Paint Stripping Experiment

[doctorwayne]

I've also had good results using Super Clean, and no damage to the plastic, either.

Wayne

[cedarwoodron]

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

[bearman]

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.