Removing Bachmann Paint

[cctransuk]

Can anyone recommend a substance that will remove Bachmann factory paint, please?

 

My usual method of spraying the model with Mr. Muscle oven cleaner foam, and leaving it in a poly bag overnight has - for the first time - failed me.

 

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Guest Half-full]

I've been using Dettol (original brown stuff) for more years than my memory admits.  

 

My method is:

 

Strip the body of any glazing and easily removable handrails

Leave it in a jar filled with enough dettol to just over half way up the shell and let sit overnight

Use a dry old toothbrush to agitate and remove as much factory finish/dettol mulch as you can

Rinse it under a cold tap

Agitate again, rinse and repeat until there is no residue left

Wash down with washing up liquid and rinse, allow to dry - same with the brush

Put the other half of the shell in the dettol and repeat all of the above

 

If you are lucky you might get all the paint off that half of the shell first go, if not it'll need redoing until its all gone

 

I find Bachmann shells will be fully stripped after one pass, Hornby take a couple.  I haven't tried Heljan or Dapol

 

[forest2807]

Apologies for the screenshot but I couldn’t link to the original post, and thanks to Wardrail; I have been using this recipe successfully for a while now.

 

[cctransuk]

5 hours ago, Half-full said:

I've been using Dettol (original brown stuff) for more years than my memory admits.  

 

My method is:

 

Strip the body of any glazing and easily removable handrails

Leave it in a jar filled with enough dettol to just over half way up the shell and let sit overnight

Use a dry old toothbrush to agitate and remove as much factory finish/dettol mulch as you can

Rinse it under a cold tap

Agitate again, rinse and repeat until there is no residue left

Wash down with washing up liquid and rinse, allow to dry - same with the brush

Put the other half of the shell in the dettol and repeat all of the above

 

If you are lucky you might get all the paint off that half of the shell first go, if not it'll need redoing until its all gone

 

I find Bachmann shells will be fully stripped after one pass, Hornby take a couple.  I haven't tried Heljan or Dapol

 

 

Thanks for that - much appreciated.

 

I have to confess to being a little wary of Dettol, ever since someone reported here that a body soaked in it has gone soft and lost detail.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, forest2807 said:

Apologies for the screenshot but I couldn’t link to the original post, and thanks to Wardrail; I have been using this recipe successfully for a while now.

 

 

I'll give that a try - I have caustic soda and meths in stock; thanks very much.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[forest2807]

You are welcome John. I’ve found that it can take a huge variation in lengths of time to shift paint; anything from 20 minutes but occasionally much longer - 24 hours sometimes is required.

[Guest Half-full]

12 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Thanks for that - much appreciated.

 

I have to confess to being a little wary of Dettol, ever since someone reported here that a body soaked in it has gone soft and lost detail.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

I think that can happen if you leave too long.  Generally I'll pot the shell in the dettol about 10pm, and clean off around 10am.  I wouldnt leave any longer than that just in case

[rob D2]

Precision superstrip has always worked on Bachmann diesels for me 

[nightstar.train]

On 22/06/2020 at 15:38, cctransuk said:

Can anyone recommend a substance that will remove Bachmann factory paint, please?

 

My usual method of spraying the model with Mr. Muscle oven cleaner foam, and leaving it in a poly bag overnight has - for the first time - failed me.

 

Any help greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

 

Hope this isn’t too late for you but I’ve had great success with surgical spirit. It’s pretty much identical to isopropyl alcohol, with a small amount of oil added, but much easier to obtain from boots. Fill a jar with surgical spirits and submerge the coach at least half way up. I did have to use a few pebbles to get the level up as it’s quite a large jar and I’ve only got a 500ml bottle of spirits. Submerging a Dapol coach for an hour shifted all the paint off. Lima ones seem to need a bit longer to get all the paint off, 90 minutes or so. Just give them a good wash in soapy water to remove any traces of oil afterwards. Then flip and submerged the other end. 

[cctransuk]

7 minutes ago, nightstar.train said:

 

Hope this isn’t too late for you but I’ve had great success with surgical spirit. It’s pretty much identical to isopropyl alcohol, with a small amount of oil added, but much easier to obtain from boots. Fill a jar with surgical spirits and submerge the coach at least half way up. I did have to use a few pebbles to get the level up as it’s quite a large jar and I’ve only got a 500ml bottle of spirits. Submerging a Dapol coach for an hour shifted all the paint off. Lima ones seem to need a bit longer to get all the paint off, 90 minutes or so. Just give them a good wash in soapy water to remove any traces of oil afterwards. Then flip and submerged the other end. 

 

Thanks for that - much appreciated.

 

It would seem that different manufacturers' paints need different strippers - and they change their paint formulations too.

 

Way back, I used to swear by methylated spirits for stripping Tri-ang Hornby and Lima bodies - the Lima paint just rinsed off immediately, but the TH ones needed an overnight soak.

 

More recently, most models responded to a spray of Mr. Muscle oven cleaner foam in a poly bag, left overnight to 'pickle'. However, the latest Bachmann finish seems to resist all my recipes.

 

Whatever - my latest project is repainting a Bachmann inspection saloon from blue / grey to blood & custard. The numbering and white lining was removed merely by scraping with a fingernail, and the actual blue / grey paint was oversprayed lightly with Halfords white primer.

 

It was then simply a case of an overall spray of Phoenix BR cream, followed by masking and a spray of Phoenix BR crimson.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[nightstar.train]

3 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Thanks for that - much appreciated.

 

It would seem that different manufacturers' paints need different strippers - and they change their paint formulations too.

 

Way back, I used to swear by methylated spirits for stripping Tri-ang Hornby and Lima bodies - the Lima paint just rinsed off immediately, but the TH ones needed an overnight soak.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

 

The manufacturers do seem to change their paint over time. The first Dapol coach I did this morning was in executive livery and the paint came right off no problem with an hours soak. Tried this evening with a blue and grey coach and it wasn’t shifting at all after an hour. After a two hour soak a little came off with vigorous scrubbing with a washing up brush. So tomorrow I’ll be giving them a much longer soak. 

 

Can surgical spirits run out? I’ve stripped three coaches in it now. Still smells just as strong.