Re-painting old Tamiya plastic bodies
 

Guys maybe this isn't the correct place for this question but here it goes. I have a old tamiya bruiser thats been on the shelf for 25+ years and the chassis is in perfect shape but the body is showing it's age. The decals are peeling up and the paint is old and faded but there's not a scratch anywhere. I originally did the truck in the correct box art med blue met with the white bed box. I know the bruiser is worth a few dollors these days and i might someday (not soon so don't ask) consider selling it. my question is. would repainting the truck at this point (again in correct box art) increase or decrease it's value? I'd like to have a nice shiney truck again but...... Any collectors out there can give me advise?

RE: Re-painting old Tamiya plastic bodies
 

IMO it'd decrease the value.

RE: Re-painting old Tamiya plastic bodies
 

Hi there, I have an old Blackfoot that I am restoring, first I covered it in r Muscle foam oven cleaner, rinsed it off with loads of clean cold water, this stripped all the paint off. Then I undercoated it with car primer to show any imperfections, sorted that out and this weekend when it is supposed to be warm and dry I will respray and clear coat once I have left the body in the sun for 20 minutes to warm up. Apply decals and off you go.

Down side is I stripped the gearbox etc down last night, rebuilt and found a strange noize in the gearbox so I will have to do it again.

Mike

RE: Re-painting old Tamiya plastic bodies
 

I think we're missing the question. I know how to and strip and re-paint the body. I want to know ( preferably from a collector) if restoring the body to new condition or leaving original in it's 25 yr old paint will help ot hurt the trucks value. By the way. from time to time i've heard people post their "quick and easy" ways of stripping paint. Here's the simplest way i have found. Go to any auto supply store and get paint stipper ment for bumpers and other plastic parts on todays modern cars. I stripped an old grasshopper with it. Took 20 mins and the paint peeled right up. No oven cleaners, no brake fluid no soaking your car body in coke for 24 hrs

RE: Re-painting old Tamiya plastic bodies
 

The chassis is what sells the bruiser. I have a couple of older tamiya vehicles and have always wanted a bruiser - so I watch them closely on E-bay. What I have seen is you get top dollar for NIB - but those are rare. The next best sellers are perfect chassis - I mean perfect - with a nice body on top. Does not matter if it is a re-paint but that it is the correct body.

So, I would say - repaint it. Make it shiny, but spend money if you need to on the chassis. Get new plugs for the tranny - make sure it LOOKS clean and make sure it is all correct - no mods or very little. These cars with sell for $1200 to $1500 on E-bay. NIB - closer to $2000, but I have not seen one of those out there for 1 year.

Even a beater will get $700.

Hope this helps.

RE: Re-painting old Tamiya plastic bodies
 

It depends on what you mean by value. Sure technically painting it will decrease it's long term value because alot of collectors like the idea that the paint dates back to when the thing was new. However I'm almost certain that if you were to put it on ebay today that you'd get higher bids if the truck was painted. Except in rare occasions when the paint is something special you will usually get more for it the better it looks.

You'll also get more if you go over all the aluminum parts with a scotchbrite pad and cleaning everything else as good as you can.

RE: Re-painting old Tamiya plastic bodies
 

Guys thanks for the input. Drevil - funny you should say that. I did go over the truck about a year ago with a scotchbrite and made the chassis clean and shiny again but as you mentioned the trans plugs where a problem. one was fine but the other two just fell apart. The truck ran perfect 25 years ago when i put it away and it's not moved from my shelf for anything other than a basic cleaning or to show some curious person every couple of years. I put it away after clipping a branch and breaking off the mirror. I was about 12 when I bought this truck. Parents agreed to pay half if I paid half so after about a year of mowing lawns and shoveling snow I had my half. After breaking the mirror off i was too scared to run it again. afraid I'd hurt something I couldn't afford to fix. I'm not sure but I doubt it had more than 3 or 4 battery run through it. The skid plate and axels don't have a single scratch. I think I'll take your advise and redo the body. I'm not in any hurry to sell it unless the absolute right offer came along ($1000+) and i do miss the reaction from people when I brought it down with the shiny paint. Anyone know where to get decals?

RE: Re-painting old Tamiya plastic bodies
 

If you can find the original design, there are lots of decal producers out there. BUT I only know of the water slide producers, since I build models, so if you want stickers of some sort I'd contact a sign shop, or online there are a few places that are cheap for a single sheet.