hello fellow plastic surgeons,
On a recent scratch build van, I accidently got a tiny dot of super glue on the clear windsheild which was cut from clear plastic sheet. I cannot cut a new sheet cause it’s already glued in from the inside of the model with canopy glue. I’m at the final stages, van’s already been painted and closed-up, no way to get inside it now. The dot is almost the size of a pin head but is glaring to me. How do i remove the super glue dot without fogging or damaging the plastic?
I don’t know a way without scratching or fogging plastic, but if you do get the later, you can always polish it out First thing I would try is tip of #11 blade/knife, and try to get under and flip spot off. Normal practice is sanding an polishing.
There is a product called CA debonder. This is tricky to use, however. You put it on spot and wait about four seconds and then scrape it off. However, it does soften plastic and the scraping will leave fog which must still be polished off. If you leave it on too long it wil soften to point of leaving a sink mark or hole!
Actually there is some chance of success here. Since ca is not solvent based, probably the dot is just bonded to the surface.
In which case it might be able to be popped off.
Put the van in the freezer for a day,and then try popping off the dot with the tip of a pin. Freezing makes everything a little bit more hard and brittle.
Tip- a good reason to use an acrylic floor finish as a gloss clear coat. If you have, the dot would probably rub off cleanly with a Q-tip dipped in Windex.
Good luck!
Bill
I can heartily second Bill’s method!
I once saved a very labor-intensive commission build doing just that. (And I had already clear-coated with Future, which may have helped the process!)
Hi;
I would think it depends on the material you used for the windshield! I have found that on some thin clear plastics that it will leave a mark regardless. There are so many different types of plastic out there. The Clear, if it was Evergreen STYRENE will survive a trip to the Freezer and a pop, as suggested.
If it was Plastruct, well you are on your own there. They put the stuff out in three types. Polycarbonate, Polyethylene( Hard, clear) and Polystyrene. The first two types definitely won’t get damaged using any of the methods suggested. But the styrene will create a problem with the De-Bonder.
You say you used watch Crystal cement. That means you can IF Necessary, freeze the body and pop it out. Install a new one.