After many days of looking through tutorials and learning guides, I finally decided to go for it and strip the tampo off of my Hot Wheels Holden Commodore. This was one casting which had always annoyed me because of the offensively garish printings on its sides, and it was ruining the elegance of my Australian car section by sitting next to the magnificent Matchbox Holden Ute.
Original casting with hideous tampos. Note: Not my picture!
Original hood print.
I began the process by soaking the hood in non-acetone nail polish remover for about five minutes followed by another five minutes of scraping and rubbing with Q-tips and toothpicks. Luckily the underlying paint on this model is incredible resilient and stood up to my poking and prodding as well as chemical treatment.
Hood afterwards. Much better!
Now time to resolve these hideous side graphics...
On the side I followed the same process, masking off the wheels and windows before I soaked everything for about twenty minutes and began the tedious process of scraping off the paint. However, in the end the result was worth it!
Here is the casting after the side tampos had been removed.
Seeing the potential with this new blank slate, I quickly detailed the Holden by adding headlights, fogs, rear lights as well as coloring in the grille. What follows is what I ended with.
The End! Thanks for looking and I apologize about the amount of pictures...
Have an actual Holden racer for comparison.