I’ve been talking all the time long about painting up some engines to MRL colors, so I thought that I would start by using some less impressive engines, or should I say less expensive engines to practice on. I spent this weekend removing the paint with Scalecoat II paint remover but after long hours of soaking and scrubbing, I’m still left with paint in the grooves. Question, what is the best technique to getting that paint removed? Here are my pictures:
Brake Fluid. I had some old tyco boxcars I wanted to strip. The Scalecoat stripper wouldn’t even get as far as your results. Tried some brake fluid and washed it right clean.
Just be sure to label the leftovers in the can … you wouldn’t want to accidentally put contaminated brake fluid in your car !!!
Mark.
I’ve used Pine-Sol and an old tooth brush with good results.
Over this past weekend - I stripped all the old paint off a loco with nothing more than Pine-Sol , a toothbrush, about 18 hours of soaking (and a little help from a dremel).
the toothbrush worked well up until the part where the bristles got all mangled and useless - at that point i moved to a wire brush in a Dremel tool. I had the Dremel on “low” and momentarily touched the brush to the spots where the paint was - maybe a half second or so. If the paint didnt come off in one pass I would hit it again, but never for more than a half-second to a second, so as to not mar the metal too badly.
It worked rather well, and the little chips that werent blown right off took nothing more than a quick swipe with the toothbrush to lift get them off when I was rinsing off the Pine Sol. Overall I think it worked rather nicely, and it painted up rather nicely again - the small scratches and scuffs from the dremel tool were completely covered by the paint, and did not show through after drying.
I’ve stripped several locos using q-tips dipped in Testor’s paint thinner, with no harm done to the plastic…EVER
Did Tyco or some other company make those locomotives? Some of the methods of removing paint will not work on some paints. Also, some of the methods will ruin models made from some companies.
I have found 91% isopropanol works good on Athearn and Walthers cars, along with Con-Cor reefers.
Zak,
Chameleon was a paint stripper I had used with some success, but apparently it’s not made anymore. I came up with this link that gives a list of possibilities: http://www.ndrr.com/rmr_faq/Models/Paint-Stripping.htm
Good luck.
Nelson
Even with brake fluid, I see the same residue of paint in the louvers and corners similar to the second and third photos. Carefully digging or scraping the paint with an X-Acto knife works. It is easier if done when the model comes out of the brake fluid and the paint is softer. The paint gets hard again when it dries.
These two engines are made from Bachmann. I soaked them for about an hour or two, fully submurged and then took a tooth brush and warm water to rense them off. I them would soak them again to get what I missed. Maybe I didn’t soak long enough.
With using Scalecoat II the Bachmann bodies didn’t seem to have much of a problem. Never did they feel soft or weak.
Castrol Super Clean. I submerge the piece or a day or two and the paint washes off easily even from creveses. Does not hurt plastic and can be reused.
Jim
I agree with Sturgeon-Phish: brake fluid, oven cleaner and commercial strippers leave stuff that Castrol gets. It’s sold as a degreaser and is in the automotive section. And it’s biodegradeable. Wear gloves anyway; your hands are biodegradeable too!
Chris
The latest "DREAM-PLAN-BUILD video has a demo about this very subject.
They use 91% isoprpyl alcohol in a plastic tupperware tub, soak the engine for a little while , then use a toothbrush to clean the paint off. layout.
Latest edition is voume #4.
I think they are good videos so far, at least it is helping me to learn.
A lot easier to watch the “HOW-TO” parts and see things explained, a lot easier than reading about it.
Ed
Saw your post about Castrol Super Clean. Was wondering if that would work on some old brass HO steam. Problem is, I have no idea what kind of paint was used. Years (many), I got talked into stripping and painting an old bronze boiler casting in O scale which had been made in the late 1930’s or 40’s. Didn’t know what kinda paint was used and eventually found out it was an item called stove enamel. Nothing short of a 50 megaton bomb would work on it. Rick Martin
Okay, I’m going to give Castol Super Clean a try. Is it sold at Walmart or do I need to go to an auto parts store? How much is a bottle?
Nelson
I have not been able to access this link is it still active?
Regards, Mike.
You’re right Mike, I get a 404. Has it been doing this long? Maybe the server is down temporarily. It was active when I posted it. It came up in a google search for Chameleon paint remover.
Nelson
CSC will work on most types of paint. It doesn’t seem work on Rivarossi/IHC passenger cars though. It’ll remove the lettering, but not the underlying paint. Another choice is Easy-Off oven cleaner. This stuff will strip paint from nearly everything. Be very careful with it though–it’s caustic and can irritate skin.
That’s what I use, though it can be bad on skin and it has fumes. I haven’t tried the no fumes type.
Some of these other methods look good to try though.
I guess that other website was wrong, because Chameleon is still made. I tried it at a train show demonstration in the 90’s and was impressed, so I bought a bottle. Worked on anything I tried. Take a look.
http://www.chameleonproductsonline.com/
Nelson