So, Hob-E-Tac is not necessarily great for long lasting clump tree foliage it seems, but old Hob-E-Tac does seem to tenaciously stick to plastic tree amatures, in particular a bunch of trees which I wish to paint, distress, and...refloiate (turns out that is a word) in order to make them look decent.I recall it taking rather a lot of work to finally clean off the dabs of Hob-E-Tac from a few trees I redid last year, soaking in hot water and scrubbing the armatures, and then picking and scraping the remaining mucus-like blobs of adhesive (this made Model Railroading NOT fun), so that was probably not the optimum method.Seeing as how the "cleans up with hot soapy water" direction on the bottle doesn't seem to apply with rather old (but annoyingly sticky) Hob-E-Tac, any ideas on what method would work with somewhat less effort?
Give a test with 90% rubbing alcohol or Goo Gone?? That is about all that I can think of for a plastic friendly solvent
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
all i have experience with is the dollar store version of hobbytac ,,, when new it's about the viscosity of used chewing gum ..
it comes off easily with only finger nails to remove it ??
G Paine Give a test with 90% rubbing alcohol or Goo Gone?? That is about all that I can think of for a plastic friendly solvent
If Goo Gone does not work, there is also a more powerful solvent called Goof Off. It is supposedly safe for most plastics but styrene might well be an exception, and it is nothing to be toyed with). It is called a heavy duty remover and believe me that is the fact. I believe it has acetone in it (for that matter you might want to try finger nail polish remover/ acetone).
Even Goof Off's own website advises always trying it on a small and inconspicuous spot first. I'd try dabbing a bit on perhaps with a drenched Qtip and then after a while picking at it with a dental pick or similar pointed tool.
One product that few modelers seem to be aware of - my artist wife shared some with me - is Citra Solv. It is said to be safe for those with chemical sensitivity (which is NOT the case with Goof Off). Can be used full strength or diluted. As with Goo Gone you can get it in small bottles if you just want to try it out.
Regardless of product my advice would still be to apply the liquid directly with a Qtip rather than spraying or dunking, and then try mechanically-aided means, a sharply pointed pick such as a dental tool, to pry away at the stuck stuff.
Dave Nelson
I wonder if freezing it might work.