|
|
Post by Donnell Wells on May 6, 2012 10:15:17 GMT -8
I recently aquired about 20 or so decorated Athearn GP38-2, GP40-2, and SD40-2 shells from the LHS. A couple days later, I picked up 3 quarts of 91% alcohol from "Wally World" and poured them in a gallon-sized Rubbermaid dry-goods container.
I placed three shells (two SD40s and a GP38) vertically in the container so that they were fully submerged. A few hours later, I noticed that the paint had lifted signaificantly from the surface of the shell, in some cases causing sheets of paint to literally fall off the shell. I used a toothbrush to scrub the majority of the paint from the shells, and followed up with ELO applied with both a toothbrush and cotton swab.
Supprisingly, the ELO did a good job of cleaning up the left over bit of paint, the key being to let the ELO sit long enough to loosen the residual paint. I ended up grit blasting one of the shells before my patience kicked in, but on three susbsequent GP40-2 shells, I did wait the extra time and the ELO work as intended.
The basic point of this was for me to devise a method of stripping paint while preseving the original plastic finished. Grit blasting etches the surface removing that smooth, polished, injection molded surface. I wanted to keep the surface intact until I decided if I wanted to etch it or not, and only then to promote better paint adhesion.
What are your thoughts?
Donnell
|
|
|
|
Post by alco539 on May 6, 2012 12:00:25 GMT -8
Donnell what is the size of the grit your using? I have a glass bead cabinet, but was thinking that glass beads would damage polystyrene, because it "peens" the surface. I tried using some "old school" brake fluid (DOT3) on some old Atlas/Roco (from the late 1970's) shells and it crazed the styrene. I've read about ELO and will try that when it's back in stock at the LHS. Regards Charley.
|
|
|
|
Post by stevewoodward on May 6, 2012 15:01:01 GMT -8
On Athearn shells I have successfully used 91 percent alcohol, brake fluid, and Easy Off Oven Cleaner. Sometimes the paint comes off easily enough but the lettering is stubborn. More soaking time can help, or grit blasting with baking soda for the really stubborn bits.
I think I've used Pine Sol as well, but after learning the hard way what that does to a Kato shell I've removed it from my arsenal of strippers!
|
|
|
|
Post by Donnell Wells on May 6, 2012 15:17:55 GMT -8
insert code here
Hello Charley,
I actually use baking soda as the "grit" medium for grit blasting. If I has to guess a size, I'd say it's anywhere from 400-800 grit, basically what we modelers would consider super-fine.
Glass beads work great on stripping paint, and in some cases powder coating from metal frames. Though for the latter, I use this chemical stripper because it is highly effective and aggressively loosens the bond between the metal and powder-coat. www.wmbarr.com/product.aspx?catid=72&prodid=112
It sprays on in a gel-like form, and after about 10 minutes you can literally see the powder coating start to wrinkle.
CAUTION:
USE GLOVES WHEN USING THIS STUFF! 
It will give you a chemical burn if it comes in contact with your skin!!! However, don't let this deter you using it, because it works. Just use common a little sense! 
|
|
|
|
Post by alco539 on May 6, 2012 19:21:07 GMT -8
Thanks folks for the advice. I think the Atlas/Roco shells were made with "oil imbargo" 1970's styrene. At the time, I think there were discussions in MR and RMC that plastic from the various manufactures/importers used less petro chemicals. It sounds like "hog wash" to me, but I know some body shells could be damaged with Scalecoat's stripper. What ever happened to them? I used lye (Red Devil) on the old Floquil paint formula and it worked good. I guess Easy Off still has lye in it. By the way I don't like the Floquil/Tester's current formula, Regards Charley.
|
|
|
|
Post by shoofly on May 7, 2012 15:10:55 GMT -8
Does anyone know what happened to chameleon?
|
|
|
|
Post by Donnell Wells on May 7, 2012 17:19:07 GMT -8
I haven't seen it around for a while, and after doing a bit of searching online the lateset blurb I could find was that the company closed shop. Don't take my word for it though, as the information was a few years old. Chameleon is a great stripping agent, and if the company that produced it did fold, hopefully someone will pick up the mantle and make avaiable again.
Donnell
|
|
|
|
Post by spookyac47 on May 20, 2012 8:43:50 GMT -8
. . . and followed up with ELO applied with both a toothbrush and cotton swab.
. . .
Donnell "ELO" is ?? Thank You |
|
|
|
Post by riggelweg on May 20, 2012 8:53:59 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by riogrande on May 20, 2012 9:45:46 GMT -8
Thanks. Folks, remember all of us haven't memorized all of the acronyms, so assume some of us are dummy's and please give the full name the first time it is mentioned. Do your write-up's like a scientific paper and the first time you mention something, give the name as such: Testers Easy Lift Off (ELO). Most writers the first time mention the full name and give the abbreviation in parenthesis, then any time after that, just refer to the abreviation alone for ease of writing. When I saw ELO, I knew it was some kind of product but didn't remember what until someone asked. I've known ELO for much longer as Electric Light Orchestra, a band from the 70's! =P
|
|
|
|
Post by Donnell Wells on May 20, 2012 19:22:06 GMT -8
My apologies. It's written that way on the canister so I just assumed...oh well,you know what they say...
|
|
|
|
Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on May 25, 2012 6:15:52 GMT -8
. . . and followed up with ELO applied with both a toothbrush and cotton swab.
. . .
Donnell "ELO" is ?? Thank You I thought ELO was a music group from the 70s and 80s....  www.elo.biz/On a more to the point note, I've used everything from brake fluid to alcohol and the green Scalecoat II wash away with mixed results from them all. Brake fluid is hard on my hands and seems to leave an odd hazy cast to the plastic material. While it's never happened to me I've read reports of brake fluid rendering plastic extremely brittle in cases and eating it right up in others. Alcohol either works real well or not at all, depends on what you're working on. I find it works well on Walther's models. The Scalecoat product has the same feel that brake fluid does to my hands but works well on Proto and Athearn engines I've stripped with it. I have a bead blast cabinet and tried to strip a Hobby town of Boston Alco PA with it and it left a bit of a texture on the die cast metal. I've heard of folks using baking soda as a blast medium but never tried it. |
|
|
|
Post by fr8kar on Jun 1, 2012 8:12:22 GMT -8
I've moved away from stripping shells in an open tub and instead use gallon size freezer bags (Glad or Ziploc). This cuts down on the amount of liquid I have to use since you can squeeze out much of the air and get the liquid to contact the shell on all sides. Another benefit is that it's easy to recover all the liquid when I'm finished by snipping a corner off the bag and draining it into the original container.
|
|
|
|
Post by fr8kar on Jun 1, 2012 8:14:26 GMT -8
One more thing: I agree with Donnell on the Klean Strip stuff for Athearn frames. That stuff is like magic.
|
|
