Stripping Athearn Genesis

[ericsp]

Does anyone know if 91% isopropanol is a safe (for the car) and effective way to strip paint off of an Athearn Genesis car? Also, has anyone found a way to remove the lettering with damaging the paint? Thanks

[BigDaddy]

ericsp

has anyone found a way to remove the lettering with damaging the paint?

There is a thread in the last week about that same topic.

90% will not hurt the plastic.  A MR video (I think painting a GP-7) said it might loosen add-on parts like horns or grab irons.  I put mine in a zip lock bag and brush it with a tooth brush every now and then.  It may take a couple days.

[delray1967]

I use Pine Sol and 91% isopropyl alcohol to strip paint...sometimes it can take several days to get all the paint from the nooks and crannies but it's cheap and pretty safe. If I want to add some more scrubbing action, I put a spoonful of baking powder into whatever I'm using to strip paint...it kind of acts like liquid sandpaper. It roughen up the surface just enough to make it dull, not enough to cause visible scratches...works great on truck sideframes too!

When I strip a shell, I've found a big freezer bag can hold an Athearn heavyweight baggage car or a Proto2000 E8. Scrub the shells in the bag so any detail parts fall into the bag and don't go down the drain!  If you're clever, you can even keep the overspray from scrubbing, inside the bag.

Removing lettering is a lot more difficult.  What usually work for me is Micro Sol (in the red bottle). I put a drop on the printing I want to remove and keep it wet for sometimes an hour or longer. Put a small piece of plastic right on top of the drop of Micro Set, not over the whole model, to reduce the evaporation. I usually go downstairs during commercial breaks and add another drop of Micro Set...just enough to keep the area wet. After a while you'll either be lucky and the lettering will float away like a decal, if you're like me, it will soften the printing just enough so you can use a toothpick, bamboo skewer or piece of plastic to lightly scrape the printing away in lots of tiny flakes, leaving the body paint mostly undisturbed. At worst, it will barely do anything and scraping the printing will scar the paint underneath and will have to be weathered over to help blend it into the model.

For extreme fading of printing, instead of a toothpick or similar scraper, use a Q-Tip...for even more scrubbing power for more fading, sprinkle a little baking soda on the Q-Tip; but go easy...you can rub down to bare plastic pretty quick!

I read somewhere, after you soak the printing with Micro Sol,  you can burnish a piece of tape over the lettering and when you pull the tape off, the lettering comes with it...this method has never worked for me though.

[ericsp]

Thanks. Different manufacturers may use different plastics and paint, so what works on and will not damage models from one manufacturer may not work on or may damage models from another manufacturer. Have you used these methods on Athearn Genesis models?