 Extra Crispy  | 01 Feb 2015 10:57 a.m. PST |
I have a large mech that in shipping ages ago fell apart. It has 4 legs that popped apart at the "knees." There are large clumps of dried super-glue on each side of the joint. The model is fragile so hacking it away with a hobby knife is not an option. How would you clean out this joint without wrecking the paint or breaking the model (resin)? |
| Garand | 01 Feb 2015 11:17 a.m. PST |
You can get debonder from a well-supplied hobby shop or perhaps from Micromark.com. Alternatively, debonder is just acetone in a gel carrier, so perhaps soaking the parts in acetone might work? I would test it on a part that you don't need, to see how the resin reacts with acetone… Damon. |
| Heisler | 01 Feb 2015 11:52 a.m. PST |
The acetone shouldn't hurt the resin, but its likely to damage the paint. Although as pointed out you should probably do a quick test on the resin if there is spot you can do it. |
| Talisman | 01 Feb 2015 11:53 a.m. PST |
Fingernail polish remover is basically acetone. Borrow a small amount from shmbo, pour a small amount into a spare water bottle cap and rub with a cotton swab. Take care as the plastic parts may not like acetone. |
| Chris Wimbrow | 01 Feb 2015 12:18 p.m. PST |
Not that I know if it would make any difference, but non-acetone fingernail polish removers have found their way into my wife's laboratory. |
 Doctor X  | 01 Feb 2015 1:42 p.m. PST |
I use my ultrasonic paint stripper to remove glue from old figures. Plop it in, run the cleaner a few times and 24 hours later your parts are separated. |
| Winston Smith | 01 Feb 2015 8:38 p.m. PST |
Thermal shock.
Put the model in the freezer and then dump it into a bat of VERY HOT WATER.
This will be better on the paint job than acetone.
Repeat if necessary.
Letting it soak in hot water will also degrade any superglue bonds. |
| Extra Crispy | 01 Feb 2015 9:03 p.m. PST |
I'm going to try nail polish remover. I don't want to undo all the other joints! |
| ordinarybass | 02 Feb 2015 10:55 a.m. PST |
Good luck. Superglue is fairly easy to get rid of but preserving the paint is difficult. Hope it works out! |
| vtsaogames | 02 Feb 2015 12:53 p.m. PST |
"nail polish remover" my wife calls it the universal solvent. |
| Fizzypickles | 02 Feb 2015 1:02 p.m. PST |
Nail varnish remover is Acetone. Acetone pretty much dissolves most things. |
experiments with using recessed bases for figures with cast-on bases.