Scalecoat Wash-Away

I like 'Wash Away' very much. I've tried all the others as well in 'my learning days'. The Wash Away works very well on Kato's, which I never found anything that worked until 91 IsoAlc, but that took 2-4 months, but did work. (Wash Away takes a Kato down in about a week or two, for a real clean result). With paint stripping sometimes patience is the most important factor. Wash Away also was true to the claim of removing lettering & logo's. I used it to 'buff out' a BNSF H2 SD40-2 to turn it into a FURX leasing unit. Even though I masked off some areas, the small yellow division stripe was still attacked, but looks weathered. It took about 20 minutes to remove the logos & numbering from the Kato unit & left the primary colors intact, but shiny/polished from rubbing it so much. I like paint removers that can be dunked & not monitored, 91 Iso & Wash Away have done this so far. Another one I like is Castrol Super Clean. I used it originally for chrome stripping for 1/24 Big Rigs & cars. It will remove enamels & laquers, but not the newer synthetic water & epoxy type paints. Give it a try on older Athearn or die cast models. This one works very fast, if you don't see results in a few hours or a day, rinse it off & put it in Wash Away.

Those are my experiences, hope that helps.

One thing I just got is an air eraser.  I saw a post here and on the Atlas forum that got me interested.  It uses about 20 -35 psi and baking soda like a mini sand blaster.  I bought mine from Harbor Freight for $20 http://www.harborfreight.com/air-eraser-kit-99636.html 

 It came right before we left on vacation and I hoping to get to this weekend.  the things I like about the idea is at over $10 for Scale Coat remover I can buy a Costco bag of soda and do a ton of work.  Also the idea not having to wait weeks is another plus.

 There are several posts on them - just do a search under "eraser"

ratled

I have used the Scalecoat stripper a lot and it usually only takes less than an hour and it's reusable, just pour it through a tea srtainer every now and then to remove the larger paint particles.

 Make sure you have a good watertrap on that eraser.  I have one and get a few blasts out of it and it clogs up.  That is using the more abrasive stuff and not baking powder.  I have had to go and break down the eraser all the way down to the bare bones and clean the whole thing out to get the grit out.  It works great when it is working but can be a real hassel sometimes.  I also built a spray booth for it out of a rubbermaid tote and some plexi glass and pvc pipe and some rubber gloves and some hose clamos.  The whole project took about 3 hours to complete.  It is a must have so the grit does not go everwhere I do not want it.

Mike

Thanks for the tips Mike

ratled

 For Rivarossi especially, Wash away is by far the best. I have one jar of it that is over 5 years old and it will strip plastic very fast, even at that age. I used to use Denatured Alcohol for all stripping, but found that it would not touch Kato or some Rivarossi bodies. It not as expensive as Chameleon, and works as well.

After custom painting for over 30 years, I've used just about all methods of paint stripping. The best of course is still a media blaster loaded with aluminum oxide powder. I use this only on brass/diecast BTW. I've used baking soda in an air eraser for plastic, and while it does work it is very slow going. The only make of air eraser that I've ever had clog or quit working is the Passche brand. The badger isn't much better. I've had the HF eraser now for over 8 months and it hasn't clogged on me yet. Like its $20 airbrush cohort, this is one tool that actually performs as well as or even better than the original its copied off of.