Pactra 1/24 Lotus 30, No. 15, L.A. Times Riverside, 1964.

[speedgraflex]

Merry Christmas!



Also Riverside’s Wiki which I had to look up!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside ... al_Raceway

[Stikpusher]

Yes, after looking it up, I now remember the place. I never went there, but drove by it many times during trips out to Palm Desert area where we used to go shooting and camping in the early 80s. Some grandstands for the raceway were right next to Hwy 60, and I remember passing by them on those trips. Not far from March AFB also...

[speedgraflex]

Carlos—apologies for my late reply! I think my notifications are hitting the spam filter (heh) instead of my mail box. SPAM being spammed! Yikes. I thought about driving out to check the neighborhood but developers have created another shopping mall! Bastards.

Some good news—I have had the Pactra Lotus shell soaking in caustic soap for 4 days now and the stubborn orange may finally be disappearing.

DEC 19

[Stikpusher]

Yeah developers are not up there on my list of good guys... too much change to what this are once was. And not for the better in my opinion.

That Pactra paint is really fighting you about coming off of that body.

[speedgraflex]

Thank you for looking in tonight, Carlos! I sincerely appreciate this. Long day, for all. You made such great progress on your armored vehicle. Using rubber gloves and goggles, I took the shell still wet with caustic soap and sanded the dickens out of it with 400 grit (except the windows). I have seen my Dad do this kind of maneuver—he called it “triage.” I call it “getting rid of all that orange.” Plan B would be to paint both sides but then it’s no longer a vintage car. I’d like it to stay vintage. And all eBay has to offer in terms of unpainted vintage bodies is jack and squat.

[speedgraflex]

DEC 26

Sitting in chemical sludge. I opened the lid to take the shot, thought, “Oh not a bad smell for lye,” then my fingers started to react... (shudders)

[Duke Maddog]

Wow, that is some stubborn paint! I love Pactra paint! Looks like you're finally wearing it down man.

[KSaarni]

DEC 26

Sitting in chemical sludge. I opened the lid to take the shot, thought, “Oh not a bad smell for lye,” then my fingers started to react... (shudders)

Finally, looks fantastic and super that the plastic seems not to have suffered. Like becoming brittle or so

I wonder if the plastic (during all these years) has turned, if at all, to yellowish?

- Kari

[speedgraflex]

Thanks for looking, Duke and Kari! I was just checking in at your builds, respectively. As far as the plastic coloration, this shell seems to be either a different formula (lexan not butyrate). The caustic soap (lye) seems to be reducing the Pactra orange paint into layers.

[Stikpusher]

You know what, I completely forgot about using metal polish as paint removers. I have used “Never Dull” as a “final option”, so to speak, to remove stubborn paint. No paint can stand up to that stuff. A side result is a glass smooth finish to the plastic afterwards...