Removing old dried on glue.

[Deadman Disciple]

Ive started my Del Boy Capri Pratmobile, but it came pre-built.

The clear headlamp lenses had been glued in using either old style poly cement or superglue & its turned them half misty.

I tried test fitting the 7mm lenses I bought from Kitform Services but they are too big, plus the fact they are lenses mounted onto a photoetch type material.

Is there any way I could soak the old lenses in some kind of solution to remove the years old dried on glue?

I was thinking about soaking them in white spirits, but im thinking that will melt the lenses.

I could paint them silver to cover the glue up, but only as a last resort.

Cheers,

Wayne.

 

[Belugawrx]

Hey Wayne, are the lens flat on the back,...Could you not sand and polish the glue off,...or is the glue on the fronts too ?

 

[Deadman Disciple]

Ive sanded as much as i can, but the glue remains.

The lenses are flat on the inside, im going to silver wash the outside to try & disguise the glue.

 

[Belugawrx]

post some pics

 

[the Baron]

It's tough to say for sure, given that you don't know for sure what kind of glue was used.

If you think it was CA glue (superglue), you could try a cotton swab dipped in acetone, which will dissolve the glue. You have to be careful, because it can also melt styrene, though a swab soaked in the solvent won't be hard to control. I have used this method myself.

If it looks like the glue melted the plastic as part of the bond, I'd say that it was a glue designed for use with styrene, which melts the plastic to create a weld. That kind of glue, you cannot remove. You'll have to sand down the former join to get a clean surface.

You might be able to scrape the remaining glue away, too, with an X-Acto knife.

That's about all I can think of, without seeing the piece or knowing more about the glue that was used.

 

[Grendels]

A dip in future can sometimes clear up problems on clear styrene. Just make sure that one edge is on a piece of paper towel to wick away excess. You can remove future with ammonia, so if you try it and don't like the results you can just remove it.

I have removed scratches from clear styrene by polishing with very fine sand paper and then the future dip.

 

[the Baron]

A dip in future can sometimes clear up problems on clear styrene. Just make sure that one edge is on a piece of paper towel to wick away excess. You can remove future with ammonia, so if you try it and don't like the results you can just remove it.

I have removed scratches from clear styrene by polishing with very fine sand paper and then the future dip.

Second that! I use polishing pads, which go from 1800 grit to 3600, I think, in a series of 5 or 6 successively finer grits. I recommend them highly for your tool kit.