I personally have used everything, brake fluid, Pine Sol, ELO,alchohol, and still get my best results with Chameleon.
Yes, its the most expensive option, but it works EVERYTIME!! http://www.chameleonproductsonline.com/pages/459119/
Sorry I seem so picky, but when its somebody elses model in my stripper tank, cost doesn’t seem to matter anymore.
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DOT 5 silicone brake fluid will coat your model, you will not be able to get the silicone coating off, and paint, adhesives, etc will not stick to it.
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maybe the railroads should spray their cars with this stuff – then the graffiti paint wouldn’t stick!
I told the really nice people in my train store that I wanted to strip and repaint an old Kato ConRail NW-2. The guy let me take home his Chameleon “kit” to do this one engine.
Having no other experience stripping models, I’ll still say that this stuff worked great. Removed absolutely all of the paint and decals quickly, damaged nothing at all, left no residue or odors, seemed pretty benign chemically.
I have 12 first generation switchers … from expensive sound units from Proto and BLI to old cheap Athearn dummies and burnouts that I just use as “scenery” … that I want to strip and repaint/decal in my own private road name. I think I’m going to bite the bullet and just go buy the Chameleon stuff.
Well, I remember one solvent that seemed to work at removing just about anything. That was mom’s spit on a hanky. I don’t know if the EPA had anything to do with it, but you don’t hardly see it anymore. Maybe the MSDS for it was too long…
DOT5 brake fluid won’t strip paint it will only coat your models. That’s why some in the hotrodding hobby like it because it doesn’t eat paint. DOT5 though is also twice as expensive as the lower grades and is difficult to find. Basically leave the brake fluid in your car’s master cylinder. You wouldn’t want to try and stop your car with paint thinner so don’t try to strip your models with brake fluid.
Anyone else out there try Castrol Super Clean (CSC)? It comes in gallon jugs and you basically just let the shell soak in it.
On Atlas locos when I just want to lift the “detail” paint - like roadnames - I use a cotton tip applicator to put on Micro-Sol and let it soak for 15 minutes or so. Wipes right off without damaging the underlying paint.
I’ve had a couple bad experiences with ELO… Be careful if using it on more modern plastics. It WILL desolve them. The window mulions are missing from my Kato NW-2 and I’m still trying to figure out where the cylinders from my Walthers snow plow disappeared to. I’ve had mixed results with brake fluid, particularly on plastics. The key, I think, is moderation. Don’t leave it on too long, watch for the wrinkle action and scrub it off. Repeat if necassary. It may go without saying but be sure all stripping material is removed before painting. Never tried the chameleon stuff or simple green either. Can’t comment on them.
i’ve used it on a set loco steamer (0-6-0) and it’s tender made by bachmann, hell some of the paint didn’t come off, didn’t distort the plastic in the least bit
Something I’ve been wondering for a while–why buy a painted model if you’re going to repaint it? Why not just get an undecorated model? Kato sells most or all of their engines as undecorated models, and recommends you never try to strip paint off their engines.
Because undecorated models may not be available after the initial run has been done. Thanks to the very limited runs that many modern models are done in, certain roads and undecorated models often vanish pretty quickly. Undecorated models are also rarely found at discounted prices - more often it’s roadnames that didn’t sell so well.
The difficulty of stripping Kato paint has led to a brisk trade in Kato shells on the secondhand market. This road for that road, and undecorated are always quick to go. I bought an undecorated RSC2 last year and paid a bit extra for it, because it was undecorated - which meant that the shell (which I did not need) would be easy to re-sell at a decent price.
When I was in the market, I couldn’t find undec C-Liners (don’t know about now, haven’t looked lately), and didn’t see any in Canadian Pacific. So, I bought a pair of Penn A-units, stripped 'em, did some mods (like filling in one of the fan openings), paint, detail, and add DCC/sound, and voila, I’ve got a nice pair.