theBaron
Major
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2008
- Messages
- 10,467
Hi, all! I'd like to share this tip with you all, a tip I picked up on the Agape and Nerd Herd scale modeling forums.
I've always used oven cleaner to strip old paint from figures that I want to repaint. But it is caustic, so you have to work in a well-ventilated area and wear gloves, and work carefully.
Over at Agape and at the Nerd Herd forums, I saw people using Super Clean, an automotive degreaser, made by Castrol, I think. Last night, I picked up a gallon jug of the stuff at Walmart, and tested it:
Here is a pair of Stadden Prussian hussars that I will eventually repaint, sitting in a bath of Super Clean:
The de-greaser attacked the paint at once, bleaching it white, and I could see it was thinning off into the solution. I dipped an old toothbrush into the solution and scrubbed and noticed the paint was coming off. But I decided to let the figures sit, and see how long it would take for the paint to dissolve altogether. I came back an hour later, removed the figures and held them under running water. The paint literaly washed right off. Here is the result:
I only had to scrub a little at the figure on the right; there was some thick paint built up in some of the relief. But overall, this was astounding. And since it can be used as a drain cleaner as well, I poured the leftover Super Clean down the kitchen drain.
I also used Super Clean to remove the plating from a sprue of chromed parts from a model I'm building (Monogram's kit of Tom Daniel's Red Baron street rod). The chrome dissolved in 3 minutes.
Needless to say, the oven cleaner goes back in the kitchen cabinet. I will use this product from now on.
One caution--you do need to wear gloves with this stuff, too. But there are no caustic fumes, as with the lye-based oven cleaners, or with lacquer thinners.
Here's one more shot of one of the castings, by the way:
Look at the detail on the Säbeltasche--it's amazing! The things you find under a coat of paint.....
Prost!
Brad
I've always used oven cleaner to strip old paint from figures that I want to repaint. But it is caustic, so you have to work in a well-ventilated area and wear gloves, and work carefully.
Over at Agape and at the Nerd Herd forums, I saw people using Super Clean, an automotive degreaser, made by Castrol, I think. Last night, I picked up a gallon jug of the stuff at Walmart, and tested it:
Here is a pair of Stadden Prussian hussars that I will eventually repaint, sitting in a bath of Super Clean:
The de-greaser attacked the paint at once, bleaching it white, and I could see it was thinning off into the solution. I dipped an old toothbrush into the solution and scrubbed and noticed the paint was coming off. But I decided to let the figures sit, and see how long it would take for the paint to dissolve altogether. I came back an hour later, removed the figures and held them under running water. The paint literaly washed right off. Here is the result:
I only had to scrub a little at the figure on the right; there was some thick paint built up in some of the relief. But overall, this was astounding. And since it can be used as a drain cleaner as well, I poured the leftover Super Clean down the kitchen drain.
I also used Super Clean to remove the plating from a sprue of chromed parts from a model I'm building (Monogram's kit of Tom Daniel's Red Baron street rod). The chrome dissolved in 3 minutes.
Needless to say, the oven cleaner goes back in the kitchen cabinet. I will use this product from now on.
One caution--you do need to wear gloves with this stuff, too. But there are no caustic fumes, as with the lye-based oven cleaners, or with lacquer thinners.
Here's one more shot of one of the castings, by the way:
Look at the detail on the Säbeltasche--it's amazing! The things you find under a coat of paint.....
Prost!
Brad
