How to do I get the PineSol out? Or Why didn't I buy undecorated?

[SpaceMouse]

So burning through Q-tips like dollars at a strip joint, and I'm making some progress getting the paint off these box car models and I'm wondering how much I'm supposed to do and wondering if the plastic is really getting lighter or if the paint is making it look discolored of if the PinesSol is taking the edge off the plastic or if this sentence will ever end.

And I think back to the last time I did this and I wonder if there is a an easier way to get the paint off. So in a nutshell here are my questions:

How much paint needs to come off? Are you just trying get it smooth of does it have to look like totally bare plastic.

Does the PineSol harm the plastic?

What is the best way to get the PineSol off?

How do you prepare it for paint?

Doesn't someone know a better way?

[Anonymous]

The PineSol won't harm the plastic, but the car will smell like PineSol forever! Bergie had an article in MR a months ago on striping factory applied lettering with PineSol........ I wonder if it'd have the same effect on paint.

[SpaceMouse]

Sorry I should have said factory installed lettering.

[Anonymous]

As a custom painter here is what I have learned about stripping paint.

1. Avoid it as much as possible.

2. If you do need to strip paint. Use a model paint stripper such as that made by floquil.

3. The plastic will most often be discolored.

and 4.once you start all the paint needs to come off.

Pine Sol is an OK way to strip paint. But the problem with pine sol is that your model will forever be scented pine sol. If you like that smell, then fine. If not, then you should probably use a different scent, or a prescribed model paint stripper. To remove pine sol, just wash it in water until it all goes away.

My prefered method is start with an undec model. But if I must strip paint, I use Floquil Easy Off paint stripper. When paint is off, rince throroughly in water and paint as normal. Also I use an old toothbrush rather than a q-tip as it goes a little faster.

Glad I could help.

James

[ragnar]

cheap Brake fluid also works well,with no after smell just wash in warm soapy water when finished this also will not harm plastic...

[nfmisso]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ragnar

cheap Brake fluid also works well,with no after smell just wash in warm soapy water when finished this also will not harm plastic...

The above statement is FALSE. Brake Fluid will dissolve many of the plastics used today for model trains. That is the reason there are so many RPP SD45 shells on top of Kato SD40 chassis.

[SpaceMouse]

The brake fluid doesn't work as well as the PineSol.

Still how good is good enough?

[tigerstripe]

91% alcohol is my favorite method. Just let it soak, check on it every 20 minutes or so and use an old toothbrush. It will remove all the paint down to bare plastic. I have heard that it will "eat" certain types of plastic but I have never personally seem this. Just make sure to get the 91%, the regular 70% doesn't work.

[AggroJones]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tigerstripe

91% alcohol is my favorite method. Just let it soak, check on it every 20 minutes or so and use an old toothbrush. It will remove all the paint down to bare plastic. I have heard that it will "eat" certain types of plastic but I have never personally seem this. Just make sure to get the 91%, the regular 70% doesn't work.

[#ditto] And its probably the cheapest way. Only like $1 a bottle to soak one model.

I heard that a few years after soaking a shell in pine-sol, the plastic becomes dry and brittle. Which leads to easy damage and cracking. In the past, I've used Scalecoat paint stripper and 91% rubbing alcohol (seperately) to get jobs done. Never pine-sol. [2c]

[tstage]

Chip,

I have to agree with Aggro. Sometimes solvents can leech the elastomers out of plastics and make them more brittle and susceptible to premature cracking. I'd be careful with any chemical stripper on plastic - even Pine Sol.

Is it possible to see whether or not the locomotive manufactuer will sell you an undecorated shell? Bachmann(?) is the only one that I have heard of that won't. Might save you a lot of grief and a persistent smelly basement.

Tom

[Virginian]

Wash it in blue Dawn and hot water and the Pine Sol scent is gone. I don't mean reduced, I mean gone. I don't know why everyone has such a big problem.
I do not particularly like the smell of PineSol, but it's the only thing I have found that will strip anything I have found and not harm any of the plastic... yet. I am sure that somewhere there is some plastic it will eat. I have bought a bunch of old Riv tenders on eBay for different projects, and man nothing else would faze that old Riv paint. I tried brake fluid, wheel cleaners, airbru***hinners, decal solutionS, 93% alcohol (I know, but mine says 93%), you name it. I quickly found the Dawn solution to the smell problem. I rinse out my Rubbermaid soaking container when I am thru and even it doesn't smell.

[roadrat]

If your just trying to remove the painted on lettering then decal solution and a pencil eraser works for small areas , you will have to spray it with ducote after though.



bill

[SpaceMouse]

Back to the question:

How good is good enough? Is it enough to get the thick paint off and leave a little where you sort of see the old outlines of the lettering, or does it need to be whistle slick clean?

[CNJ831]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse

Back to the question:

How good is good enough? Is it enough to get the thick paint off and leave a little where you sort of see the old outlines of the lettering, or does it need to be whistle slick clean?

There is rarely any "good enough" in stripping and repainting models. Either you do a proper job or get an undec to start with. In my experience if you leave any ghostly lettering outlines on the model, the odds are they will show to at least some extent through the repainting. Don't leave any trace.

CNJ831

[SpaceMouse]

Okay, I get it. Any trick in getting the lettering out of the slats in wooden boxcars.

I am noticing that the wood ridges are getting more and more rounded the longer I work on them with PineSol.

[orsonroy]

Chip,

While the model is still wet, pick out the paint in the slat lines with either a dental pick or a #11 blade. Scrubbing all day will just wear you out and accomplish little.

To properly strip the model, it might take severl stripping sessions over a couple of days. Completely immerse the model, let it soak for an hour or so, and them go after it with a stiff toothbrush. Once you can't get anything else off, set it back in to soak again. If 2-3 soakings don't work, let the model dry and try again tomorrow. Try flicking the dried paint off with a fingernail; I've scrubbed and scrubbed at paint that wouldn't budge (usually in a corner) that popped right off with a #11 blade once it dried.

And try to stick with either 91% alcohol or Polly Scale ELO (Easy Lift Off). Besides the occasional Rivarossi tender (which require brake fluid) I haven't yet met a model paint that wouldn't come off with the above two strippers. (oh, and when the old timers say "brake fluid", the DON'T mean the modern, synthetic stuff; it doesn't work nearly as well as the old gunk!)

[AntonioFP45]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ragnar

cheap Brake fluid also works well,with no after smell just wash in warm soapy water when finished this also will not harm plastic...

Hello Ragnar,

Hope you don't mind my pointing out that while brake fluid can work on some models, modelers have to be very cautious when considering brake fluid.

Years back many of us used brake fluid to strip models, especially Athearns. Many locomotives and cars today use plastics that, while offerering more body detail, are thinner and less dense than what we had back in the 60s, 70s and early 80s.

Even if using Alcohol, or Pine Sol, it's always good to test a small section first. To date, I've had good results with the 91% alcohol.

If after having completely stripped a model and you've repainted it, consider not stripping it again as the plastic may be more brittle the next time around. This isn't usually a problem with the old Athearn Blue Boxes, but the new generation units with the thinner plastics.

[:D]

[chutton01]

Not really gonna help Space Mouse, but Polly-S Easy LiftOff does do a kick-*** job of cleanly removing those crappy pad-printed German License plates off of Model Power's new line of die-cast vehicle, without mucking up the underlying paint at all (so I can then place a ink-jet printed Pennsylvania plate there instead). Very easy, just swipe a bit of ELO on a paint brush onto the printed plate, swab a bit, and then rinse completely - off in a minute.
Now, for some Bachmann figure I am trying to reuse, EZ-Off oven cleaner (take the usual safety precautions, of course) literally vaporized the paint off (but not the figure). I rinsed the residue off, and bang - figures bare and clean as the day 30 years ago when my mom painted them (sorry mom - thanks for trying, but your color schemes were a bit off)...