I have a Atlas GE DASH 8-40CW that has been stripped down to basicly the shell. I have tried painting it with an airbrush and have messed up numerous times. I have tried stripping it with 91% alcohol and it doesn’t do a thing. It is NIB new in bottle. Why won’t it take off the paint??
-dekruif
maybe it doesn’t disolve the kind of paint you used
what paint did you use ?
Model Master II black gloss paint
Have you tried Chameleon or Scalecoat brand paint strippers? I can’t imagine even 100% alcohol being effective with Model Master II.
Lynda
There are may kinds of paint. Each has a different set of things that will disolve it. The trick is to find something that disolves the paint but not the plastic. I’ve had good luck with brake fluid.
nail polish remover might be worth a try… its what i use…
Hmmm … I REALLY don’t want to be obtuse here, but knowing what the shell is made of and what’s safe to remove paint is at least as important as the kind of paint.
For some plastics, nail polish remover makes a darned good solvent. And, I think I’d contact Atlas before using brake fluid. But that’s just me.
I do know that Chameleon and Scalecoat paint removers are safe for Atlas shells. Here’s where I order Chameleon (and they even take PayPal):
http://www.chameleonproductsonline.com/
Lynda
Nail polish remover is Acetone with some perfume added. Acetone will dissolve all model train shell plastics.
I’ve learned from hard experience, Do not use brake fluid! It works on some shells but will melt others. I found this out the hard way.
What you should have learned is to test something before committing to it. Always test a substance on a non-visable non-significant part of the model in question. Just because you didn’t do this and therefore melted something down, doesn’t mean it still won’t work in other situations. Adopting a dogma like “don’t use xxx” based on an screw up rather than a planned experiment is just silly.
I’m with Lynda here – I’ve had good luck with Chameleon. Acetone is a powerful solvent and will turn styrene shells into a puddle.
Thanks for the brake fluid warning, Jeff. Glad I didn’t try it.
Don’t forget that flat lacquer is sprayed overtop of the paint. The solvent may dissolve the paint but not the lacquer, and you have to penetrate the lacquer before you can get at the paint.
I will whole heartedly agree with the “test it first” statement.
Back in my model car and airplane building days I used to use brake fluid to remove paint from models. I found that on certan models it would cause problems with the plastic and on others it would not. some paints would float off in sheets and others it would not even soften. In my later years, while working for a petrolium products distributor I was taking a tour of a plant that made brake fluid along with a whole host of other products. The interesting thing I found out was that brake fluid is mostly alcohol. There are several other additives put in it, but this is the reason you need to be carefull with it around painted surfaces such as car fenders. (under no circunstances use any brake fluid that contains silicone. You will never get it off of the model completly)
I am not sure why the alcohol won’t remove the modelmaster paint. I do remember using a product called Simple Green to remove paint from some boxcars that I botched up the paint on. Others have used a cleaning product made by Castrol. I think it is called Super-clean.
I currently use an abrasive blaster to remove all paint from any model I repaint now. It leaves a clean smooth surface to paint over and does no harm to the plastic on any of the kits I have cleaned so far.
Dan Pikulski
Another mis-informed post by jeffrey-wimberly…sigh
Ive been using brake fluid for many years now with narry a melted plastic shell.
David
I melted three at once, that’s enough for me. Use it if you want to, but I’ll continue to put the warning out.
what brand shells were they? Just saying I melted three shells once with brake fluid is kind of vague. I am not doubting it happened, but what were the parameters involved in this, Fluid brand, shell brand, time soaking etc?
I personally have (accidently) soaked an athearn caboose shell in brake fluid for 3 months once with no ill effects. It is still running on my layout 2 years after painting it.
That’s why people are advocating TESTING. I cannot imagine putting three shells into ANY paint-removing fluid without testing–losing one would be bad enough, but losing three seems, well, careless.
Sorry but I have to side with Jeff here. This is what happened to me only once over a 30yr career as a custom painter. The main reason I advocate using anything else as a stripper is damage from brake fluid can either be immediate,(bad) or its insidious (worse). In other words, it may not show for hours, days or even weeks. Given the current practice of limited runs on plastic locos, why take the chance of damaging a shell that may not be able to be replaced?
I ruined a couple of Kato shells over 15 yrs ago soaking them in brake fluid for about an hour each. I had used BF as a secondary stripper for years. (Used it when my primary stripper for plastic, denatured alcohol, wouldn’t cut the paint well enough). BF turned the shells extremely brittle, and they developed cracks over about a month or so. They eventually turned to dust. Since these were’nt my shells, I had to replace them. I think I spent three times the money I made from the paint job, and 6 months on the phone tracking down new shells. I didn’t know who had changed their formula, Kato or the BF manufacturer. Probably was the BF maker, new EPA rules and all that. I have said since then, don’t use BF to strip with.
Nowadays the safest thing to strip plastic with is a media blaster like Passche’s air eraser.
Ok guys I also do custom paint with 1/24th scale models. The best stuff to use is Castrol Super Clean. It comes in a purple bottle and is safe on all plastics. But wear gloves with this product as it WILL PULL ALL OIL FROM YOU SKIN!!!. You can get it at wal mart and is about 15 bucks a gallon. Best part is it will keep working as long as you keep it clean of muck. Trust me I have been using it to strip plastic for the last 4 years.
Curt
I agree on the Super Clean. It works, it doesn’t destroy any plastic I have encountered, it is cheap, and it is readily available.
Second choice would be 91% iso.