can brakecleaner used on autos take paint off plastic models without ruining them? rambo1…
It will from a car for the vandals out there.
Soak it in alcohol, I have heard here at the site it will work.
Rambo, it you really like the car I will strip it for you. I have a small sand blaster that I can shoot baking soda through.
Cuda Ken
Not according to my experience. I tried it on a Proto 2000 hopper some years ago. It made the plastic very brittle and it broke apart like an eggshell. I haven’t tried it again since.
Many years ago, brake FLUID (not cleaner) was recommended as a ‘soak it soft’ solution for the painted plastic shells of the day (Athearn BB.) I haven’t seen any reference to it in a long time.
If you have something expendable (e.g., something cut off as part of a kitbash) you might try pouring some brake fluid in a glass and soaking the part to see if:
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The paint will soften.
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The plastic won’t.
I wouldn’t try it on anything I want to keep until I’ve seen it work on something I’m ready to toss in the trash.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I’ve never tried brake cleaner. Brake fluid will, I see it mentioned all the time. It hasn’t gone away at all and it’s probably the most effective stuff out there, but that’s some nasty nasty stuff. So you have to be careful how you handle it AND watch how long you leave the models in.
I’d just use pinesol. Works well and leaves the models with a pine fresh scent.
I have never used brake fluid because of the above menioned problems. I have used Pinesol to strip paint off of Kato and Athearn BB locomotives with good results.
Breakclean will remove the paint along with the plastic shell also. Depending on which brand you use will determine how much of a blob of plastic you will end up with. Some will melt the plastic before your eyes and others will make it harden to the point it will fracture just looking at it. They all say it will (not may) cause cancer in the state of California. As long as your not in California I guess it would be OK.
Try a little good old fashion gritty tooth paste and a drip of water. Add a little elbow grease to the mix and go to town.
Pete
90% Isopropyl alcohol and a dollar store tooth brush will remove just about any model paint. Brake fluid I think it had to be DOT 3 the old stuff not DOT 5 left a film behind and you had to rinse the part and then rinse it again the tiniest little bet left behind spells disaster as it never really evaporated completely. An air eraser such as Ken mentioned works well to and the baking soda only removes the paint and will not harm the plastic. I have a guy come to the shop on a regular basis when I want something stripped for a complete paint job
“can brakecleaner used on autos take paint off plastic models without ruining them?”
if you are talking about the spray can, it will probably remove anything along with a good portion of the plastic and some of your exposed skin. besides, the fumes will make you crazier than an outhouse rat.
do not use it.
grizlump
As a certified Automotive Technician, brake cleaner should be used for it’s designed use…brakes. A few years ago I got some of it in my eye and it sucked every ounce of moisture out of it. I spent 3 hours in the ER with a constant flush of fluids on it so my eyeball wouldn’t dry up. I would not recommend it for hobby use.
Brake cleaner in the spray can is great for removing brake dust, etc. from a car wheel. It will also kill about any flying insect (wasps, bees, flies, etc.) instantly. Oh, and you, too, if you inhale the fumes. It will also take off the plastic on a plastic model. That is evil stuff, man!
Better to use the 90% isopropyl alcohol. I do use brake fluid (DOT3) for removing paint on Athearn BB models, AHM/Rivarossi passenger cars, and a few other things.
“Can brake cleaner remove paint?”
Does Elmer Fudd have trouble with the letter “R?”
Bwake fwuid is faw bwakes. Not twains. Siwwy Wambo.
The above is one of the only straight forward answers to be found in this thread honestly and accurately addressing the OP’s question and the situation.
Like it or not, brake fluid works better than any of the other commercial chemical approaches…particularly on older cars and locomotives, which many of the other strippers will hardly even touch. Alcohol, hobby strippers, pinesol, etc. range from modestly effective to virtually ineffective, depending on the company the model is from and what its vintage is. Incidentally, some of the Kato stuff is really bad news when it comes to stripping.
As with brake fluid, each of the other methods has its distinct disadvantages, too. However, I must have stripped 100 cars and locos over the years with brake fluid (and tried all the other approaches as well, with less success) and never had a plastic body go brittle and the stripping was accomplished completely in under 30 minutes. That’s far less than the up to 24 hours some other approaches required and with a better job accomplished. Regarding safety, as with any caustic stripper if you follow the proper safety rules, brake fluid is no more dangerous than any other approach.
CNJ831
Rambo,
Might be helpful if you indicated which brand name and type of models you have in mind for paint stripping as various brands react differently to chemicals used for paint stripping.
Proto 2000, Rivarossi, IHC, Bachmann, and modern Atlas units are stripped easily with 91% alcohol.
Kato loco shells, according to many previous threads, can be “hit or miss” when stripping with alcohol. I would be very cautious about testing brake cleaner on anything from Kato.
Old Athearn Blue Box loco shells, on the other hand, are tougher to strip. Since those shells were slightly thicker than the typical modern model shells, soaking them in brake fluid was a standard routine back in the day.
Here’s something worth checking out:
Brake fluid used to be the classic Model Railroader suggestion for removing paint, from back when most models were metal of course. Now realize, back then the classic suggestion was also “when you’re done just pour it down the kitchen sink” and “shredded asbestos makes great scenery material.” Carbon tetrachloride was strongly urged to clean wheels and motor commutators. Power packs had slot headed screws so you had easy access to the innards. Few powertools had three prong plugs.
No wonder the average age of model railroaders was so much younger then!
And more guys were good scratchbuilders because they had grown a sixth finger to hold stuff with …
Brake fluid also worked on many plastic models. There are/were other commerical paint removers too of course and the faster acting they are, the more toxic they seem to be (and the fewer good options there are for disposal).
The plastics are changing as well: I recall the anguished comments in these forums about guys who tried to strip the paint from those beautiful Kato HO business cars and had the plastic simply disintegrate on them.
Dave Nelson
Sorry CNJ, but I have to disagree, partially, with one of your points:
"Like it or not, brake fluid works better than any of the other commercial chemical appro