I have bought Windolene as per Swanny’s web page, but it doesn’t contain (at least in UK) any ammonium.
You can check the ingredients on http://www.rbeuroinfo.com/ and they are as follows:
Aqua, Propylene Glycol Butyl Ether, Methoxyisopropanol, Lithium Magnesium Sodium Silicate, Carbomer or Polyacrylic Acid, Sodium Hydroxide (no mention of Ammonium)
the only window cleaner I found that appears to contain in amongst all the other staff " Ammonium hydroxide" is Mr Muscle Lemon Window & Glass (you can check it on http://www.scjproducts.info/)
on the other hand has anyone got any experience of using Jeyes Kleen Off ? This is supposed to be 9%
Ammonium hydroxide.
Typical, I just bought a bottle. At least it’s something that can be used in the house. Does it have to contain ammonia though? Or will it clean fine as it is? Could one of our American counterparts please check their Windolene and let us know what’s in it?
Try looking for non sudsing ammonia (laundry dept.) and dilute with distilled water. About 10 pts water to 1 pt ammonia. It’s really the ammonia that does the cleaning, not the Windex. Windex is just handy and is a pleasent blue color which differentiates it from water, thinners and such.
Windolene is quoted on Swanny’s web page (http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html) as being UK’s equivalent of Windex.
Unfortunately “tree huggers” [;)]and “eurocrats” [soapbox]are very keen to protect us from ourselves here in Europe [}:)] and it appears that ammonia containing window cleaners are dissapearing from the shops[:(]
just trying to find the best solution
rgrds Chris
ps Windex or similar (ammonia containing cleaners) are used for stripping of Future, cleaning etc
For acryilcs you could also use isopropyl alcohol to clean your airbrush as well as many other cleaners out there.
Any of the heavy-duty degreasers work great also such as Super Clean and others.
Doesn’t cheap nail polish remover have ammonium in it or am I on another planet …AGAIN? I too get confused by the cross meanings of USA & UK, why can’t nothing in the world be as simple as ME?
In the USA nail polish remover has acetone in it. In the UK there is no telling. It might be nothing but alcohol because nail polish over there may be nothing but acrylic
What about isopropyl alcohol? Does anyone know where to get it in the UK? I’ve been to Focus and Halfords today and they didn’t have it. Two local pharmacists didn’t either. They do a Surgical Spirit which has Castor Oil in it, so I was a bit apprehensive about that. It’s also called Isopropanol here. I found some online here.
More edit: Got some off eBay, 99.9%. Just mix with orange juice… (anyone with parents in the medical profession will have come across this)
thanks guys, for your advice,
forget about Windolene or Windex or any other perfumed window cleaner [:)]
just got in the hardware shop (proper old fashioned one) “Jeyes Kleen Off - Ammonia Household Cleaner” - proper job for cleaning and removing of Future - and don’t stick your nose in to test it - my still burns from ammonia fumes [:o)]
As for Isopropyl Alcohol BP - had no problems getting it in the local chemist (supplier - William Ransom @ Son plc) - it is once again clean and pure. Works great!
Cool. I live on the South Coast, plenty of old-fashioned hardware stores. Will go looking for Jeyes tomorrow. I’ll keep the isopropanol for more rigorous cleaning (Vallejo recommends mixing it with their cleaner) and use the ammonia for cleaning between changes.
(With Future, Windolene, Isopropanol and ammonium in my shed, I think I’ll just turn and run if there’s a fire in there…)
Sure, although it was probably pure ethanol… All doctors, nurses, etc., always used to check out tons of the stuff around Christmas time.
Found me some ammonia in a hardware store today. Nice 9.5% stuff. Sure burns your nose (had to try… I was very happy for my filter mask while using it later). Thinking of maybe diluting it a bit with deionised water to make it less potent. Got some 50ml dropper bottles on eBay I’ll use to keep all this stuff in.
