So, I am conducting an experiment. After using Super Clean to strip paint off a metal caboose, I am wondering if it will do the same for a plastic car.
I just spent some serious coin on a BLI SW7 switcher and want to strip the paint off the shell. However, the experiment is to sacrifice a red ATSF hi-cube box car to make sure the Super Clean will not attack the plastic before I try stripping the switcher. A few hours ago the box car shell was immersed in Super Clean and all the side markings, the ATSF logo, the road number etc have disappeared by now. However, the red base color and the black end panels of the box car appear to not have been touched.
My question comes down to is the base color of this box car or any car, for that matter, added to the plastic before the shell is molded/formed? In which case the box car shell will still be red with black ends. The answer is important because if it is yes, then only the red markings on my white switcher will be stripped off the shell. And I want to retain the white base color of the switcher, if possible.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
I have used Super Clean for 10 years virtually every month. On Athearn BB"s, on Tyco, on Bachmann, on Model Power, and on some oldies-Penn Line, etc. In the case of plastic models, Underneath the paint I find the original molding plastic to be either yellow or red on cabooses- with an occasional black; on boxcar I find black or basic rust red with other colors very very rare; on diesel hoods mostly black with a few grays here and there. Sometimes the paint is a bit tough for Super Clean so I switch to 91 Alcohol - but I use that on a very short term soak as I believe it starts drying out the styrene quickly and tends to make it brittle. I had an old metal Penn Line caboose that required alcohol- but there the metal could not "dry out" from the liquid. On those plastic models I use Super Clean on, occasionally I use a toothbrush to get into crevices.
I have no issues with Super Clean and rinse models in cold water followed by a dish soap wash, then pat dry and let air dry overnight.
Cedarwoodron
I've also had good results using Super Clean, and no damage to the plastic, either.
Wayne
I'm a recent convert to SuperClean, say in the past two years or so. It is the first product I reach for when stripping paint from rolling stock, metal or plastic. I have not found any adverse affects. The fine details, including the intricate see-through grating on this Kadee PS-1 boxcar cleaned up beautifully using Superclean:
IMG_3232 by Edmund, on Flickr
Then after the first coat I wasn't happy with the paint finish and I gave the car a second bath in the SuperClean. No problems.
NKP_Express2 by Edmund, on Flickr
I used a fine-bristle brush and water to rinse off the old paint. Even in the fine recesses of the Kadee details the SuperClean took the paint off with no resistance.
Generally, the better manufacturers are not going to mold the cars in the final car color but rather rely on a precise coat of paint. Some of the manufacturers such as Tyco or Model Power might use colored plastic in order to skip the painting step but that is not the case for most recent mid- to high end models.
Good Luck, Ed
I've had Athearn BB shells in Super Clean for up to a week, and no damage. I started a similar thread a couple of weeks ago. I forgot what It's title was.
My experience is right in there with Cederwoodron, on a couple of Athearn BB loco shells, I resorted to the alcohol in a seal plastice bag.
Which ever way you use, keeping the container covered seems to help.
The dry wall mud pan is perfect for soaking and paint stripping. I bought the stainless steel variety from my local hardware store.
The inside color of the car or loco is usually what the base plastic color is. I had some Athearn streamliner cars that were gray, with a kind of metalic look, like tiny metal flake. That ended up being the base plastic color. Never seen that before.
Good luck Bearman.
Mike.
My You Tube
I'll have to remember that product on my next paint stripping project. I will likely be stripping the paint off the shell of a P2K SW9.
I have used 91% isopropyl with little to no success, on both a BB SW7 and an old Tyco caboose, even when soaked for several days. The product that did the trick was Pine Sol. The beauty of using Pine Sol is that you can strain it through a peice of fabric to get the paint out of it and use it for it's original purpose - - cleaning. I'm not familiar with Super Clean, but I will certainly use that product next time.
Try Super Clean, the original cleaner and degreaser, but use hand protection. Eye protection would not be a bad idea either. It is pretty basic stuff with pH = 12 -14.
E-L man tom cleaning. I'm not familiar with Super Clean,
I buy the gallon, it's in a purple jug. I get it from the local Wal Mart, in the auto dept.
It works on most, but NOT everything, as I found out.
Don't use it in a throw away aluminum baking pan. It will eat through the pan. Use a plastic container, or the stainless steel dry wall mud pan like I use.
mbinsewiI had some Athearn streamliner cars that were gray, with a kind of metalic look, like tiny metal flake. That ended up being the base plastic color. Never seen that before.
I recall nearly every underbody and the trucks of my Rivarossi cars were this kind of "graphite-look" plastic. The roof, of course, clear since it was part of the window glazing.
E-L man tom The beauty of using Pine Sol is that you can strain it through a peice of fabric to get the paint out of it and use it for it's original purpose - - cleaning.
I strain the SuperClean and store it in a labeled container. Then reuse it for my next stripping job as the first soak. Once the majority of paint is off I place the parts into a fresh bath of SC. Gradually it gets strained then goes into the "grade B" bottle for re-use.
Finally, after another straining I'll use the spent cleaner mixed with water for "non-critical" cleaning jobs around the farm.
The deeper Swifter Floor Cleaner Containers are also good Super Clean soak tubs. They are a good size- even for longer diesel hoods and have a clear flat top cover. The removed paint settles in the molded grooves of the container and you can get the majority of the liquid back out to sieve and reuse.
I'm going to post a contrary opinion here.Many years ago, I saw some of the E units that the Chicago and North Western had bought secondhand from Kansas City Southern.The CNW just slathered yellow paints on the units. Since the KCS used stick on lettering and striping, you could clearly see the shapes of the former paint job under the heavy coat of CNW yellow.I no longer worry about stripping models before repainting; the prototype certainly doesn't.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
I live a 2-3 miles from a BNSF yard and I have seen some locomotives that are still painted green and black. All they have done is paint over the NB logo, and then painted BNSF and the road number. And this is over 20 years after the ATSF merger. I did that with one of my locomotives, painted a swatch over the road name and number and substituted my road name and a new number.
Many of the locos I run have been "patched out" from the previous road, with a new number and the GLC letters.
I've seen prototype locos that are in the BNSF "pumpkin" paint, just the BNSF has been painted out.
Thats the way I have my main switch enginge.
The CN seems to be pretty diligent about repainting locos, but there still are many in WC and IC paint.
mbinsewi E-L man tom cleaning. I'm not familiar with Super Clean, I buy the gallon, it's in a purple jug. I get it from the local Wal Mart, in the auto dept. It works on most, but NOT everything, as I found out. Don't use it in a throw away aluminum baking pan. It will eat through the pan. Use a plastic container, or the stainless steel dry wall mud pan like I use. Mike.
Thanks Mike, I'm glad to know that I'd be working with such a strong base. At those pH's, without using gloves, it would "turn your hands into your favorite soap", as my high school chemistry teacher would say. Also, thanks for the info on where to get the stuff.
Hand protection is a MUST with Super Clean.
And for all the "saftey minded" out there, eye protection is a good thing.
Do you dilute it? What ratio?
I use it straight up. When your done, you can strain the cleaner and use it again.
I use, both 91% alcohol and Super Clean, full strength, no duliting. I started using Super Clean after reading of Cedarwoodron's experiences with it. Always good to have options.
Re: 91% Alcohol: I've been paint stripping shells with the alcohol since the early 1990's and, so far, no issues with plastic becoming brittle or drying out. One caution, it may damage 1990's production Kato shells.
Super Clean: Due to my employer's business agreements with vendors, I'm able to buy industrial items for myself at cost. I now have a 5-gallon container of Super Clean:
I recently used it to strip a stubborn 1970's Athearn BB Alco PB shell, for a friend of mine and a Walthers Mainline passenger car shell. I let them soak overnight. The next day the paint came off with a toothbrush. Good stuff!
BTW: Good advice regarding gloves! The latex gloves that I used eventually disintegrated as I soaked the shell. I felt no burning sensations. However, days later the skin on the sides of my fingers was peeling off in transparent flakes! Best to use the thicker rubber gloves.
Here's the Alco PB-1 in the NYC "Lightning Striper" scheme. I teased him hard about ruining such an attractive scheme! But he wants it airbrushed in "Santa Fe" colors, so I reluctantly complied.
Before:
After:
Although hard to tell the NYC black (more like a charcoal black) came off completely and the bare shell's substrate is black.
The Super Clean also worked well on the Walthers Mainline shell. The paint on the Mainlines is a bit "hardier" than the finishes on the older run Walthers units that come off easily with alcohol. I'll post a separate thread on that unit once it's finished.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
Hi AntoioFP45, I told about some Athearn shells I had trouble with, an A/B set of F7's, factory painted in the D&RGW gold.
Those are the only shells I've had trouble with, and the paint did eventually give up. I think I finished off the B unit in a sealed bag with 91% alcohol, other than those two, I've had great luck with SC.
Hello,
Yes, I remember our email communications. Very glad that it worked out!
I'm grateful that today we don't have to rely on the old standby of using brake fluid to strip plastic model shells. That was one MESSY process, LOL.
mbinsewi Hi AntoioFP45, I told you about some Athearn shells I had trouble with, an A/B set of F7's, factory painted in the D&RGW gold. Those are the only shells I've had trouble with, and the paint did eventually give up. I think I finished off the B unit in a sealed bag with 91% alcohol, other than those two, I've had great luck with SC. Mike.
Hi AntoioFP45, I told you about some Athearn shells I had trouble with, an A/B set of F7's, factory painted in the D&RGW gold.
PeteVS Also, is 91% alcohol what you find at a paint store?
Maybe? I've gotten mine at the local drug store, and a big box with a drug store in it, might sell bigger bottles.
I've never checked the harware store either. Got me thinking, as I need some more.
I believe it was one of our paint wizards, Doctorwayne, that has had athearn shells get brittle in brake fluid.
91% should be in any of the chain drug stores, 70% is more common and more prominently displayed.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddyI believe it was one of our paint wizards, Doctorwayne, that has had athearn shells get brittle in brake fluid....
Actually, it was an Atlas diesel shell which was badly distorted in brake fluid. I got a replacement shell from Atlas. However, brake fluid in that case was used because my usual go-to, methyl hydrate, couldn't remove the paint. I don't especially like using brake fluid, though, and not only because of unexpected side-effects, but also because it's one of the messiest methods, particularily when using a brush in order to help remove paint.My long-time favourite was methyl hydrate, which worked on pretty-well any paint at one time. I've stripped literally hundreds of cars and locomotives using it, and had problems with only two Train Miniature boxcars (of many dozens of similar TM cars.) Both of those developed almost full-length cracks on one side of each car. While I was able to cement the cracks using solvent-type cement, they remained rather visible. Because of that, both were demoted to other service, with one serving as a shop and toolhouse behind the loco servicing facility at Lowbanks...
...and the other as a storage shed for LCL at the Elfrida team track...
Both were situated so that their damaged sides were not visible under normal viewing conditions.
Since they were both actually too modern to be retired cars on my late '30s layout, I've given them to a friend, who uses them as sheds around his late '50s locomotive servicing facility, again with the damaged sides away from the viewer.
For that brass caboose, I would have put it in lacquer thinner, and it likely would have been bare brass by the following day, or perhaps even sooner. I keep lacquer thinner for paint stripper in a sealable jar, big enough for most brass tenders and stripped-down locomotives. This helps to keep evapouration to a minimum, and also limits the smell...
This jar is for SuperClean, and is also sealable, even though SuperClean has little odour...
I have a couple of these plastic containers with snap-on lids. While they're not tall enough for full-length passenger cars, they're useful for methyl hydrate or SuperClean, as neither evapourate all that quickly if the lid is not on, nor do they have an oppressive odour. When not in use, the snap-on lids prevent almost all evapouration....
Well, I have a couple of shells I want to strip. First up is an Athearn BB round roof coach. It was $2 at a swap meet and had several brush coats of God knows what kind of paint. Dunked it in Super Clean which did next to nothing after a long time. Next, I tried Dot 3 brake fluid. Did a bit more but was M E S S Y ! ! Then, I found a bottle of 91% alcohol. Couple of hours and everything comes off with an old tooth brush. I think I've found a favorite. Next up is a BevBel bay window caboose. The Super Clean faded the lettering a bit after half a day. I think the rest of the paint looks better than when I put it in.
Here's the Walthers Mainline passenger car shell that I stripped with Super Clean. The paint that Walthers is using on these cars is more durable than on the older run Proto units and my usual routine of soaking in 91% iso-alcohol was not effective! So, as with the locomotive shells in my previous post, an overnight soaking with Super Clean followed up with scrubbing the body with a medium-bristle toothbrush works nicely!
Wear safety glasses and use NITRILE GLOVES. Super Clean will destroy latex gloves quickly.
Again, kudos to my friend and fellow modeler Cedarwood Ron for the tip on Super Clean
AntonioFP45Best to use the thicker rubber gloves.
Don't use "rubber" gloves at all -- they'll get eaten through too, it just takes a little longer. Even a pinhole lets the stuff IN and keeps it right up against your skin in a nice distributed layer.
What you want are chemical-grade NITRILE gloves, and in fact what I recommend is a disposable pair of heavy disposable nitrile gloves INSIDE a permanent 'dishwashing' pair, if you can stand the interference with your tactile sense. While you're at WalMart go over to the paint department and look for the 'Venom' box of 100. You can remove and re-use these after your session if the outer gloves are intact and you haven't splashed anything inside through the cuffs.
Hint: a little medicated powder, like Gold Bond, dusted inside the gloves makes them much easier to take off again if your hands, like mine, sweat inside chemical PPE.
I wonder if anyone has tried one of those acrylic hinged-top spaghetti canisters for this. They are solvent fusion-welded acrylic so don't have any seams to come loose if the solvent leaves the plastic alone; the 'hardware' spring clip latch that holds the top is likely made of plated steel and should have enough tension to seal the lid against casual agitation (and perhaps more forceful attention, including that if you approximate 'bead blasting' by putting some sort of aggregate in with the liquid to substitute for toothbrushing, etc.)
The only difficult part might be having to replace the factory gasket with something less 'soluble'. Which would be the cuff of a heavy nitrile glove, cut with the help of a concentric circle template to the size of the 'factory' one. Chill it down with dry ice if you have trouble making a clean cut.
OvermodI wonder if anyone has tried one of those acrylic hinged-top spaghetti canisters for this....
I had some what I believe were acrylic containers for gourmet-type jellybeans. They had a hinged lid with a plated steel latch, too, and a pliable gasket of some type. They weren't all that tall...good enough for a 50' boxcar shell, perhaps. I thought that the more positive seal would be good for use with the methyl hydrate, which evapourates fairly readily.At that time I was using mostly methyl hydrate as a stripping agent, and after having the containers in service for a couple of weeks, I noticed vertical striations developing on the sides of the containers. A week or so later, some of the striations became cracks, noticeable when picking up the container. I put the stripper back into the tupperware containers, cleaned out the acrylic ones and put them into the recycling bin.
I use stainless steel, TIG-welded drywall mud pans.
https://tinyurl.com/y3etzwmj
The longest HO passenger cars fit in them and they don't react with the brass of the model. There are several lengths available and some off-brand ones that are slightly less expensive. Some are made by folding the metal but these will leave voids where spent solution and old paint can accumulate. Avoid those. I have a polycarbonate lid that fits reasonably well that slows down evaporation.
I decant and strain the solution, weather it is Super-Clean or one of the various VOCs, into an appropriate, labeled jug for later reuse.