Re; a reply from "Nigel" concerning stripping paint

[James in FL]

Nigel,
In a previous reply you state that "drying is very important" between subsequent soakings, to effectively strip the paint from a loco.

I have only been stripping loco shells for about 2 years, always using 91% isopropyl alcohol, and had not heard about drying in between soakings.
My experience to date has been limited to Atlas shells with factory paint.

Could you elaborate a bit on this?

I have recently acquired a loco (Arnold) that I needed to scavenge a particular piece from to use on another project. This newly acquired loco has been painted, what appears to be, at least 3 times without stripping between colors. As you can imagine, the paint is "heavy" and fills in the detail on the loco and particularly heavy on the piece I need to remove, filling in the detail on vents and fans.
Soaking in the alcohol for 1 hour, and then followed with a vigorous scrub with a stiff toothbrush has still not exposed the base plastic, just the various colors in different small patches.
I have no way to tell what type or brand the individual coats may be, other than to label them "stubborn to remove".

This particular part is NOT made from the same type plastic the loco shell is made from, but rather the, for lack of better words, "waxy type", plastic that the handrails and sills are made from.
It is proving difficult, as it's now approaching an additional 4 hour soak, since the last scrubbing, with minimal effect.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

I found your reply here:

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,8348.0.html

Thank you for your time.

Any of you other guys have any hints, feel free to jump in.

[glennk28]

Most discussions on stripping paint as relates to plastic shells presuppose working on removing factory paint.  When we get into repaints, all bets are off.  We may not know that sort of paint was used.  If a plastic conpatible paint, no problem.  However, if the repaint was done with a solvent-based paint like Floquil, without a "Barrier" primer, the paint can be locked into the surface by temporarily softening the plastic.  If this is the case, it ain't coming off.   gj

[James in FL]

Well after an overnight soak in the alcohol followed with yet another aggressive scrubbing, the paint has been removed from the smooth surfaces.
It still mostly remains in the vent and fan detail.

I have a few options.
I'll try and soak some sprue, of the same material, in brake fluid and test the effect on the plastic under timed conditions.
I'll try some sprue, sprayed with oven cleaner, in a "Ziplock".
I have access to stronger solvents mainly VM&P Naphtha, and mineral spirits. If I need to resort to these, I will certainly try with a "sprue test" first.
Last resort maybe to physically remove it with an exacto blade and/or a straight pin.
Hopefully it doesn't come to that.

As a side note:

Glennk28:

I did try Nigel's suggestion of soaking, scrubbing and drying repeatedly.
I too, assumed he was speaking of removing factory paint from "shells".
Obviously, his method works well for him and I will try it on my next stripping project (an early Atlas FA-1) I believe to be A1G.
However, this is not the same plastic and thought he might offer some insight to help, as to what I was/am trying to do.
Generally, my problem with this type plastic has to do with keeping the paint ON the "waxy type" plastic, rather than removing it.
Seems to me like whenever I am doing routine preventative maintenance, it includes touching up the places where the paint has fallen off the handrails.

Thanks for your input.
I kind of figured I might be on my own here, and I do realize all bets are off considering my situation and circumstance.
I still consider myself to be a "noob" with this part of the hobby, but this is how I learn through experience.
I am making progress albeit slow.

Thanks again for your reply.

[Yampa Bob]

I have a great looking old Harriman coach I chopped down to 50 feet. It had 4 or 5 coats of paint. The first coat came off easy, the other coats took a lot of elbow grease.

I finally resorted to using fine steel wool dipped lightly in various solutions, including acetone and mineral spirits. I never did get the last coat off, but it was smooth enough for a repaint.