I recently accquired several cars at an auction, One, which I would like to use, is made from wood, most likely basswood. It appears to have been painted by brush which has almost filled in the grooves on the wooden sides.
Does anyone have a way of stripping this paint without damaging the wood? It appears to be an older kit and has separately applied handrails ladders and other details. It is a nice car except for the paint. I need help.
Bing&Kathy,
Without knowing what kind of paint/primer/sealer was used it’s really hard to say. I would start out with Denatured Alcohol, the Marine stove fuel kind and see if it even makes a dent (remove) in it. If it starts to work a little…at least it’s a start. You won’t be able to get the paint to totally come off, for it is already in the grain of the wood, like a stain. You could also try Lacquer thinner, the real stuff, that will not harm wood either. There are more aggressive paint removers out there for wood, but usually for thicker wood…I never tried any on a model.
Good Luck! [:D]
Frank
Paint remover, you can get a liquid type, done it one before. Don’t soak it or it will affect the glue, depending on what glue they used.
I wouldn’t bother to even attempt stripping paint from a wood model. Chances are that the wood will warp badly or the glue joints will fail, leaving you with a bunch of useless parts.
One of the shortcomings of milled basswood car siding is the fact that the grooves between boards are much wider and deeper than is prototypical.
Real wooden cars were sheathed with tongue and groove planks, often with an additional groove milled into the face of each plank. Properly applied, the joints between boards were no deeper the the faux joint in each board’s face.
If the grooves in your car are only almost filled, I’d leave them as-is, as it’s probably a more accurate representation of a real wood-sided car.
If some of the grooves are actually filled completely, you may be able to lightly re-scribe them to match the almost-filled ones: use a small square and a new #11 blade to make a light pass along the groove, then use the back of the same blade to remove a bit of the loosened paint.
Wayne
Wayne is correct that just about any liquid paint remover stands a good chance of causing serious havoc with the wood and with the model.
If the paint is over-thick, has brush hairs embedded in it, and other problems caused by a poor job of brush painting, I would try mechanical means of removing the paint - NOT down to bare wood necessarily – such as very gentle sanding with fine grit paper or emery cloth. A fresh chisel blade runs the risk of gougng the wood but with care can remove thick paint and embedded hairs. I use a dentist’s pick for any needed rescribing but a fine knife blade will work too.
Dave Nelson
I was also going to suggest a dentist pic. It’s the kind of thing you can do while sitting in front of the idiot box. If you take your time you may be surprised by the results. Say AAAAHHHHH [:O]
I agree with the methods Dave suggests and I’ll add that a handy tool to have is one of those pencil shaped wire scratch brushes. You can get into corners or around details easily and you can dial the amount of stiffness you want.
http://www.micromark.com/scratch-brush,8058.html
I never appreciated how handy they are until I finally broke down and got one, and there is a nylon type for less aggressive work, too. Maybe there are other, less expensive sources than Micromark but I posted the link for reference.
They do a great job of distressing styrene to look like wood, too.
Regards, Ed
I have a tragic painted wood situation involving several ancient NWSL lumber camp cars that are wooden and came assembled, I know they were not factory finished as I was present when my dad purchased them 40+ years ago. He premitted my eldest sister, in an failed attempt to interest her in the hobby to do the painting, she proceeded to finish them in a fetching shade of Floquil B&M blue with Scarlet trim and widows slobbered on generously with a brush! Oh the crime!
Dave
Dave
Dave, Lumber camp cars were most likely painted much in the manner your sister painted them. She is probably closer to prototype than you give her credit. Old lumber camp cars were almost certainly brush painted and without too much care.
Jim