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Dis-assembling a kit


Lawzer

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Folks,

 

after a perhaps moment of madness I have bought a (thinking about it not that!) cheap 1/48 monogram typhoon off fleabay that's built up with the intention of stripping back to parts then re-building as a FR 1b (as one of the cannon barrels is missing which suits my needs :) ).

 

Now for paint removal (I'm assuming its enamels - looks like it from the photos) I've read a good soak in dettol will do the trick?

 

As for "splitting" the parts - any tips?  I'm guessing (again) it's not tamiya extra thin that's been used by the look of it.  I have some super glue de-bonder but I can;t see that working with non-ca?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Ian

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For disassembly, and you'll need to clear some space for this, stick it in the freezer overnight.  This tends to weaken the glue joints, but be careful when separating parts not to use too much force and actually damage them.  If accessible, you can use a razor saw, but probably the best route is to disassemble as much as possible and not get hung up about the bits too stubborn to come apart and work with the maximum number of parts that you can safely achieve.

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Regular brown Dettol will shift enamels, but any white will be a problem no matter what you use. I bough 4 litres of the stuff of fleabay and stuck it in a deep container, and immersed the kit overnight. Get a funnel and some coffee filters to strain the Dettol afterwards so you can use it again.

 

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45 minutes ago, Vicarage Vee said:

For disassembly, and you'll need to clear some space for this, stick it in the freezer overnight.  This tends to weaken the glue joints, but be careful when separating parts not to use too much force and actually damage them.  If accessible, you can use a razor saw, but probably the best route is to disassemble as much as possible and not get hung up about the bits too stubborn to come apart and work with the maximum number of parts that you can safely achieve.

 

5 minutes ago, bentwaters81tfw said:

Regular brown Dettol will shift enamels, but any white will be a problem no matter what you use. I bough 4 litres of the stuff of fleabay and stuck it in a deep container, and immersed the kit overnight. Get a funnel and some coffee filters to strain the Dettol afterwards so you can use it again.

 

Great - thanks folks!! 👍

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If you find that the Dettol doesn't do a complete job, Hannants sell a very good paint-remover, which (I think) is about £3 a bottle. It's called "Paint Strip" or something of that sort. It's produced by Hannants themselves. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

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7 hours ago, Lawzer said:

Folks,

 

after a perhaps moment of madness I have bought a (thinking about it not that!) cheap 1/48 monogram typhoon off fleabay that's built up with the intention of stripping back to parts then re-building as a FR 1b (as one of the cannon barrels is missing which suits my needs :) ).

 

Now for paint removal (I'm assuming its enamels - looks like it from the photos) I've read a good soak in dettol will do the trick?

 

As for "splitting" the parts - any tips?  I'm guessing (again) it's not tamiya extra thin that's been used by the look of it.  I have some super glue de-bonder but I can;t see that working with non-ca?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Ian

Mr Muscle will take it all off. Spray the model, stick it in a plastic bag, (I use Asda freezer bags as you can seal them & keep the cleaner wet while it does its thing) & leave it for a day or two. Take it out & wash it, give it a scrub with a toothbrush or similar. If there is any paint left repeat the procedure. This will  probably be necessary whatever stripper you use.

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One thing to know when using any type of paint-stripper, is that you need to clean the model of every last, tiny trace of the stripper before re-painting. I know this seems a VERY obvious statement, but I came a cropper a few years ago with a 1/35th scale AS-90. The stripping-medium had pooled in some hard to reach places (turret detail and the like) and when I sprayed the primer on it, the remaining stripping-medium made my new, smooth finish bubble in a few places. I was not a happy fella!

 

Hope this helps. 

 

Chris.

Edited by spruecutter96
Correcting a typo.
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well from this:

 

tiffy2

 

to this:

 

tiffy

 

The MLG is attached with about a tube of cement (and on the wrong way round) and the tail sort of overlaps on the inside of the fuselage so that's a pretty strong joint......into the freezer you go! :)

 

A lot of sanding will be needed to remove the glue, well seams I suppose you'd call them, and I have spare cockpit parts from another monogram typhoon.  Canopy is held together only on 1 side so hopefully that's seperate without drama.

 

You can't really see from the photo but the pilot has a rather natty shiny red flight suit on........

 

Now, must remember the dettol and mr muscle on the way home.

 

May not have been a total waste of money after all......

 

 

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Re the freezer trick- give the thing a soak in a tub of water for a while before you stick it in the freezer. The water works its way into any small fissures, then swells when you freeze it, splitting joints. Repeat as needed to reach the level of devastation required. It works for rocks, so it works for plastic kits too.

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