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Top Ten Tips and Tricks

1. Never treat your diecast collection as an investment unless you really are a professional.

Basements across North America are filled with literally tens of millions of blister-pack Hot Wheels, Johnny Lightning, RC2, Jada and much more which will never again be worth what the owner paid for them. By all means buy what you enjoy, and learn the hobby well enough to be an informed collector, but never forget that investment is gambling, and in that regard, every dollar you spend on diecasts represents a bet. Don't bet what you can't afford to lose.

2. Always keep a supply of small zipper bags around.

There are three sizes no serious 1/64th diecast collector should be without: the 2x3", the 3x4" bags, and the 3x5" bags. Quality varies widely, and most brands don't last more than ten years before the plastic begins to break down, but we can thank the epidemic spread of dollar stores for making these available just about everywhere for less than a penny each. Not so long ago, collectors had to pay up to a dime apiece for these bags from jewelers, craft shops and retail-packaging vendors. We're closing in fast on the purchase of our 10,000th zipper bag, and we swear by them for preserving the finish of loose diecasts.

3. Always drill out rivets at slow speed.

It seems logical that a high-speed drill bit would drill out the average rivet faster than drilling at low speed. But guess what? You don't gain anything with high-speed drills or bits unless you're using absolutely top-quality bits. Drilling at low speed with a rechargeable drill or screwdriver (we drill ours out at 150rpm) works just as fast, because the drill actually peels layers of metal off the rivet head, which is much harder to do at high speed. Slow-speed drilling also gives you more control over centering the bit on the rivethead, and allows for far less damage when using larger bits for those pieces which disassemble faster with a quarter-inch bit than they do with a 5/32nd-inch bit. Finally, high-speed rivet drilling wears out bits in no time. The average extra-tough bit lasts for about ten rivets when used at high speed before it becomes so dull that it's unusable. The same bit will drill out dozens of cars when used at low speed, and even the cheapest bits will remove dozens of rivets before dulling when used at low speed.

4. Always "block" the wheels on your best display pieces.

Shoving a piece of soft silicone, foam, rubber or flexible plastic into a single wheel well or wrapping it around exposed axle is usually enough to stop the car from rolling on a flat surface. This doesn't just make it easier to center (and keep centered) on a pedestal or in a display compartment. It also prevents it from rolling off of a flat surface, offering extra insurance against "peg drop" damage.

5. Never throw out or give away any part of a diecast unless you have a damn good reason.

You never know when a cheap diecast with an oddball wheelset might become the hottest thing at the latest Barrett-Jackson auction, or when you might run across another customizer who's looking for just that very thing. Most customizers learn this lesson the hard way by regretting gifts of old or "useless" stock to local children or thrift shops. You can always find room for another fifty "useless" 1/64th-scales.

Always.

6. One blistered back-up copy isn't enough.

Most customizers buy two of any casting they think they're going to customize. It sounds like sound thinking. But it isn't, and here's why. When it comes time to part with a custom, it's always a nice idea to toss in a blistered copy of the original car from which the custom was made. Slicing open the end of the blister allows the new owner to pull the new car out and put their custom version into the blister in a near-invisible fashion for display. And there goes your backup copy.

The shelf life of new releases is short these days, especially with Hot Wheels creating so many sweet color variations of so many sweet muscle cars and customs (at least, they were doing a bang-up job in '09/10/11). You may not be able to find a new copy for less than several dollars from a collectible-diecast vendor. And all too often those customs we end up gifting to friends and colleagues turn out to be pieces we really wish we hadn't parted with...pieces we eventually re-make for ourselves. Which we can't do if we've given away every copy of the base casting.

If you follow my method of buying no fewer than three of every custom-destined casting, you're going to end up with a lot of extra blisters floating around. You shouldn't worry about that, and here's why.

• Firstly, most of them are returnable for at least two years to pretty much any store that sells the original pieces provided the manufacturer doesn't change their UPC numbers.
• Secondly, as a customizer you have an eye for the nicer castings that tend to become the more prized pieces by adult collectors. You might end up with a few dogs, but most of what you do end up stockpiling will be easily sellable or tradeable down the road for same-value stock that you can use. And thirdly, most castings are re-used by manufacturers, and keeping older copies of often-reissued castings allows you to build up a stock of matched-fit parts for newer castings that allow you to create one-of-a-kind color, paint and wheel combinations (what I call "kitrodding") that you'd have to create manually without these old castings.
• Thirdly, as a hobbyist you probably have a budget and rules for purchasing these types of things, and you're not likely to be buying three's and four's of the costlier "premium series" pieces, only the cheaper stuff that you find on the dollar pegs. Stockpiling this stuff can definitely become a problem if you're buying everything made by that manufacturer, but if it's only three's of the really sweet pieces, you're not likely to accumulate more than a hundred or two extra blisters every year. And every piece you can cannibalize for something you'd have had to make or customize by hand pays for itself and ten of its friends. If you only ever use ten or fifteen percent of your stockpile, it will pay for itself in saved labor alone, and everything else you can salvage from it is pure bonus.

7. Become a friend of local thrift shops and consignment stores.

It's not always possible to pull this off, but when you can, it will eventually pay off big for you. Most charity thrift shops and consignment stores now have volunteers or part-timers who handle eBay sales of their more valuable stock. But they don't always know what's valuable. Most thrifts and kids' consignment stores, especially in less-populated areas, are run by women, or men who may not have a lot of diecast experience. If you approach these people properly - remember, you might not be the only person to have thought of this - you have a real chance of becoming their "go-to" person for identifying the better pieces that pass through their doors. Be honest about it, and don't try to sneak valuable redlines and Lesney's past them, and you've got a real right to be rewarded for your efforts. You're already being rewarded by being the first person to see all the nicest stuff they get, and getting first crack at buying it for yourself. Once they see the real benefit of having a "local expert" handle their diecast pricing and eBay selections, they're often happy to offer you other benefits as well. It took five years for me to become the "go-to" for my local Salvation Army, but with my help, they made over $600 on a collection of killer redlines that got donated a couple of years back, a couple hundred more from vintage Lesney's, classic HO scale slotcars and a few nicer larger-scales. For myself, I've sourced over 150 sets of really nice wheels on otherwise-trashed JLs, Jada's, premium Hot Wheels and Maisto's for their going rate of 50c per car, and had I not been first to have a chance to buy these, I doubt I'd have gotten to buy half that many of their donor vehicles.

Mind, I offered the same service to a second thrift shop in town and was treated as though I was trying to take money out of their till. So be ready for rejection...these are small businesses and volunteer-run charities, and you never know who you'll have to deal with, or how they'll react to you.

And in some areas, you'll need to consider the ethics of being in this position. Being the first to see the nicest pieces and grabbing most of them for yourself is a sure way to make enemies in less-populated areas that support several collectors or customizers.

8. Never underestimate what you can do with a Sharpie.

You know that hard-plastic silver ink that Mattel is using on their mainline Hot Wheels and Matchbox' in the last few years? You can get nearly the same effect - sometimes better - with a silver Sharpie pen. Most people don't even know that Sharpie's come in silver.

Don't settle for less than a real Sharpie, but it sometimes pays to have cheaper-brand markers as well for the subtle shade differences they offer. Most cheaper black permanent markers have a mild bluish tinge to them. Sharpie ink does too, but it's far less pronounced than with some cheaper inks. Red and blue markers can vary to a significant degree from maker to maker, and I've found no-name red markers that work better for colorizing over chromed taillight lenses than Sharpie's do.

Never underestimate what you can do with these pens. I've used them to "gloss over" a few paint chips on black-enamel finishes with marvellous effect. The red Sharpie is a very close match for the red metallic paint used by Mattel, the same red metallic paint that always seems to come off down to the bare metal when you try to Tampo-strip it. That red ink has saved more than one of my red-metallic "strippers" from the trash heap. I've also used the red, black, silver and blue Sharpie to colorize interiors for two- and three-tone upholstery effects, silvered shifter shafts, pedals and steering wheel struts, and even tried blackening out the valve covers on a couple of exposed all-chrome engines.

A full Sharpie kit requires both the regular-point Sharpie and the fine-point fiber-tip Sharpie to get into corners. As you use these more, you'll want even more than this. My kit includes two of every color of regular Sharpie, one of which is a "mint" tip, and the other is a "frayed" tip that covers more area per stroke and gets into corners and crevices that new Sharpie tips can't reach. I've even filed the tips of a few fine-point Sharpies to create pens that could get ink into deep crevices in plastic seats and draw finer lines than the regular Sharpie can create. Don't expect to see too much of this in my customs collection, though...I use them often, it's true, but I'm not exactly artistic.

I've even used Sharpie's to paint entire diecasts. A couple of my custom Cabbin' Fever collection have plastic roof/bed inserts which have been completely "painted" in black or silver Sharpie ink. And I used it to give a galvanized-paint look to a 1/24-scale Jada cabover flatbed which was originally a sickly shade of brown. I didn't use it to silver the bed, either...I Sharpie'd the entire model!. And it actually looks like it's been painted with zinc paint!

You can also buy decorator pens from most of the big discount stores (and some dollar stores too) that produce a real glossy-gold, silver or bronze/copper finish, and these can be incredibly useful detailing pens for some customs. But they require very careful handling, because the ink globs up and drips if they're not used correctly, and I've wrecked more than a couple of castings from less-than-artful use of gold and silver decorator pens.

These decorator pens produce a glossier finish than Sharpie ink, so they're a better choice for silvering headlights and creating mock chrome, but I can't stress enough just how cautious you need to be with these pens to produce a visually-appealing result. I'm still a long way from mastering them, and I'm on my second set!

9. Your favorite pieces are always the ones you'll end up parting with (or which part with you) first.

It simply never fails. The pieces you create that make you proudest, that you keep on your mantle longest, and that you worked hardest to create, are always the ones which will disappear first after parties, end up being sold to "friends" who can't resist their unique charm, and they also end up being the pieces you'll have the most trouble re-creating if they ever do disappear or get sold. This is why you should never allow your best pieces to be seen by anyone. In fact, you shouldn't be looking at them either. Looking will lead to talking and that will lead to you-know-what. So...your best pieces...finish them, put them away, forget them. It's the only way you can ever properly appreciate them.

(And to think that human beings are expected to live in this world.)

10. Never give away all your best tricks.

<snicker>

Top Ten Tips for Tampo-stripping

1. Always strip in a well-ventilated area and avoid smoking while using any solvent. Poor ventilation can cause windshield damage to occur just from the solvent fumes off of a cotton swab.
2. Solvent fumes nearly always rise. Always strip with vulnerable plastic parts below the swab. A gentle breeze from an open window or fan is highly recommended for maximum damage prevention.
3. Your first choice of solvent should always be non-acetone nail polish remover. Only resort to carb cleaner when non-acetone nail polish remover has proven ineffective.
4. The best way to insure zero solvent damage to chrome and plastic parts is to disassemble the vehicle prior to stripping.
5. Leftover "craft" brushes (or child's paintbrushes) with bristles shortened to a quarter-inch or shorter is the best thing for cleaning out deep grooves and crevices. If you don't have a paint brush, you can still create "fine" solvent brushes by biting down on the end of a few cotton swabs, pulling out the cotton and cutting about half of the cotton off of the swab end. Create these at the start of a stripping session and they should be completely dry by the time you need them.
6. Don't try to clean out paint-filled grooves by pressing harder with your cotton swab. Use a short-bristle craft paint brush. Scrubbing near any edge always increases the risk of accidental paint removal.
7. Use as little carb cleaner as possible, never use it on enamel finishes (only on plastic paints), and use as little as you can get away with. Never, ever use carb cleaner indoors. It isn't just toxic, it's one of the most potent braincell-killing solvent mixtures ever invented. In a quiet room, even the few drops that it takes to thoroughly wet a cotton swab is enough to cause mental impairment. It is very powerful stuff.
8. Masking is always a last resort, and any masking tape should be left on for as short a time as possible. Fumes can collect under the tape and damage the surface that the tape is designed to protect.
9. Never store a freshly-stripped piece in any confined space until all solvents and glues used on that piece are completely dry. When in doubt, allow a full 24 hours for all fumes to dissipate.
10. Never Tampo-strip an irreplaceable piece. Mistakes happen even to the most experienced strippers.

Top Ten Things You Don't Ever Want to Do:

1. Never, ever store a freshly-glued diecast in any box, bag or envelope.

Always allow at least two full days for the glue to fully cure. Not all glues are destructive, but some are extremely harmful to finishes. Cyanoacrylate glues ("superglues" or "one-drop glues") are particularly nasty...the vapors from these glues will cloud clear plastic boxes and windshields, oxidize paint surfaces, deposit acrylic residue on almost anysurface, and even dechrome plastic if you store a freshly-glued piece in a closed container such as a box, display cube or plastic bag. Trust us on this...we learned the hard way by destroying several very nice pieces when they were stored in zipper bags before the glue was dry. Even the water vapor from white glue (e.g. Weldbond or Elmer's Glue-All) can cause problems in the right conditions, so never allow a glued piece to dry in a container of any kind.

2. Never rivet when you can glue.

I swear by a product called Weldbond, available at any big-box hardware store in Canada. It's nothing more than a slightly-improved version of Elmer's Glue-All (the classic dries-to-clear-resin white glue), and there may be better white-glue products, but I've found it to be the strongest, cleanest, most versatile, most forgiving, least destructive, and easiest-to-remove of the quality white glues. I've got pieces glued ten years ago which are as strong today as they were when they were made, so I know it lasts. And I've never seen it cause any kind of damage to a piece that can't be chalked up to the kind of damage the same quantity of plain water would produce (e.g. a bit of corrosion on an axle or discoloration-slash-toning of bare metal surfaces). As with all resin glues, it yellows somewhat, but it is as easy to clean the excess as it is with ordinary school-type white glue, and it is specially formulated to dilute in water, so it's easy to get out of carpets and other surfaces as long as you catch it before it dries. Gluing takes a bit of care - you don't just dab a bit on the rivet posts and expect the finished piece to survive a fall from four feet onto a wood floor - but it allows for easy disassembly later when you want to experiment with new parts combinations or different axle sets, where riveting requires a drill-out every time you want to unspin a finished piece. Small screws are a good alternative to rivets, but frankly, I find the extra effort involved to be more of a pain than I want to endure. Glue won't give you an heirloom-quality look like you'll get from the top redline restorers or customs crafters, and it certainly won't survive the wear and tear that an average eight-year-old will put it through, but it's all the average collector ever really needs.

3. I give up...

All I can think about is...

10. Thinking of building customs or restoring redlines for a living?

Then here's what you'll need:

• a pair of needlenose "vice-grip"-style pliers
• a can of strong paint thinner
• a narrow-head craft hammer
• a bag of money
• a list of professional redline restorers.

Now that you've got the basic supplies, here's the ten-step process that will put you on the road to fame and prosperity:

1. Take the pliers, pinch the skin between your nostrils, and close the vise. It helps to have a friend nearby to crazy-glue the jaws shut. Notice the pain? That's kind of how it will feel all the time after a while. That sense of frustration you feel that you can't make the pain stop is something else worth getting used to.
2. If the desire to restore redlines persists, have a friend take the craft hammer and begin to hit the most tender spot you can find on your skull. Have your friend continue to tap gently for as long as possible, resisting all attempts on your part to get him/her to stop. The headache will approximate feelings restorers commonly have when attempting to deal with parts and consumables suppliers, and when dealing with customers and beginning redline collectors. Continue the treatment until you accept the pain as a constant companion.
3. If the desire to restore redlines still persists, take the bag of money and slowly empty it into a stiff breeze. The feeling of emptiness and loss which accompanies this is remarkably similar to the feeling most ambitious restorers eventually feel when they begin to realize what the economics of restoring really are.
4. If the desire to restore redlines still persists, take the can of paint thinner, open it, and hang it around your neck as close to your chin as possible. Wear this can for as long as possible while continuing to breathe normally. The initial dizzy excitement will soon give way to a shaky nausea. At a certain point, most experience a moment of clarity when they realize just how costly this activity can become. If you remove the can from around your neck at this point, you are very likely cured. If you continue to wear the can around your neck, then you will soon experience something much like the brain death that occurs to many restorers who try to convince themselves that the losses and pain they've been experiencing will soon be replaced with rich rewards and recognition.
5. If the desire to restore redlines still persists, then it's time to put your list of professional restorers to use. Contact them all and announce your intentions; you'll soon discover just how glad they are to share their hard-won technical knowledge and offer their skills and abilities for peanuts to beginners, competitors and customers who can't afford - or appreciate - their work. Keep in mind that if you continue with your dream, this will soon be you on the receiving end of these requests, and you'll soon notice yourself becoming filled with anticipation of the euphoric reward for all this Christian charity. Either that or you forgot to remove the paint thinner can from around your neck and have hallucinated the entire episode, or you've suffered a stroke from the frustration and lack of recognition in steps 1 through 4 and this has all been a fever dream.
6. Step 6 is a secret. You always knew there was a secret, didn't you? Keep reminding yourself that if you stick it out long enough, you'll figure out what that secret is and finally start making money instead of spending it.
7. Repeat step 6.
8. There is no step 8. There was never any step 6. And you should never have even gotten to step 5. Step 4 should have awakened you. But oh no, at step 3 you convinced yourself there really was money in it. It's your own damn fault for taking painkillers in step 2 and not squeezing tightly enough in step 1.
9. Okay, I lied...there really is a secret. And since you were patient and persistent enough to get this far, you deserve to know what that secret is. You know the old saw "do what you love and the money will follow"? It's true...and if you do become a professional redline restorer, you'll see it in action every working day of your life. Money will follow you wherever you go. It just won't ever catch up with you.

No matter how many compliments you get, never, ever believe you can make decent money doing this. Even the best customizers in the game - the guys who specialize in restoring vintage redlines and blue-chip diecasts - don't earn enough from the sales of their customs to pay themselves a living wage for their work. If you're not doing this for the sheer kick of it, then stick with buying customs...or just browsing.