Removing Athearn BB Paint

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F

fire28

Member
I bought a Athearn BB EL GP35 and want to remove the paint. Can someone give me some ideas what to use to strip the paint? or should I primer over it and paint from their?

Thanks
Tim
 
Hi Tim - The majority of people I have talked to recommend Isopropyl Alcohol for stripping paint, preferably as strong a concentration as you can find. I have not tried it myself, but I did use brake fluid on an Athearn caboose. I had no problems, but I have heard of other people who said that the brake fluid softened the plastic. There are some good commercial strippers that have also been recommended in this forum if you do some searching.
 


I get 91 isopropyl alcohol and a cheap foil baking tin from the grocery store. Drop the shell in the tin and add enough alcohol to cover the whole thing. Cover and let sit for at least a half-hour. Usually by then I can put on some rubber gloves and wipe the paint off with my fingers, cleaning up details with an old toothbrush.

Be advised, though, that cheaper 70 iso alcohol isn't strong enough to do the job. Just trust me on that.

Jim
 
Oh5oh said:
I get 91 isopropyl alcohol and a cheap foil baking tin from the grocery store. Drop the shell in the tin and add enough alcohol to cover the whole thing. Cover and let sit for at least a half-hour. Usually by then I can put on some rubber gloves and wipe the paint off with my fingers, cleaning up details with an old toothbrush.

Be advised, though, that cheaper 70 iso alcohol isn't strong enough to do the job. Just trust me on that.

Jim
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Ok I wont ask :D.

Thanks
 
fire28 said:
Alcohol really? Ive used Nail Polish Remover with & without Acetone on metal models. Will this not work?
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Nail polish remover with acetone will melt plastic. I suspect that the nail polish remover without acetone would do the same. It has just as strong solvents in it.

The only stripper I ever used on Athearn BB was denatured alcohol, (shellac thinner). It would remove the paint in about 15 minutes. Its not as effective on the newer stuff from Athearn.
 
Denatured alcohol, 91% iso, or regular old DOT3 brake fluid will all work fine, one may take a little longer, but none more than an hour;)

Just make sure all the old paint ia gone, and the shell is washed in warm soapy water and air dried before painting. Once its been stripped, never touch it with you bare hands til after its painted!!:eek:
Otherwise, you may be starting over!:eek:
 
I either sandblast my engines or I use Scalecoat II paint stripper in a ultra sonic cleaner. The Scalecoat II stripper and ultra sonic cleaner will strip a athearn shell in about 20 minutes clean. Very little scrubbing requited.
 
I use SuperClean, available as a spray bottle, in bulk for about $8.00 at Walmart generally. This works well on most paint jobs, but I cam across an Athearn BB this week that is still soaking while the SuperClean works slowly. The paint job appears very thick, as some of the molded details have a "softer" appearance from the amount of paint on them. Use SuperClean with throw away gloves, but it is biodegradable and does not harm styrene. I keep an old firm bristle toothbrush handy for scrubbing, where needed.

Cedarwood
 
Poly-Scale ELO (Easy Lift Off) works great on the old Athearn BB's. I've also used Pine-Sol and I've had friends that used brake fluid.

Dan
 


DanRaitz said:
Poly-Scale ELO (Easy Lift Off) works great on the old Athearn BB's. I've also used Pine-Sol and I've had friends that used brake fluid.

Dan
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Really?? I've used ELO before and it wouln't take the dust off the shell.:(
What a waste of 8 bucks!:mad:
 
I use 91 percent rubbing alcohol and soak the model for about 45 minutes. Then grab an old tooth brush to get the paint off and clean the model with soap and warm water. Works well for me. The only thing you've gotta be careful of is the glue braking down. You're detail parts may fall off so keep that in mind


Sent from the past
 
91% Alcohol is the way to go. Eventually it will eat through any model paint. Leaving it in for a few days will not hurt the plastic.
 
Ok, I've been watching some of the replies. I've seen alot of recommendations for 91% alcohol. Sounds reasonable.
All my prior success has been with Chameleon, or brake fluid. While grocery shopping with SWMBO, I saw something. 99% alcohol.:eek: Well I thought, if 91% is good, than 99% had to be better, right?:rolleyes:
I had a shell to strip, so I figured, lets time this? 1 hour elapsed. No change, model felt "sticky" to the touch. !:(
1 and 1/2 hours, Paint feels a little soft, can be moved by a stiff brush so I started scrubbing.:(
2 hours now into it, paint coming off ,lettering not! :mad:
Now I notice that areas that had been scrubbed clean, paint flakes were adhereing to, making more work!!:eek:
Thats it, time to go to old reliable.
Added about 4 ounces of DOT3 brake fluid. after a breif (15 minute) soak, paint started coming off easily and staying off!:)
Once I got it all cleaned and the shell rinsed, I saved my concoction for later use. I gotta try again. see if this "mix" of alcohol and Dot3 is actually the best of both?? :rolleyes: Pictures of the bottle, the "victim" and the shell after the 2 hour point are attached.
Question to you guys swearing by alcohol? How long do you usually let it soak?
 
Beings as I started this thread I figured I'd post my findings.

91% Alcohol with a 90-120min soak worked the best. :D
DOT3 took a min of 2hrs to work. :(

So after my trials and tribulations I now have a few bottles of 91% in stock for future projects as well as a dedicated container with lid to keep the soaking items in.


Tis my 2 Cents.
 
Tim,
The funny part is, with just Dot 3, I would have been done sooner. I guess what they say is true, your mileage may vary!:rolleyes:
 


I have not had an issue with the 91% eating plastic.

I HAVE HAD problems with the Dot3 brake making the plastic more brittle, but that may have been an issue with the mfg's plastic type.

As far as soaking times, it just depends on the type of paint you are trying to remove. Just keep checking it from time to time, but 1 to 2 hours in 91% alcohol is what I seem to be running into.

I have stripped with alcohol:

1 Walthers Proto1000
4 or 5 Athearn BBs
1 Atlas or two

2 Bachmann with the Dot3.
 
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