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Trying to save a Gresley Suburban


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I picked up three tatty Hornby Gresley Suburbans that someone had tried to paint /weather without success. I think they they have used enamel paint in quite a few locations and I would ideally like to remove it or at least reduce it. 

 

Does anyone have any tips of what to use? I have tried enamel thinners and a it took a bit of weathering powder off but that's it....help?!!!

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12 hours ago, Mick Bonwick said:

Isopropyl alcohol (if you can get any) on a cotton bud, rubbed gently. Be careful, whatever you use. because you'll risk taking off the original paint as well.

Any tips on how best to use it? The stuff I have ordered claims to be 99.9% proof. 

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20 minutes ago, twoscoops said:

Any tips on how best to use it? The stuff I have ordered claims to be 99.9% proof. 

 

Decant some IPA into a dish and then reseal the bottle - it evaporates very quickly.

 

Dip the cotton bud into the dish - you don't need to soak it.

 

Apply the tip of the cotton bud to the model and rub gently in a circular motion, covering a small area at a time. On your coach(es), working on one panel at a time will be good.

 

Check the area you're working on frequently, so that you don't take off too much of the original paint. Don't use too much IPA at a time or you'll end up with a white bloom on the paint surface that will then be difficult to remove.

 

Be aware that you will end up with a glossy surface, but if you're going to weather it properly afterwards, that won't matter.

 

The Hornby model of Resolven Grange comes ready-weathered and I have successfully removed the weathering using the preceding method, as shown here part of the way through the process:

 

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Edited by Mick Bonwick
Inserting the correct photograph.
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10 minutes ago, twoscoops said:

Thanks Mick for the explanation and photo. 

 

Theakerr, no I havent tried Dettol.....I will see if I can find some under the sink.

Most people use Dettol as paint stripper so I would advise caution here. It also softens the plastic and can lead to damage.

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7 hours ago, Corbs said:

Most people use Dettol as paint stripper so I would advise caution here. It also softens the plastic and can lead to damage.

Make sure its the brown Dettol!

 

I've never had any damage from Dettol, however the max time I leave plastic submerged in it is around 8 hours.

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I now wonder if Detol in Canada is not the same as Detol in the UK.  I have left stuff soaking in brown (that is the only one available over here) for long times, like over night from perhaps 20:00 to 10:00 with absolutely no softening of the plastic.   In fact as I said it is a slow process. 

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14 hours ago, Theakerr said:

I now wonder if Detol in Canada is not the same as Detol in the UK.  I have left stuff soaking in brown (that is the only one available over here) for long times, like over night from perhaps 20:00 to 10:00 with absolutely no softening of the plastic.   In fact as I said it is a slow process. 

Sorry, just to be clear.....when you guys are talking about leaving it to soak in Dettol, you are trying to strip it back to the original plastic and take all paint off arent you?

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11 hours ago, twoscoops said:

Sorry, just to be clear.....when you guys are talking about leaving it to soak in Dettol, you are trying to strip it back to the original plastic and take all paint off arent you?

Yeah, thats a method I've been using for years.  I use it because its a) effective, b) readily available & c) cheap!

 

As I've said I've never had any softening/damage to plastic, but I have an old replica BG shell that I've had sitting in dettol for 24 hours now, I'll check to see if there is any damage tomorrow morning

 

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Yes and No.  The No is because I have used it to remove 'weathering' on some badly weathered models.  Basically I soak a q-tip in the Detol and gently wipe it down over the offending weathering.  In a some cases i have been able to remove the weathering with just a q-tip soaked in Tamiya thinner but sometimes it was a bit harder (or different paint manufacturer) and that is where I used the Detol.   Trial and error I'm afraid, especially since I dont like using IPA, it is just too vicious.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 04/05/2020 at 08:59, Corbs said:

Most people use Dettol as paint stripper so I would advise caution here. It also softens the plastic and can lead to damage.

 

Yes absolutely I learnt this the hard way. I have used dettol to strip miniatures from a well known wargames manufacturer and had no issues with it softening the plastic.

 

Naively I assumed that the same would apply for RTR rolling stock and was horrified to see how it had melted the detail off the wagons in question and in one case caused a groove to appear in the side of one where presumably something was resting against it.

 

Personally I now use meths, a paint brush, patience and a great big bucket of soapy water.

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