I wonder if anybody can advice me please on how might I eraze matt varnish (Humbrol spray) off clear plastic canopies. The canopy has fogged up and I have tried to clear it by rubbing a cloth dipped in paint thinner, white spirit, and even soap and water, and also tried pricking it with a cocktail stick., but to no avail. I did read somewhere, a long time ago, that it is possible to eraze the varnish. But it sure is tougher than getting rid of paint.
Haydn.
When a canopy has been etched by enamels & thinners, about all you can do it sand it down, polish it with polishing sicks, or toothpaste will also work as a polish, & then dip it in Future. Any framing on the canopy will likely be lost, but careful masking & painting wiil restore the appearance.
Regards, Rick
Haydn,
Im not sure if by varnish you meen a clear matt coat or actual colored paint, but if its a clear varnish, check out this link to Reggie’s skeeter. He had a problem with a hazy cockpit hed sprayed with clear flat coat. If you read through the thread you’ll see where I fixed the same thing with just a shot of Future.
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=31433
If its colored Im afriad I’ll have to defer you to the other experts… or you could try contacting the manufacture for a replacement canopy or squadron.com and see if they sell a canopy you might be able to use. BTW What scale and make model got botched up? Maybe a pic so we can see what your talking about?
Haydn, go with the toothpaste idea. it’s brilliant for polishing, just this week I used it to get rid of overspray on gloss paint, & I use it all the time to polish up the canopy before I apply future. Use a soft cloth wrapped around your finger, or even Q tips (cotton buds) to apply it. It will take a while to have an effect, but keep going, it should be worth it in the end.
Pete
Try Isopropyl alcohol (Tamiya thinners)
It gets rid of any type of paint - you will be rubbing for quite a while but it doesn’t damage the plastic
You might want to try sanding with a three-girit squadron stick:
http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=SQ30505
Then painting it with future. You could also try windex if it’s acrylic, but if paint thinner didn’t work than windex probably won’t. If everying else fails, you could order a replacement cockpit from the manufacutrer of the kit.
Thank you, guys, all of you who’ve replied to my query. I’ll try out these suggestions next week, when I have time to come back to my model. I feel I will have success - and I’ll let you know.[:)]