Restoring Remco's Ginormous Boeing 727 Mainliner Commercial Jet Toy

It's been a while since I've posted, so bear with me while I get the hang of it all again. 

Lemme just start by saying that I'm not an expert at restoring anything. However, I have built tons of model cars, planes and ships over the years, and I have a good eye and a steady hand. So I'm not an amateur either. This is my journey through restoring this toy. I'll be adding more step by step pictures as I gather them, but for now, here's basically how I did it.

My understanding is that this passenger jet is one of the largest toys ever made. Remco offered this 4-foot long Boeing 727 in 1968. I'm guessing they didn't make a ton of them, because they're not easy to find. Also, toys of this immense size aren't exactly easy to pack away safely, like Matchbox cars or baseball cards. So they're at a disadvantage right from the start. I've been lucky enough to find two really good examples recently that are both complete and intact. I restored one back to its original UNITED livery, and I'm gonna restore the other one at some point. I'm thinking SWISSAIR maybe, since I lived there as a kid.

If you ever actually find one with the box, it may well have escaped the ravages of time, heat, air, moisture and greasy fingers. In which case, I say, leave it alone! No restored toy is worth anywhere near the value of a nice original example. 

Without the box, you'll more likely find one like this, that has yellowed, with glue marks that have browned, and decals that have faded or are missing. I have to give Remco credit for such amazing detail work on these. I mean, look at those panels and rivets! I have no idea if they're faithful to the actual 727, but they sure look great. On one hand, this model is a marvel of toy engineering, given how sturdy and detailed and well-made it was, at this scale. On the other hand, they kinda phoned-in that windshield design. We'll fix that.

The first thing I did was clean up the parts. The removable top of the tail can be submerged in warm water and soap. The fuselage and removable wing sections I would not submerge in water, because you don't want to trap water within the seams; it'll never dry properly and when you go to paint it, you'll trap moisture, and that means mold. So for the parts that can't be submerged in water, I just used a Clorox wipe to clean up the surface. The color of the fuselage and other parts may whiten up a bit, but it doesn't matter if they don't, because we'll be spraying over it anyway. Paint just needs a smooth, clean, dry surface. For the record, I've seen plenty of people use the retrobrighting technique to whiten plastic, and I'm all for it, but it requires some equipment that I don't have, and would be difficult to do with a toy of this immense size.

The next thing I looked for is any imperfections in the plastic surfaces. The detail is really good on this huge model, but there's still some flashing and extra bits here and there near the seams, that may need to be sanded down. 

Remember, spray paint goes on REALLY thin, so it won't hide much other than the yellowing plastic color and brown glue marks. It won't hide gaps, scratches or dimples in the plastic, so decide how much of this stuff you want to take care of in advance.

Now it's time to decide what livery you want. I mean, the very concept of restoring something is bringing it back to its original state. So I did that with the first one. The stickers are obviously faded and torn. There's a guy on ebay who is remaking the UNITED AIRLINES stickers to the exact specifications of the original ones. I bought a set. They're self adhesive. They'll go on last. Be patient. Make sure your hands are clean and dry. They'll look amazing. 

Regarding the long thick cardboard window inserts, they are unlikely to have survived intact for over 50 years. So there's another guy on ebay who has remade a limited number of the long cardboard window inserts-- in laser-cut aluminum! They're perfect too, so I bought a set from him. Get some 3mil clear acetate (roll or large pad) to cut out two strips for the window 'glass', and some GE silicone glue to hold the aluminum window strips on.

When the plastic surfaces are clean and dry, and you have some big cardboard or a tarp to work on, and a location with proper ventilation, it's time to tape up the various sections of the body and other parts. I will tell you that I started by finding many reference images on the internet. This took weeks to source good high res images from good angles. I believe UNITED AIRLINES was the first airline to fly the Boeing 727 around 1963 (though I've seen evidence that it was EASTERN). Anyway, I studied the original UNITED 727 images until I was comfortable transferring that knowledge to the toy plane and separating out white from silver. The original toy was pretty faithful to the actual UNITED 727 airplane. 

Plenty of reference material out there to make the model accurate.

But I wanted to add a little bit more accurate detail, including the American flag, some engine detail, a better windshield, the silver underbelly...and even the thin yellow line that separates the white from silver. It's a bit of an art to tape up/mask off sections so the spray paint goes only where you want it to. I'll say there was some trial and error. 

I used some foil tape (the wide stuff) to create 'patches' under the wings where there were areas I didn't want people to see. Two examples: There's a huge 'hole' under the body where a presentation stand was supposed to go. Since I wanted to hang this model from the ceiling in a taking-off stance, I obviously didn't need the stand and didn't want to see that giant hole, so I patched over it, as if it's not even there. The other example is the battery cover. This plane originally did two actions that I had no interest in having in my hanging model: It 'taxied' slowly, and it had what someone decided was supposed to be a jet engine sound. To me, it sounded more like a vacuum cleaner, so no love lost there. Anyway, The battery cover molds nicely over the batteries (which I obviously removed), but you have to decide if you want to see the opening 'handle' of the cover or not. Foil tape cut into a patch shape and spray paint do a great job in hiding its former life as a child's toy.

This model has several large screws that hold the wings and other parts intact. If the screws are rusty or dirty, just soak them in some hot water and mild detergent for a few hours, dry thoroughly, and maybe hit the heads with a polishing attachment on your Dremel. It'll all be covered anyway when it's sprayed, but you don't want to get in the habit of spraying over rusty screws. Ugh.

As for the wheels, I made some circular templates and sprayed on silver rims, which looks way better than just the chonky black mass that made up the two sets of double wheels. Same for the front landing gear. You'll have to mask the entire wheel sections into their compartments when you spray the underbody silver.

Tada! Proper rims. Come on, tell me that doesn't look better...

And now, that windshield. As it is, it looks like a generic wraparound car windshield. It's the only part of this model that elicits a 'yeesh' from me. If you spend even a short amount of time looking at Boeing 727 windshields on the internet, you can see that they look nothing like the toy. The real 727 windshield has a unique web of segmented window sections, framed out in some alloy. When I had seen enough 727 images I sketched a flat version of the whole windshield in pencil. Then I made a cleaner drawing. Then I got the sizing right. Then I traced it over with some dark vellum that allows light through (more on that later). Then I framed it all out with thin foil tape and cut the outer edges of it all with a small paper cutting machine. It looked perfect. I cut the whole thing right down the middle so I could adjust the left and right sections up and down as they met in the middle. I super-glued it down in a few strategic places. All after the paint was done, of course. This is what a 727 windshield looks like.

A more realistic looking Boeing 727 windshield.

Lots more pictures and details to come, but that's it for the moment. If you have any questions about materials or technique, reach out. I could talk about this stuff all day long.

Sayonara, Nueva York

DRAFT 1

SOMEONE ONCE TOLD ME YOU SHOULD LIVE IN NEW YORK once in your life but not until it makes you bitter. I'd be lying if I told you I had no idea where on that barometer 22 years puts me. 

June '94. Lazy real estate agent at his office doesn't even get up out of his shitty, fake Aeron chair, tosses the keys to my 3-molecule apartment across the room at me. An hour later, I'm back, I'll take it. I write the guy a finder's fee check for $750. My first time being bent over by a fellow New Yorker. Four years as a superintendent. Mop a few floors, haul some garbage at 4am, get yelled at by crabby tenants, make a few life-long friends, save money to buy an apartment.

January '99. Broker finds me a gymnasium of a loft. Marky in love. Fast foward 17.5 years, 6 jobs, 10 New Year's parties, 95 trips to New York's finest Pakistani food joint, 30493049304985 dates, marriage, kids, sell apt at 4x what I paid. Woo.fucking.hoo. There's my $750 back.

I don't miss New York...yet. I'm sure I will. Right now, I feel pretty much nothing on the matter. From my perspective, it's the only way to get through such a life-changing move 3,000 miles away. On the face of it, New York will not miss me a single drop. The new owner of our apartment has probably gutted it and started over. But that's what happens in New York. It's a constant wave of change. 

Hopefully Seattle will welcome me. I look forward to being a Seattleite. I've heard nothing but great things about Seattle. The wife and I have been there three times together, most recently with our little dumpling. Ironically, the three people in my industry who moved to Seattle have all moved back east. That didn't help the decision, but I see those as a la carte situations that I can justify (one moved back to be with her family, one was gay and missed the socialness of New York. Wait, he probably still is gay. And I forgot why the third one moved back.)

But I predict I'll miss a few things at some point. The guy outside the gym near our apartment who would always stop his card-snapping sidewalk sales pitch just long enough to bless our little one as we strolled by. Being the first to discover new little restaurants in our area, before New York Mag or Time Out New York got wind of it. What I won't miss? Every asshole Port Authority bus driver who blocks the intersections, making it difficult and dangerous for us pedestrians to cross the street. May they get the punch in the teeth by some crazy person walking by that they so desperately deserve.

Will we find work here? Fuck if I know. But you know what they say; if you can make it here...

I will add to this and make it the essay it wants to be. I'd be upset if I left out so many New York stories I've experienced. Stay tuned for more after we land.

Mark

Time for another post. Coming soon.

May 9th. Billy Joel. The Garden. Awesome. Happy 65th.

Opener: Gavin DeGraw. Appearances: Howard Stern, Jimmy Fallon. Play list: My Life, Movin' Out, Piano Man, Goodnight Saigon, Don't Ask Me Why, Zanzibar, Scandinavian Skies, Uptown Girl, She's Always A Woman, Hard Day's Night, The Entertainer, Scenes From An Italian Restaurant, Ballad Of Billy The Kid, Still Rock And Roll To Me, Big Shot, You May Be Right, Sometimes A Fantasy. Everybody Loves You Now, Allentown, New York State Of Mind. Did I miss any? He played for two hours straight. Felt like 10 minutes. A true American treasure. 

Phyll & Dad's Excellent Adventure

MARY SCHMICH HAD IT RIGHT in her 1997 Chicago Tribune column often attributed to Kurt Vonnegut. You know the one – the graduation speech where you're advised to wear sunscreen and all. Sound advice for sure – but what always stuck with me was the part about getting to know your parents, because they won't be around forever.

A beautiful Utah rock formation, baked to a nice golden brown.

It's one of the reasons I drove across country with them for their move to Nevada last month. Just the three of us. Believe it or not, it's also cheaper to drive a car across country than to ship it - even if you include hotels, food and gas. I guess the guy who's driving the truck that the car is on has to eat, sleep, fill up...plus you know, make a living. My folks always wanted to drive cross country anyway, and so did I. Besides, they say you learn a lot about people when you travel with them. 

Le Cirque? No. More like Le Grand Slam.

We left on a Sunday morning at 8am, and by Thursday around 3pm, we were in Vegas. My dad and I shared the driving. Well, that's putting it nicely. Actually, we fought like cats and dogs over who would drive. My dad loves driving. Me? I could care less. My wanting to drive was simply an effort to ensure that we didn't drive into a ravine and die, that's all. On the second half of the trip, we had our groove on and split the driving pretty evenly and amicably. Amazingly, my mom was fine hanging out in the back with a bunch of pillows, a cooler, and a variety of snacks that she would ration out to us as needed. The car became a smorgasbord of snacking, talking, laughing, farting, screaming and sleeping. Believe there was some burping, too. In a lot of ways, it was just like being in their house again. For some reason, we didn't turn the radio on even once. I think we were just too busy.

We took route 70W most of the way, then took a left turn down 15S to Vegas. A total of 2,500 miles. If you fly from Newark/JFK to Vegas, it's 2,200 miles 'as the crow flies', even though the plane makes somewhat of an 'arc'. But if you look closely at a map of route 70, particularly through the Rockies, it isn't much of a straight line at all. The crow would get dizzy.

Cutting corners;
the northwest tip of Arizona.

The cities we stayed in or passed through on the way to Vegas were Columbus OH, St. Louis MO, Independence MO, Denver CO, Richfield UT, and a tiny hour-long corner of Arizona. To stay on schedule, most of our food stops were right off the highway, so food along the way wasn't great. But we didn't exactly have a month to do this either; we did it in four and a half days. It didn't leave much time for culinary exploration. Guy Fieri would be mad.

I will deny this, but I'm told we found ourselves at a Cracker Barrel in Columbus. Let's just call it Restaurant X. The food was actually quite good, which was not what we expected from a highway chain restaurant that looks like a barn. The manager cheerfully gave us a map of the US, which had almost no useful landmarks on it, except for the other 499 Cracker Barrel locations. Nevertheless, the map quickly became the back-up to the GPS in the car. I'd like to stab the GPS lady in the eye socket for getting us lost so many times. For example, she told us to spend a few hours driving circles around a scary neighborhood of Akron the day before. I have heard the word 'recalculating' more than anyone should hear it in a lifetime. The only reason we made it to Vegas was because the car also has a piece of technology from the 11th century thankfully: a compass. And because my dad figured out how to get along with the GPS lady by the time we got to Denver. We joked about how after a while, she wasn't even talking to us. As it turns out, route 70 is called different things in different places, so following it was a little tricky.

It wasn't pretty. But it was pretty awesome. Best. Barbeque. Ever.

The next night, we stopped at a barbecue joint in Kansas City called Oklahoma Joe's, that was recommended to me by a coworker. After covering nearly 700 miles that day, we then went two hours out of our way (read: GPS lady took us on another wild goose chase) and stood on line for an additional 45 minutes behind 125 people to eat at bbq from what is literally the back of a huge gas station convenience store. We were all frazzled at that point and ready to throw in the towel. But as he does everywhere he goes, my dad became best friends with some of the folks standing on line, and we stayed. Turns out it was the best barbecue I ever had. And as anyone who knows me knows, I'm no stranger to meat. Meat and me go way back. I used to burn through a box of Slim Jims like a chain smoker burns through a pack of Marlboros. Oklahoma Joe's was described as "the best barbecue in Kansas, which means it's the best barbecue in the world." They had many well-deserved trophies on the wall.

A 400 mile straightaway in Kansas. Where rulers and levels go to train.

We took about 100 pictures on the trip, mostly of the countryside. Kansas was basically 400 miles in a straight line. Strangely, it was the hardest part of the drive, since it was hours and hours of flat land, white stripes and bo-rrrrrriiiiing. Almost like a sensory deprivation tank. I had to slap myself more than once, or make sure we were talking, to keep from driving off the road. In our pass through Tornado Alley (between Kansas and Colorado) we hit half an hour of intense rain and lightning, to the point where we couldn't see more than five feet in front of the car and had to slow down to 40.

When you absolutely positively have to pay attention.

The Rockies were unreal. Easily the most exciting part of the drive, except for those ribs in Kansas City. Signs like "Runaway Truck Ramp" and "7% grade" were pretty common. A 7% grade down hill doesn't sound like a big deal, but when the road is also curvy and you're being tailgated while driving 90mph down a hill, it requires both hands on the wheel and your full attention. There were lots of European-style 'ski villages' in our drive through the Rockies, which reminded us of when we lived in Switzerland years ago. We passed Vail. We stopped at a Denny's somewhere in Utah. 

Another big thrill was when we approached Las Vegas. Off in the hazy distance, the first thing we saw was the tallest building there is; the Stratosphere. It's in the shittier part of town, but it's still exciting when you see it out of an airplane window. When you've been driving for five days and you finally see it, you've earned the view.

I didn't mind being a canvas for my niece.
The cat did mind.

We spent the next week playing with and zerbeting my almost five-year-old niece while she put stickers on me and the cat. We schvitzed in the 100+ degree heat. We had meals and lots of fun with the family and some of their friends. We swam, went to the gym, watched movies, played with Lego, read stories, maybe checked ebay once or twice. My niece drew me an Oscar the Grouch. Frankly, I don't think it's her best work, but I didn't tell her. It was a little sad to be on a plane home so fast, watching our 5-day trip reversed in just four hours.

If you're thinking of driving across the country, don't take route 70. I suppose there are lots of trucks no matter which route you take, but 70 was under major construction most of the way; a lot of 70 is a two-lane highway to begin with, and with the construction, it was down to single-file for long stretches. Not fun when you're stuck behind a triple FedEx trailer; even less fun when there's one riding your tail.

But do make the trip. The politics and lifestyles are different out there, but there's no denying how incredible the views are, how nice the people are, and how worthwhile the trip is. Everyone was friendly. Waitresses looked like they enjoyed their jobs. One family said 'hi' to us one evening on the way into a hotel in Missouri. Being native New Yorkers, we were so... confused about that. Another couple saw our Jersey plates and struck up a 10 minute conversation with my parents in the parking lot of a McDonald's in Ohio. They actually blessed us in our travels as they left. I wish people were more like that around here.

                                                                               

--September 5th, 2013

'Take Five'-- one of those great tunes that works its way into your mind and never leaves. See? You're humming it now. Do-do do-do, ba ba da ba do-do do-do, ba ba da ba do-do do-do...

Heh.

Every now and then I'll see something that makes me laugh, and I won't know why. This is one of those times.