Hi everyone.
I just found out the hard way that Testors ELO (Easy Lift Off) Paint and Decal Remover will destroy some plastics. Specifically, I used it on an Accurail boxcar frame and the center sill literally distintegrated into pieces about 1/4" - 3/8" in size. The material was so fragile that it would crush with the slightest pressure from a pair of pliers, and the pieces fell off when I just touched them with my finger or a pair of pliers.
Here are the bits. The putty is just there for a size reference:
Doctor Wayne suggested that the ELO is a form of brake fluid. It certainly feels like brake fluid. I used brake fluid some time ago to strip an Athearn BB 'F' series locomotive shell, and a similar thing happened. The shell started to break apart, although not to the degree that the Accurail plastic did.
Testors advises that the components being stripped should not be left to soak in the stripper which I did not do. I used a plastic tub with about 1/2" of stripper in the bottom, and I used a toothbrush to remove the paint as it slowly loosened (emphasis on 'slowly'). I didn't even intend to strip the bottom of the frame so all that got onto the frame was just splashes from the toothbrush.
By the way, the reason that I had to strip the paint was that my colour coat (Rapido's Proto-Paint) had caused an underlying clear coat (Humbrol Clear Cote) to wrinkle even though the Clear Cote had been drying for several days (in fact, the Clear Cote never did dry hard. It remained slightly tacky, but that's a discussion for another day).
This thread is simply intended as a warning but if folks wish to get into a discussion of how to strip paint, that would be fine with me.
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I have had similar problems with all sorts of techniques to remove paint from plastics.
Thank heavens I could find all the undecorated model kits that I did.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
ELO was, I think, originally offered by Polly S, a division of Floquil. I have a half-pint can of it, bought in 6/'92 according to the info on the can. Somewhere along the line, Testors became involved and eventually took over Floquil, Polly S, and also PollyScale, eventually discontinuing all of them. The info on the ELO 8 oz.can clearly stated that it was a product of Testors, despite the Polly S logo on the front of the can.I had only marginal success with ELO as a paint stripper, but ordinary brake fluid did seem to work faster...so fast, in fact, that it reduced an Atlas diesel shell to a crumpled blob of plastic. I no longer use ELO or brake fluid for stripping paint.I've used a variety of other products for stripping paint from plastic models...methyl hydrate worked very well for removing paint from Athearn and Train Miniature cars, and also Rivarossi passenger cars, and I don't recall it ever damaging the plastic. It doesn't, however, work on more recent types of model paints.Superclean works well on many model paints, but not necessarily on all types either.
For brass and cast metal items, good quality lacquer thinner (not the revised "safer" version) is a good stripping agent for almost any paints - do not use it on plastics, though.
When possible, I prefer to buy either unpainted kits, or scratchbuild my own using styrene sheet and/or styrene strip and shapes.
Wayne
Wayne,
Were you using DOT 3 fluid? Have never had a problem using DOT 3 and this going all the way back to fifty years ago. Never used the other types.
.
The point about the Humbrol clear coat not setting is also an interesting piece of information.
Simon
Not sure about DOT-3 fluid and whether that's off-the-shelf brake fluid, but I never had any trouble with ots brake fluid. I used it on several Athearn blue-box locos and cars and never, ever had an issue.
I remember having some glued joints becoming undone the few times I tried ELO. That and the instructions not to soak were enough to move me to look for alternate methods. Between some of the paints out there and some of the plastics it really gets to be a balancing act stripping paint sometimes.
that is why they tell you to try it first on some hidden spot ...
tried a lot of different paint removers [just under the sink ones], but never tried the one you did ...
wvgcathat is why they tell you to try it first on some hidden spot ...
Hi wvgca,
I'm not sure that would have revealed the problem because it was the next day before the damage showed up and I had washed the stripper off right after removing the paint. When I washed the frame everything seemed fine. I guess if I had done the test on a sprue and let it sit for a day, I might have discovered the problem, but personally I think it is ridiculous to have to be that cautious. Paint strippers that are advertised specifically for model use should not do that sort of damage!
BigJimWayne, Were you using DOT 3 fluid? Have never had a problem using DOT 3 and this going all the way back to fifty years ago. Never used the other types.
Like many other things nowadays, I don't recall what kind of brake fluid it was, as that incident was over 40 years ago.
While I still use methyl hydrate on Athearn equipment, I've discovered that Super Clean is pretty effective for removing a variety of paints...overnight, it removed most of the paint from a damaged brass tender, and after working it over with a toothbrush, it's now clean enough to be soldered back together.