Yes, the topic is my question, and the scene so far is that the paint on these figures has defeated my usual primary methods of stripping paint: 91% Alcohol, and Testors ELO. Some of the black paint came off, but that’s about it. These methods work great with Presier figures (and other models), but apparently not so much with Woodland Scenics.
These figures are from the Accent Figures set “Music To My Ears”, which as I mentioned in a earlier thread seemed to be one of the few (two) sources for HO scale drum kits. Upon a second look (and finding it at a discount that took it from “eye-watering ludicrously expensive” to merely “rather pricey”), I realized that the drum kit (and the upright piano, and the double bass) would look pretty decent if I did a little work and STRIPPED off the paint. A sacrificial figure was chosen (the bass player), and thrown in the alcohol for a day, then the ELO. Results were pretty much ineffective (except for the black paint on the pants).
You ask, “So why not get off your duff and ask Woodland Scenics yourself how to strip the paint”? Welllll…
NOOOOOOOOOOO!
Grrrrrrrrrr
Do’h!
KAAAAH…I mean WOOOOODLAAAAANDDD
I’m sorry, but the judges cannot accept that response, as the correct question is “what paint job is rather too gloppy and thick to form an acceptable undercoat?”.
Out of curiousity, I did a test with WS park bench. Tried Denatured Alcohol with a medium Microbrush…would not do anything. Then went for broke and dipped the Microbrush in Lacquer thinner. It will deffinitely take the paint off…if Your quick, wipe off fast with a paper towel, apply again and repeat again, fast. I was able to take the green paint off the back of a park bench, without hardly any harm or disfigurement of the plastic…but you have to not let it sit long. Give it a try and see if it will work for You.
I don’t know what WS uses for paint, but it sure is tough.
Being a Vietnam Vet 67’ and painting Trucks & Cars most of my life…at 72, I would rather handle and smell Lacquer thinner or solvent based paints than be subjected to Napalm. LOL, no laughing matter.
I’ve stripped paint from WS figures and vehicles in the past but it took a very long soak in 91% alcohol and a lot of scrubbing with a toothbrush. Only some Bachmann loco shells I stripped some years ago took longer. They had to soak for several days.
Hopefully You applied and got Your settlement from the Government. It took me two yrs, to get mine 15 yrs ago, after I found out I had it coming for where I was at. They don’t tell You that you have it coming. Mine was 28,000 dollars, lump sum. I know a few other’s that also got it and they did not know anything about it, in the beginning. You do need Your DD214, that show’s where You were at over there. A lot of question’s have to be answered…I had a VFW, VA Social worker help me with mine, that knew what to do, with the form’s. I found out in 99’ when I had Bladder cancer surgery and the other problem’s I have were directly related to agent orange.
Take Care! [:D]
Frank
BTW: You need VA Form 21-526 For Veteran’s application for compensation and/or pension.
Frank, I’m going to hold off on that lacquer thinner for now (unless desperate).
Instead, I am going to try one figure in Pine-Sol (for that fresh scent), and one figure in 91% alcohol, except this time I’ll leave him in for 2 or more days (checking ever so often) as “running bear” suggested; your phrase “hardly any harm” gives me a bit (OK, a lot) of pause. I have one more figure, the Pianist, to test with, perhaps brake fluid. I’m not worried about the figures, as now that I can see them up close they are pretty cartoonish looking - rather puffy faces with minimal detail, much like the old Plasticville figures except Bachmann’s figures did at least have realistic proportions (also, annoying lack of detail - the pianist, who you’d expect to have defined fingers has instead mittens for hands). What I need here is the musical instruments, which do seem pretty decent if I can just get that paint stripped off.
BTW, it’s OK if the thread gets a bit hijacked concerning Veteran’s Benefits, that’s fine with me.
Also I’m a bit sensitive to lung health, as both my parents had lung cancer - I figure why should anyone court cancer or COPD if they don’t have to.
You could also try a citrus based cleaner. I recently had to remove some Testors spray paint from a switcher shell and found it to be a very difficult task. ‘Super Clean’ was recommended previously on the forum. I couldn’t find that exact product but I did find a cleaner called ‘Mean Green’ which worked quite well with no damage to the shell.
I’ve had pretty good results with Scalecoat II Wash Away. And DOT III brake fluid will work, if you are careful to test it first. Depends on the plastic. Some (like Kato shells) will turn brittle…
First, soaking the Scenic Accent figures in Alcohol and Pine-Sol did nothing past the initial “fading” of the black paint on the figures trousers (except making the figures real clean and shiny, also dissolved the glue, which was helpful as I could then get the rather nice looking piano stools off the figures)
Before I moved to Brake Fluid (I do not have Scalecoat II Wash Away readily available) or lacquer thinner as recommended by others in previous posts, I tried a bottle of “Goof-Off” (yellow can), repeatedly brushing it on the piano player figure with a stiff brush and scrubing off with a toothbrush. THAT finally worked to a great extent, about 95% in the first pass. The figure softened a bit (usually not a good sign), but after washing in warm water and putting it aside overnight, this morning the figure looked OK, having returned to it’s original hardness and showing no signs of melting or distortion. This morning I did a recoat to remove more of that 5% remaining (I think I’m down to only a few spots), and also coated the clarinet player (she cleaned up more in the first pas, almost 98% - of course, it also softened the glue holding her arms to her torso, so I’ll have to fix that with CA or epoxy). Hopefullly everything looks good tonight, so I can move forward on the details I actually want (the drummer will be repurposed as a old-time bus driver in a display model I have in mind, the other musicians I’m not sure about)
I can report that 1) Yes, there is more detail when you remove the gloppy paint; 2) Faces look puffy and pudgy, which kind of throws the figures off - you can do stout people without making them cartoonish; 3) looks like everything so far (including the piano stools) is molded in sort of a pale tan/fleshtone color. I’ll need to prime.
One last test is hopefully to use a citrus cleaner - I am not certain that the Mean Green mentioned in a prior po
You are right. Mean Green is not citrus based. I was thinking of the stuff I use to clean my BBQ.
Mean Green does have a list of nasty sounding ingredients and warnings about not breathing the fumes, getting it on your skin or ingesting it. It sounds rather similar to the stuff you used.