a Hawker Huricane for sure. I think they also had a P-51D and a Fw-190, as well.

I've found Formula 409 kitchen cleaner works great. Not as caustic as Easy Off nor oily as brake fluid. I've soaked kits that have been painted over ten years ago in 409 and two days later the paint came off with a little scrubbing of a tooth brush. :-) Clorox bleach works well for disolving old glue bonds as well.

Please keep us updated on your progress. Pics would be cool too if you can.

Hi Bison

There was a great article on detailing the Revell Corsair in FSM Oct. 2002. It's a really impressive kit and can be made AWESOME with a bit of work. :-)

All the best

Rowan