Was gifted a few Neo 1:87 vehicle this Christmas as stocking stuffers. These are really nice models and highly detailed, but I've had problems in the past removing Neo vehicles from their plastic display boxes as the tires are glued to the base of the box. Careful use of a razor blade works, but at risk of losing tread or flat spotting a tire. Removing the leftover glue from the tires is a chore that also risks damage.
Neo's reply to my email inquiry about the issue suggests heating the display base and model on a radiator until the tires soften, then carefully remove model.
Wondering if anyone has used heat to successfully remove a Neo vehicle model from it's display base?
Thanks & Regards, Peter
HO-Velo ... heating the display base and model on a radiator until the tires soften, then carefully remove model.
Peter, all my instincts tell me that this advice would be an invitation to disaster, or rather, I have a hunch you'd really do damage to several of these vehicles before you finally got the timing down right. Not to mention some nasty odors in the house. Even assuming you HAVE radiators. (Am I correct that Neo vehicles come from the former Soviet Union where I suspect there are still radiators in apartments and houses?).
I do not have one of these at hand. But it seems to me that for a vehicle on a layout rather than being rolled around as a toy, a slight flat spot on each tire might not only be no actual problem visually, but is actually realistic. Look at the tires on your car. It isn't perfectly round where the rubber meets the road, to not coin a phrase. It flattens there, quite a bit actually, even with fully inflated tires.
If a wee bit of the plastic remains on each tire, is it visible if that part of the tire faces directly up? Seems to be it would be hidden by the fender. That might be another way of dealing with the problem.
Dave Nelson
Along with Dave's post, maybe you could cut the base into pieces, away from the car, and then deal with what little piece of base plastic is still attached to the tire.
It's crazy that they actually glue the vehicle down. I was also going to suggest using MEK, or acetone, in tiny amounts, to get the tires to release.
Good luck Peter!
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Peter,
Sure would help..if they included what type of adhesive they used in their reply.....I wonder if a hair dryer would work...one that has the horizontal slit in it rather than full open.....I have one that has an attachment like that.
If I had it in My paws...I would more than likely try a couple of drops of lacquer thinner and see if it would soften the adhesive before damaging anything.
Good Luck,Peter
Frank
I have a factory built house from Tyco which had a car glued to the driveway. I just used an exacto knife to remove it. And as someone mentioned above, a real tire is flat where it touched the road, especially radials, which to me always look flat but when I check mine they are ok. In another post someone said that they cut their model car tires on purpose to get this look. Just make sure you mount the cut part down on the road.
Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions guys. Guess I'll continue with the razor blade removals for now.
I agree that the removal with heat doesn't sound like a good idea, especially since some of these vehicle bodies are resin, and besides the only radiators I have around here are the ones on my car and truck.
The 1:87 Neo models are anything but free rolling. So far I've been hiding the tire flat spots by rolling them up under the wheel wells, but as mentioned I can see that putting them pavement side down might actually help with the realism.
Indeed, seems like overkill to have the models glued as they are also held to the base by a tiny screw. The glue is similar to the stuff that is used to fasten junk mail credit & discount cards to inserts, but a bit more tenacious.
My worry about using a solvent to weaken the glue is that it might also mar the tires. Still, might be worth trying on some glue remnants.
Thanks again and regards, Peter
The tires are rubber, so not many solvents would hurt them ... well, none actually.
I have a dozen or so of them and I had no problem literally just pulling the car from the base. Maybe mine had less glue than most. (?)
Mark.
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You should probably contact the manufacturer and voice your feelings about gluing them down. If they listen, future runs may be made a different way. Perhaps if they used the very sticky stuff like holds your credit cards to the paper on the wheels to hold the car down, it would be very easy to pull the car off the base and just pull off the gooey adhesive - which usually pulls off of cleanly where I've seen it on products and things in the mail.
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