Monday, September 03, 2007

Old tricks


1861 stripped
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
Since bleeding the brakes on the camper, I have a load of second hand brake fluid kicking around. Now, I could try selling it on eBay but I reckon even the muppetest eBayer isn’t going to buy that – not unless I can convince them that I’ve seen Princess Di’s face mysteriously floating in it anyway !

So plan B was to try stripping paint with it. It’s often written in old model railway magazines that brake fluid has excellent paint removal qualities. It's not something I’ve ever tried, preferring proper commercial paint stripper for fear of damaging the model itself.

Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. The fluid was poured into an old jam-jar (marmalade actually but we use the generic term) and then the loco body was dunked in and left overnight.

In the morning I took the photo so you can see the result. Paint made very wrinkly and loose. A bit of a scrub with an old toothbrush (Why do articles always say this, is anyone really likely to use a new one ? Surely being that stupid would have killed you years ago ?) saw a reasonably clean whitemetal loco body emerge. A little picking was required in the corners to finally remove the leftovers.

Sadly the glue the kit was assembled with wasn’t attacked so I had a little work to get the cab roof off to get at the paint inside. The cab back also turned out to be made of plasticard making me wonder if the original modeller had bought the kit second hand and found a bit missing.

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