landscapes Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Hi Guys Can anyone please advise me if it is possible to remove Johnsons,s Klear original polish from the plastic body of a Hornby A4 locomotive. I have use this product before for sealing transfers, but this time I brushed a couple of coats onto the A4 body and tender sides and to be honest I have made a bit of a dogs breakfast of the job. Can it be removed? The inside of the Klear bottle label states it can be removed using a household ammonia and water solution, but this is for floor tiles and I am not sure if this would work on a plastic model. If not then I will have a very good spare Hornby A4 chassis and wheel set. Regards David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Gilbert Posted January 8, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 8, 2011 You could always try a conventional stripper like Superstrip or similar (on a very small section first!) Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted January 8, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 8, 2011 Plastic kit builders use Fairy Powerspray oven cleaner to remove most types of paint. The method is to spray the item and then leave it sealed in a plastic bag or box for 24 to 48 hours. Then it should just wash off. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 I am not sure if Powerspray will easly remove Klear. The way most plastic modellers remove Klear is with Windolene (thats the green clear liquid not the purple coloured cream) simply spray the Windolene on and then wipe the Klear off. I've used this method many times it's easy and does work. The only problem is that the formulation of Windolene has recently changed and no longer contains ammonia which was the active ingredient(If you have an old bottle of Windolene it might be worth a try as it could be the old formulation). Therefore I now use diluted ammonia around 1 part ammonia to 15/20 parts water the ratio is not critical (best to mix this outdoors as it's not advisable to breath ammonia fumes) This mix is also effective at cleaning airbrushes of certain acrylic paints such as Tamiya. Household ammonia can be obtained from most hardware stores although I've not seen it sold at Homebase or B&Q a small bottle will last ages. With Powerspray it's normally best to leave it on for no longer than an hour, if left too long it dries out and can become difficult to remove,I can vouch for Powerspray's effectiveness as a paint remover having used it to remove both acrylics and enamels Malcolm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
landscapes Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 Many thanks for all of you who kindly replied to my request for help. I think I will go with the diluted ammonia and water mix as this was the instructions given for the removal by Johnson's as a first option, if that does not work I will work down the list of your recommendations. Thanks again for your help. Regards David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted January 8, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 8, 2011 Johnson's Klear is an acrylic. If you use Powerspray to remove it the purpose of sealing it into a plastic bag or airtight container is to prevent drying out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mal Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Even sealed Powerspray will still dry out and then becomes harder to remove.Although I am not saying Powerspray will not remove Klear the accepted way in the plastic model world of removing Klear is with ammonia (or at least an ammonia based product such as Windolene which used to be readily available and cheap). As not all acrylic paints,varnish and coatings are chemically the same,I hesitated in advising the use of Powerspray to remove Klear but by all means experiment,Powerspray certainly won't harm a plastic bodyshell it's just rather an expensive way to remove Klear when cheaper proven alternatives are available.Klear as a protective floor coating may be impervious to the active ingredients in Powerspray which I believe is sodium hydroxide. Malcolm Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
landscapes Posted January 11, 2011 Author Share Posted January 11, 2011 Hi Guys Here is the latest update on the removal of Johnson's Klear from a Hornby A4 plastic loco body for anyone who is interested. I can confirm first hand a small amount of household ammonia diluted with about 20 parts of tap water gently brushed onto the loco body removes all traces of Klear back to the plastic finish with no damage to the loco and tender bodywork or to the transfers, i.e. cab side numbers, tender logos and linings. Again many thanks to all of you who replied and help to save 60012 Commonwealth of Australia from scrapping. Regards David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackRat Posted January 11, 2011 Share Posted January 11, 2011 Good result and nice to know for future reference! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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