Step 1 (Strip down & restore)

This car was in good nick to start with although in need of restoration to be worthy of the good life on a collectors shelf. I just stripped it down to the gearbox's. I left them alone as they only wanted a dust & they were really smooth running, So why mess with them? It's a restoration remember not a new build. Keep it simple.

Any parts I need from the old car (dampers & some metal parts off this one) I throw them in a bucket of hot water & washing up liquid, Leave em to soak. Then clean up with a tooth brush.

I needed the drive shafts & centre propeller shaft which looked a bit worn. So I sprayed them with good old 'Satin black' car paint.
They look great! You can also use silver paint on screws & nuts if you don't have any new ones. Just stick them all in piece of card board to spray.

Motors & speed controllers are always a pain to make nice. I usually use a period motor where ever possible with a nice clean can (metal) The plastic end bell can be scrubbed up with hot water & washing up liquid. Any marks can be removed with a knife sometimes. And don't forget to clean those wires, Replace them if need be with some from a new motor. Don't try & clean the metal can with anything abrasive, Never works! Just get a good one to start with. Strip the speed controller down & give that a good clean. If it's worn, Try sanding the contacts or use a fibre glass cleaning pen like I do.

Right, Make sure all your parts are together. Are they all clean & restored?


Step 2 (rebuild)

Chassis first this time.

These are great to build as they are basically in three pieces & go together great. Front gearbox, Chassis/radio & rear gearbox.. That's it! Not much to worry about at all. Just follow the manual & it's easy. Don't bother with ball bearings if your not going to run it. Plus it keeps it nice & original too.
  

Simple things like the front bumper, Wheels/tyres & battery door are always superb final items to fit.

There, Chassis complete!

Now on to the body.

The more harder part, But still easy for a lexan. There's only one colour. Easy to cut out. Buy yourself some of those curved scissors if ya don't have any. They are superb for any lexan body.

Give the body a really good clean with warm water & washing up liquid. Leave to dry.

There's just a bit of tricky masking to do here, Before you paint. I stuck on those cockpit decals first so I could see where I needed to mask to. Then I used wide masking tape, Run it along the bottom side window edges & cut around the other window edges.
Ready for spraying. I use Tamiya paint for lexan. Be very careful not to get any on the outside of the shell as it's not protected. You can mask it all off, But that takes ages. Oh, Nearly forgot. Mask off any holes in the body (body mount, Antenna holes etc.) The paint will spray through.

Metallic paint always needs to be sprayed, You will always see paint strokes if ya brush it on. 3-4 light coats is good enough.While it's drying, Paint your driver.. Oh no! No body seems to like painting them, But they are the cherry on the cake if ya spend an hour doing them right. You don't have to paint them realistic, Just make them simple but right.

I always try & paint mine same colours as on the box art, If ya can see them.
Do gloss first on the helmet. Let it dry completely before you paint the flesh on his face.

Next, With a steady hand resting on something.. Paint the satin black around his face in the helmet opening & around the bottom of the helmet edge. Let your brush run into & the dip on the edges to get a straight paint line. It does make it easier if you put the screw in at the bottom of the helmet to hold on to.
Paint the body next with some matt (NOT gloss) paint. Three colours to keep it simple. Body colour, Seat belt colour & seat belt buckles. Let it all dry again before attempting to screw the head on.

Your body should be all dry now & ready for decals. Oh and screwing the lower rear wing on. Do this first before the stickers.
Give it a quick clean with a soft cloth or you can wash it again if you want.

These decals are great to put on. A few tricky ones, But nothing serious.
I always use a scalpel where every possible to apply decals, It makes it easy to line up. There's only one tricky area on the body. It's the side/rear wing decals. Put the side decal on first lining it up with top edge of the wing (see pic) then line up along the side bottom edge all the way to the middle of the body. The top decals on the wing now should line up great, Use these as well for lining up the side ones. After these the rest are easy. Enjoy them!

Told you it was all easy & enjoyable.. LOL!
Always nice to drop that finished body on eh..
Hope this has helped a little & remember, You can always apply any of this to any car.