I made a small discovery tonight while stripping paint off of a Roundhouse 4-6-0 tender body and locomotive cab. I was using 99% isopropyl alcohol with mixed success. The paint was softening but my trusty old tooth brush wasn’t making much progress.
It so happened that beside me on the work bench was a pair of tin snips. I decided that a stiffer brush would do a much better job so I used the snips to cut the bristles to about half their original length.
Amazing! Suddenly the paint scrubbed off in seconds! The brush still left no marks on the plastic.
OK I’ll bet that I am the last one to discover this little trick, but just in case there is somebody out there who is using an unmodified tooth brush and wants to do better, I thought I should share my little modification.
So, a good strategy might be to have a soft toothbrush with full length bristles for gentle scrubbing, a cut-down one for more aggressive scrubbing and maybe some type of small soft foam pad for even more delicate areas when removing paint. Cedarwoodron
I used the cut down tooth brush quite vigorously and it left absolutely no marks, even under magnification. One limitation with the cut down brush is that it is limited in its reach if you are working with deeper cavities in the molding. In those circumstances a brush with regular length bristles would come in handy.
I have noticed that my dentist usually gives me ‘soft’ brushes but there are firmer bristled brushes available at the drugstore. I don’t think that the stiffer bristles would do any damage because they are still intended for use with people’s gums so they can’t be too hard, but they might be a bit better at removing paint.
Great Tip Dave!!!
Mine are a bit curly, & after thought, your suggestion is just what they need !
I will use my hair cutter & guide to uniform them up to their new level, & superior premice!!!