Paint stripping with evidence.

[LMRT]

There have been many threads about paint stripping rolling stock, with many alternatives like brake fluid, brown Detol and caustic flakes. However, I've not seen any with photographic evidence, so I was going to test lots of them out, but I've stopped on my second test, as I have found Isopropyl alcohol 91% solution in my ultrasonic cleaner to suit my needs down to the ground.  Initially, I tried a water/Caustic flakes/mentholated spirits mix, but it did absolutely nothing, even after 48 hours. So next I went for IPA and am delighted with the results. I have used it on a white metal kit with gloss paint and several plastic kits with acrylic paints. This example is a Heljan class 47 before and after.

There is a bit of oxidisation, but it has not affected the plastic's texture, and while all the windows fell out, they remain perfectly clear. Most of the white residue on the roof is paint and not oxidisation or burning. The process took 5-10 minutes, with the temperature at 25 degrees Celsius, but I don't know if that has any effect on the process. 

I have also done a Hornby A4 (BR green), now smooth black plastic, and again the windows have not fogged in any way.

[doilum]

Almost 60 years ago I helped myself to some of dads Pollystripper and left a badly painted Tiang Minic Corsair in it overnight. Next day I had two axles and a pool of sludge. Lesson learned.

[DCB]

All good stuff but it's a few years down the road when it's been repainted and the paint does or does not flake off

I have stripped old Hornby Dublo locos and regretted it, should have filled the damage and sprayed over it.
Brake fluid s a good stripper but a real sod to clean off.  A disgruntled Rover employee wrote "Pigs" in brake fluid  on Rover SD1 door panels destined for police cars and the legend duly appeared as the paint fell off.
Equally plastic can go brittle or distort 

[Robin Verth]

A Word Of Warning

 

I use Detol to strip old paint from older models, but I am now wary of using it on the more modern models, I acquired a Hornby 700 class pre owned, in the advert picture it looked as if had been poorly re painted with tar brush strokes visible, when the model arrived on inspection the model looked to be poorly painted,  loco body & tender top removed and put into the Detol bath, checking regularly every 20-30 mins there was no progress on paint removal after 12 hours the plastic parts of the loco body and tender were removed from the Detol bath, they had gone soft, and what I had thought was poor repainting brush marks were damage to the plastic, it looked as if the previous owner had used Detol or something similar to remove the paint, the parts were duly consigned to the scrap bin, luckily within a week a certain auction site had a listing for a Hornby 700 body and tender at a reasonable price as the chassis from the original looked unused, I ended up with a Hornby 700 class for under £50 an a valuable lesson learnt not to use Detol on Hornby China produced models, lucky I was not out of pocket over this incident.

[NBL]

59 minutes ago, Robin Verth said:

A Word Of Warning

 

I use Detol to strip old paint from older models, but I am now wary of using it on the more modern models, I acquired a Hornby 700 class pre owned, in the advert picture it looked as if had been poorly re painted with tar brush strokes visible, when the model arrived on inspection the model looked to be poorly painted,  loco body & tender top removed and put into the Detol bath, checking regularly every 20-30 mins there was no progress on paint removal after 12 hours the plastic parts of the loco body and tender were removed from the Detol bath, they had gone soft, and what I had thought was poor repainting brush marks were damage to the plastic, it looked as if the previous owner had used Detol or something similar to remove the paint, the parts were duly consigned to the scrap bin, luckily within a week a certain auction site had a listing for a Hornby 700 body and tender at a reasonable price as the chassis from the original looked unused, I ended up with a Hornby 700 class for under £50 an a valuable lesson learnt not to use Detol on Hornby China produced models, lucky I was not out of pocket over this incident.

I've used Dettol on china produced Hornby models without a problem, and just about all other manufacturers too leaving the shell in the liquid arkund around 12 hours to work.

[Torper]

Here's some more evidence of paint stripping using an ultrasonic bath.  The top picture shows an ancient Tri-ang Caledonian coach side which a much younger me painted (very badly) in BR maroon a long long time ago.  The lower picture shows the same coach side after 45 minutes immersion in an ultrasonic bath containing a solution of 92.5% tap water and 7.5% Allendale Ultrasonics Gemeral Purpose Cleaning Fluid.  I finished it by a scrub with an old toothbrush, but the vast majority of the paint, including the original factory finish, came off during the immersion process.  Initially I tried the ultrasonic bath with just water and no cleaning fluid and it was ineffective.

 

Edited January 30 by Torper

[Barclay]

This old Matchbox lorry is shown after just under 24 hours soaking in Dettol. It had been painted in Humbrol enamel (by me) some 40 years ago and underneath that the remains of it's original livery, so I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. Plastic wheels seem fine too.

 

[Robin Verth]

On 30/01/2024 at 07:19, NBL said:

I've used Dettol on china produced Hornby models without a problem, and just about all other manufacturers too leaving the shell in the liquid arkund around 12 hours to work.

To be honest I did not know what product was originally used to  strip the paint off the 700 class, I had assumed it was something like Detol, it may have been a harsher commercial paint stripper that affected the composition of the plastic mouldings, though some of the plastic parts were unaffected, I have since used Detol on some China produced models with no problem. 

[NBL]

Another product to try is LA's Totally Awesome from Amazon etc.  I've been hearing of some great results with it.

 

Its widely used in the US modelling world 

[The Fatadder]

On 29/01/2024 at 20:14, LMRT said:

There have been many threads about paint stripping rolling stock, with many alternatives like brake fluid, brown Detol and caustic flakes. However, I've not seen any with photographic evidence, so I was going to test lots of them out, but I've stopped on my second test, as I have found Isopropyl alcohol 91% solution in my ultrasonic cleaner to suit my needs down to the ground.  Initially, I tried a water/Caustic flakes/mentholated spirits mix, but it did absolutely nothing, even after 48 hours. So next I went for IPA and am delighted with the results. I have used it on a white metal kit with gloss paint and several plastic kits with acrylic paints. This example is a Heljan class 47 before and after.

There is a bit of oxidisation, but it has not affected the plastic's texture, and while all the windows fell out, they remain perfectly clear. Most of the white residue on the roof is paint and not oxidisation or burning. The process took 5-10 minutes, with the temperature at 25 degrees Celsius, but I don't know if that has any effect on the process. 

I have also done a Hornby A4 (BR green), now smooth black plastic, and again the windows have not fogged in any way.

One other thing to bare in mind when stripping paint with >90% IPA is that the IPA doesnt damage glazing.  So if you are stripping something like a Hornby HST powercar which has unique curved glazing that is impossible to source replacements for, soaking the body in IPA will soften the glue meaning the glazing can easily be removed without any damage.  (Sometimes it needs a separate soak in clean IPA to clean off any residual paint that has moved onto it while cleaning up).

 

Ive never tried it in an ultrasonic bath, sounds like that speads up the process a fair bit vs room temp IPA in a bottle that I use (up to a couple of hours depending on the OEM paint thickness).

[Daddyman]

I've found that when using IPA to strip Bachmann class 37 yellow ends, where the paint is very thick, I seem to be able to leave finger prints. However, the prints can be washed off with IPA, so perhaps I'm not making prints in the plastic itself, but just in the IPA and paint gunk mix? 

[Barclay]

I'm pleased with how this turned out, but a strange thing when I was re-assembling it - the tyres are now very loose on the wheels. Does this mean the Dettol has shrunk them or very slightly dissolved them? Easily fixed in this case with a thin wrap of masking tape.

 

 

[andyman7]

4 minutes ago, Barclay said:

I'm pleased with how this turned out, but a strange thing when I was re-assembling it - the tyres are now very loose on the wheels. Does this mean the Dettol has shrunk them or very slightly dissolved them? Easily fixed in this case with a thin wrap of masking tape.

 

 

If they're the hard plastic Matchbox tyres they all end up loose, even in the 70s the secondhand 60s Matchbox models all had loose tyres. Nothing to do with the stripping, it seems it's a property of the material the tyres are made of vs the hubs.

[TinTracks]

Hi

 I've a stash of old S/H  Airfix kits . Last night I stripped a couple off using my 'go to' cheapo £2.75 drain cleaner caustic crystals. Just a couple of capfulls in the tray of warm water. I suspect it was enamel paint and that it was quite a few years old. The paint came off in less than 15 mins. 

 I've used this method for years on everything from Dublo diecast locos to Triang plastic stuff with few problems. Occasionally I come across a paint that won't shift, I then resort to olde fashioned brown Dettol

 Regards, Rich

Edited February 16 by TinTracks
Corrected Domestos to Dettol

[cypherman]

On 12/02/2024 at 14:24, Barclay said:

I'm pleased with how this turned out, but a strange thing when I was re-assembling it - the tyres are now very loose on the wheels. Does this mean the Dettol has shrunk them or very slightly dissolved them? Easily fixed in this case with a thin wrap of masking tape.

 

 

Hi, I think Marty from Marty's Matchbox Makeovers would be proud of this restoration. Very nicely done.

[pylonman]

Hi.

 

I've had some success in the past with brown Dettol, in OO, and I've just done an O gauge class 47 repaint.

Totally submerse the item and leave it for 12 hours or more.

Couple of problems ;

1. Cleaning the sticky mess off the model, after stripping.

2. Some fogging on the clear window parts ; which is difficult/impossible to remove.

 

I've got another O gauge 47 to strip, and I've bought a gallon of IPA to do that one, as I've heard from posts on this forum, and in this topic, that it is much better to use.

 

As it will be my first time using this, any advice would be welcome.

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

[Hal Nail]

On 16/02/2024 at 10:03, pylonman said:

As it will be my first time using this, any advice would be welcome.

get one of those cheap oblong plastic plant trays and do one side at a time. Then you will have 9/10 of a gallon left for the next project!

 

Edited February 17 by Hal Nail

[pylonman]

Thanks for the advice Hal Nail.

 

For the 47 I've already stripped, I went to the local garden center and got a planting trough, rather than the drip trays, which is about an inch larger than a 47 body, all round.  

 

Your suggestion will use a lot less IPA.

[hogger]

I second the isopropyl alcohol method.  I am in Canada and go to Costco and buy the alcohol in a box of six bottles.  Very inexpensive.  I use a food container with a lid that has a rubber seal.  The container is 12 inch high to accommodate long locos.  The paint generally comes off in 24 hours or less.  The only models it does not work with are Kato diesels.  I don't know what type of paint is used, but it is tough to remove.  The best job was a Spectrum SD45 which began to peel in one hour.  After a 24 hour soak, or less, I scrub the shell or body with a stiff toothbrush and if necessary put the shell back in the alcohol for one more day and then repeat the scrubbing.  This gets all the paint off.  The clear plastic windows may or may not fall of as may other detail parts. 

Then, I pour the alcohol through a hand held sieve into a funnel and back into the alcohol bottle.  When done, all you have in the sieve are the paint scrap pieces and any loose detail parts.  Separate these and then rinse the sieve, and presto your done.  The only British model I have done so far is a Lima Class 37, which worked like a charm.  

[Barclay]

Is IPA available off the shelf in the UK in the same way as it seems to be in the US and Canada?

[cctransuk]

9 minutes ago, Barclay said:

Is IPA available off the shelf in the UK in the same way as it seems to be in the US and Canada?

 

The most economical way to obtain IPA is in 5L containers via the internet.

 

CJI.

[cctransuk]

2 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

The most economical way to obtain IPA is in 5L containers via the internet.

 

CJI.

 

Having said which - I invariably use Mr. Muscle oven cleaner, in the orange aerosol can.

 

Foul smell - gets me in the back of the throat - but sprayed into a polythene food bag containing the model; sealed; and left for 24 hours, it has yet to fail.

 

CJI.

[Buhar]

IPA (or almost any alcohol based chemical) is pretty much unobtainable in Turkey, I don't know how the few 3D resin printer folk manage.  

 

Alan

[PaulCheffus]

On 09/02/2024 at 08:14, The Fatadder said:

One other thing to bare in mind when stripping paint with >90% IPA is that the IPA doesnt damage glazing.  So if you are stripping something like a Hornby HST powercar which has unique curved glazing that is impossible to source replacements for, soaking the body in IPA will soften the glue meaning the glazing can easily be removed without any damage.  (Sometimes it needs a separate soak in clean IPA to clean off any residual paint that has moved onto it while cleaning up).

Hi

 

Thanks for the above information as it has enabled me to get the glazing out of a Farish class 24 completely intact.

 

Cheers

 

Paul

[25kV]

For IPA stripping I bought some tall 2 litre glass kitchen jars (for storing spaghetti etc) with an airtight lid.  Filled one of these with IPA and it's the perfect length for dunking a couple of loco/coach bodies.

(from Amazon)