How to Customize Die-Cast

Drill into the rivets underneath the car that hold the car together. Wear safety glasses while drilling. Carefully pull apart the body, so that you have the metal body to customize.

Strip off the paint. Redline Derby suggests using paint stripper found at an automotive store and pour some into an old coffee can or paint bucket. Wear gloves when handling the stripper. Use a coat hanger to hold the car and dip into the stripper for about 15 minutes. Clean off the car after pulling it out of the stripper with water that's in another bucket as some more paint or stripper may still be on. Use a wire brush to scrub it clean.

Sand the car with 400-grit sandpaper until your surface is clean and smooth to help the adhesion of primer on the metal body. Use a small metal file, such as a rat-tail file, to further smooth any rough edges left over from the casting process.

Remove any remaining traces of paint or solvent with water or lacquer thinner. Apply primer once the car is completely dry. "DieCast X" magazine recommends spraying a light, mist coat of primer before applying a fully covered coat of primer on the car to prepare it for paint adhesion.

Reattach the chassis to the body using an epoxy and modeling rivets and screws into the underside.

Place tape onto the car and create designs by drawing on the tape with a pencil. Use a tape that isn't too tacky and shows your pencil drawings.

Use a razor blade or hobby knife to gently cut out the designs on the car, being careful not to cut into the primer on the car. Carefully pull off the rest of the tape leaving the taped designs behind. Pull the tape designs off carefully when you are pleased with how the design will look and lay the tape on a clean surface so you can use it again.

Paint the car, using a spray can of enamel or acrylic, in a color or colors you want. Use an airbrush, automotive paints and clearcoats if you feel comfortable with those products. This will be the color of your designs, not the main color of the car. If you're making flame designs, you may want to paint the car, red, orange or both.

Reapply the tape designs to the car when it's completely dry with tweezers and paint again. Remove the tape and place on the side if you want to use it for another vehicle. Apply another clearcoat to protect the design. Let it dry overnight

Outline the designs. For example, if you have red-orange flames, you can outline them in a yellow paint to embellish the design. Apply another clear coat and wet-sandpaper it. Wet-sandpaper is used for fine polishing, such as a 1,000-grit sandpaper, to smooth out any paint. Add another heavy clearcoat, dry for a few days and wet-sand polish it again with a 2,000-grit sandpaper.