the Baron
Ich bin ja, Herr, in Deiner Macht
- Joined
- May 12, 2009
- Messages
- 1,943
Hi, everybody!
It's finally warmed up enough to the point where I can sit at my bench in the basement again--January was a cooooollllllllllddddd month this time around So, it's back to projects.
This is something I've wanted to try for a while--using the de-greaser Super Clean to remove the plating from a sprue of chromed parts. I've read references here and at Agape Modeling (thanks, Andy Mason!), and saw the results. I've used oven cleaner until now, but I think I can put the Easy Off back in the cabinet in the kitchen. This stuff works so well, and with a little less fuss, than the caustic, lye-based oven cleaner.
Here's a shot of the bottle I bought, at Walmart, for $7:
It also comes in smaller spray bottles, but I could only find the gallon size. No matter, I will get good use of this quantity.
The parts that I wanted to clean are the chrome bits for Monogram's kit of Tom Daniel's Red Baron hot rod. It's my entry in the Automotive Fellowship Build at Agape. I'm building it out of the box (no ignition harness, eg), but I couldn't reconcile myself to the visible sprue gates and seams that I would have had, if I couldn't putty and sand. The helmet, for example, has three small gates, plus it was scratched in the bag. But I hesitated for nearly 6 months, afraid of damaging the parts. But in the meantime, I saw the references to Super Clean, so it was time to try it.
Here is a preliminary batch of parts, with the sprue cut apart, to fit in the old dish I used for the bath:
I poured in enough Super Clean to cover the parts, and walked back to the bench for some things. I came back three minutes later, and eh, voila!:
Look at that! The chrome was gone, the parts were as red as the rest of the kit, and cleaner, for that matter.
I threw in the rest of the sprue and cleaned all of the parts:
I removed the parts from the bath and rinsed them under the tap, and here they are, drying on some paper toweling:
Super Clean worked great! I began assembling some of these parts after I took these pics, and the parts were dry. Now I can clean up the seams on the fuel tank and air intake. I will "replace" the chrome with gloss silver or chrome paint, probably Krylon or Rustoleum. I will use Super Clean to clean paint from plastic parts, going forward. And since one of its uses is as a drain cleaner, I poured the leftover liquid down the kitchen drain, then flushed with hot water, and cleaned up some clogging.
Now, that was great for plastic parts, but I also paint metal figures, and need to clean those. So, here's the second experiment, a pair of Seven Years War Prussian hussars by Stadden, eBay finds, and already painted. I dropped these in the bath and waited:
In this case, it did take a little longer for the solution to work. I did notice that the surface of the paint turned white in a minute or so, and I was able to scrub some of it off with an old toothbrush. But I decided to let the pieces soak, and see whether the paint would dissolve, as the chrome had. I went to other things for about an hour, then removed the figures, and held them under running water. The paint just washed away. Here is the result:
I used the toothbrush a little bit, but basically, the paint washed off, especially on the figure on the left of the photo.
Verdict is: Super Clean works great and I will use this, going forward.
Hope you found this helpful, and thanks for looking!
YbiC
Brad
It's finally warmed up enough to the point where I can sit at my bench in the basement again--January was a cooooollllllllllddddd month this time around So, it's back to projects.
This is something I've wanted to try for a while--using the de-greaser Super Clean to remove the plating from a sprue of chromed parts. I've read references here and at Agape Modeling (thanks, Andy Mason!), and saw the results. I've used oven cleaner until now, but I think I can put the Easy Off back in the cabinet in the kitchen. This stuff works so well, and with a little less fuss, than the caustic, lye-based oven cleaner.
Here's a shot of the bottle I bought, at Walmart, for $7:
It also comes in smaller spray bottles, but I could only find the gallon size. No matter, I will get good use of this quantity.
The parts that I wanted to clean are the chrome bits for Monogram's kit of Tom Daniel's Red Baron hot rod. It's my entry in the Automotive Fellowship Build at Agape. I'm building it out of the box (no ignition harness, eg), but I couldn't reconcile myself to the visible sprue gates and seams that I would have had, if I couldn't putty and sand. The helmet, for example, has three small gates, plus it was scratched in the bag. But I hesitated for nearly 6 months, afraid of damaging the parts. But in the meantime, I saw the references to Super Clean, so it was time to try it.
Here is a preliminary batch of parts, with the sprue cut apart, to fit in the old dish I used for the bath:
I poured in enough Super Clean to cover the parts, and walked back to the bench for some things. I came back three minutes later, and eh, voila!:
Look at that! The chrome was gone, the parts were as red as the rest of the kit, and cleaner, for that matter.
I threw in the rest of the sprue and cleaned all of the parts:
I removed the parts from the bath and rinsed them under the tap, and here they are, drying on some paper toweling:
Super Clean worked great! I began assembling some of these parts after I took these pics, and the parts were dry. Now I can clean up the seams on the fuel tank and air intake. I will "replace" the chrome with gloss silver or chrome paint, probably Krylon or Rustoleum. I will use Super Clean to clean paint from plastic parts, going forward. And since one of its uses is as a drain cleaner, I poured the leftover liquid down the kitchen drain, then flushed with hot water, and cleaned up some clogging.
Now, that was great for plastic parts, but I also paint metal figures, and need to clean those. So, here's the second experiment, a pair of Seven Years War Prussian hussars by Stadden, eBay finds, and already painted. I dropped these in the bath and waited:
In this case, it did take a little longer for the solution to work. I did notice that the surface of the paint turned white in a minute or so, and I was able to scrub some of it off with an old toothbrush. But I decided to let the pieces soak, and see whether the paint would dissolve, as the chrome had. I went to other things for about an hour, then removed the figures, and held them under running water. The paint just washed away. Here is the result:
I used the toothbrush a little bit, but basically, the paint washed off, especially on the figure on the left of the photo.
Verdict is: Super Clean works great and I will use this, going forward.
Hope you found this helpful, and thanks for looking!
YbiC
Brad