I'm looking for ideas! A while ago I bought a plastic kit, described as "started". What they actually meant was "some bits have been thrown together and Araldite chucked at it in the hope that the bits will magically line up"!
So, does anyone have any ideas on anything that I can dunk these bits in and watch the Araldite (or whatever epoxy it is) float away? I haven't had much luck searching on Google. My favoured method in these circumstances won't exactly work on plastic - Nitromors :-)
described as
thrown
You could try chucking the offending items into the freezer, some epoxy's will weaken with cold (although some need heating in an oven, not an option in your case...), otherwise I suspect that you might have to put this one down to experience! :~(
"Paul Boyd" wrote
Why would anyone use Araldite on a plastic kit? The mind boggles.
John.
John Turner said the following on 25/11/2005 09:52:
God knows!! It wouldn't be so bad if they had kept it to the joints, but it's all over the place! I suspect this one is going to be a write-off, somehow. At least it wasn't a lot of money!
Not my ideal choice at all, and I wouldn't recommend it, but the araldite seems to be doing its job if you can't get it off- shame its not doing the right job in the right place.
Fuming nitric acid will dissolve Epoxy resins, but it may well dissolve the plastic too, depending on theactual type. If you can get hold of some it may be worth trying different concentrations.
Usual safety precattions VERY necessary!!!!
Jeff
dissolve the
If that is anything like what I think it is [1], similar to the nitric acid that can be found in some types of decaying (over heated) rubber, it is NOT to be used without appropriate safety instruction and certainly not without full body (inc. face / head) protection.
[1] can cause irreversible and spreading damage to the bone structure, IIRC it dissolves calcium, the only cure AIUI is amputation above damaged bone....
No that is not Nitric Acid, it is Hydrofluoric acid that can cause bone problems.
Conc. nitric acid is still pretty nasty stuff, but we were still allowed to use it when I was at school!!
Regards Jeff
If you can get at the Araldite without it touching the plastic, dab the glue with a soldering iron (carefully) and it makes it brittle and easyish to then break off.
You can probably salvage some of the bits and pieces for the scrapbox, so it's not a total loss.
The freeze-it trick is worth a try. It usually works, because epoxy and styrene contract at different rates when they freeze. Also, epoxy is not the best glue for styrene.
Good luck!
A kit of what, though? Wrecked rolling stock kits can be finessed into "end of siding" withdrawn grot, or a scrapyard/fire-damage diorama - get some figures and a trolley, and have the scrapping crew in with crowbars and oxy cutter. Van bodies can be used as yard storage, with the worst of exterior or roof damage disguised by loads of weathering and making a tarpaulin from paint-stiffened tissue paper. Even a loco could be withdrawn awaiting scrapping, with a tarpaulin over the chimney and the rods in the tender. Buildings can be plundered for usable runs of brickwork, chimney, window frames, ridge tiles, etc., or sawn in slices to fill a backscene under trees.
There are proprietary superglue ungluing solvents which MIGHT work on two-part epoxy, and it's possible that acetone nail varnish remover may locally undo a few joints though possibly distorting the styrene too.
Otherwise, put the offending bits through the kitchen mincer and use the residue to make wagon loads! A useful tip I picked up from Expo EM a few years ago, was from a building modeller who put his bits of kit sprue and damaged parts, into a jar of the liquid poly jointing solvent/MEK - it turns into a slonk that can be applied with a cheap paintbrush to build up strengthening fillets inside joints (the dissolved styrene stops the solvent from atacking the wanted surface quite so drastically too), do flashing on rooves, fill ugly gaps and even make small ad-hoc castings in a rubber or metal mould - handy for making scrap chairs for the p-way yard, axle boxes, rotted planks, etc.
Tony Clarke
Go to Halfords and buy a tin of brake fluid. Despite a change in formulation it still seems to work on twin-pack quick-setting types. But try it on a bit of the plastic first! Takes quite a time to soften the resin.
Ken.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the obvious answer. Put a new blade in your trusty modelling knife and pare the dried Araldite away. Yes, it's time consuming, but it won't dissolve the plastic.
nitric acid can however cause flash pulmonary edema, which in the last medical book I read NOT A GOOD THING.
Dr. David Chorley
types.
Two points, make sure the plastic you try is the same type and surface area and thickness as the bits you are trying to save, secondly, brake fluid can take no time at all to soften the plastic.... There is then the problem of getting rid off all traces of the brake fluid before painting.
Only if you stick your nose over the bottle and breath in deeply several times, and only if it is on sufficient concentration to be fuming.
You can also drown in the bath which is not a good thing either.
Regards Jeff
On 26/11/2005 00:14, Enzo Matrix said,
I'm afraid it isn't as easy as that! I was thinking more about awkward shape twist burrs in a mini-drill, because there are awkward shapes involved!
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