Wood-Sided Car Restoration

[R.K. Maroon]

I have a number of old wood kit-cars that have decent paint but shot decals. Exhibit A:



This is a war-era Walthers kit, equipped with Lobaugh trucks. I have replacement decals. Does anybody have any recommendations for how to proceed? I would like the path of least resistance here, which would be to remove the decals from the scribed wood (the letterboards are acceptable as is) and apply new decals, Perhaps with a fresh coat of brush-applied paint. But I am open to other paths.

Jim

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Take a soft brass wire brush to it. See what departs. Door hardware present? If not, you could add or upgrade. Same on grabs.

After brushing, decision point on painting - sort of depends on quality of scribing depth as to whether I repaint or not. That wire brush might be used several times. Depends on what kind of paint, too. I'm generally more confident with older Floquil off the shelf for good coverage of such surfaces.

[bob turner]

If the decals flake off leaving a reasonable paint coating, or if the decals can be salvaged with Microsolve, consider a coat of Future Floor Wax, applied one direction only with a Q-Tip.

If repainting is required and no airbrush is handy, try a rattle can.