Question for those who use Pine-Sol™ to strip paint

[brokemoto]

After the paint on a few items seemed either impervious or resistant to ninety-one per-cent, I decided to try the Pine-Sol™.  It takes a bit longer, but has worked better.  One thing that I have noticed is that even after washing in soap and water and rinsing thoroughly after removal from the Pine-Sol™, the work still retains the Oh-DEAR of the Pine-Sol™.  Is there something else that needs to be done before painting, or can I ignore the strong smell?

The strong smell suggests that there might be a film of the stuff which could affect the new paint.

I really do not want to use brake fluid, as while it is effective (except on the old RR "Powder Blue on the B&O cars), it is toxic and makes many plastics brittle.  I did notice that the Pine-Sol™ does not have this effect (nor does the alcohol).

I used the Lemon-Scent for the first round (that was all that I had), but have since bought a bottle of the Original.

Thank you for your kind assistance.

[peteski]

I have not yet used Pine-Sol for stripping paint (but I do have a bottle).
Did you try washing the smelly shell in alcohol (instead of just soap/detergent and water)?

Before Pine-Sol, did you try Scalecoat's Wash Away Paint Remover, or Floquil/Testors Easy Lift-Off (ELO), or Castrol Super Clean (the purple stuff)?  Those are my usual trifecta of strippers which remove most paints.

[Frisco Larry]

I use Pine Sol occasionally.  One time I was stripping a Concor smooth-sided passenger, which was very stubborn.  I left it in a bath over-night.  When I checked on it the next day, the paint was gone, but the car shell reeked of Pine Sol and the shell was very flexible, like rubber (you could twist it like a pretzel).  I could even make marks on the shell with my finger nail.  The shell was essentially unusable.  I decided to try getting the Pine Sol out of the plastic by soaking it in water.  So, I put it in a container with enough water to completely immerse it.  I checked on it the next day and the water now reeked of Pine Sol and so did the car shell.  I then replaced the water and repeated this daily for about two months.  The smell finally disappeared and the shell returned to being hard plastic too.

[peteski]

I use Pine Sol occasionally.  One time I was stripping a Concor smooth-sided passenger, which was very stubborn.  I left it in a bath over-night.  When I checked on it the next day, the paint was gone, but the car shell reeked of Pine Sol and the shell was very flexible, like rubber (you could twist it like a pretzel).  I could even make marks on the shell with my finger nail.  The shell was essentially unusable.  I decided to try getting the Pine Sol out of the plastic by soaking it in water.  So, I put it in a container with enough water to completely immerse it.  I checked on it the next day and the water now reeked of Pine Sol and so did the car shell.  I then replaced the water and repeated this daily for about two months.  The smell finally disappeared and the shell returned to being hard plastic too.

WOW!  I might thing twice before using Pine-Sol.  I also realize that there are many slight variations of polystyrene using for models. Some might not be affected that drastically.

[brokemoto]

Did you try washing the smelly shell in alcohol?

What is funny is that after I read this, I took a LL FA-1 shell out of the Pine-Sol and noticed a residue on it that would not come off with the soap and water.  The residue was on the sides only, but not on the top or on the grilles.  I put it into alcohol, let it sit, then scrubbed it with an old toothbrush and the residue went away.  Most of the smell did, as well, but there is still the faint smell of Pine-Sol. another funny thing is that there was no residue on the B-unit.

Last night, I took a LL FM shell out of the Pine-Sol.  It had the residue all over it.  To-day, I took it out of the alcohol, scrubbed with an old toothbrush and it is allright.  It does have a faint smell of Pine-Sol.

I have not seen the rubbery effect on any of these.  It is funny that the other poster mentions C-C smoothsides, as my experience with them is that they stand up to brake fluid (as do the RR HWs).  I find it curious that they would stand up to brake fluid but not Pine-Sol.  I do not doubt the experience our SL-SF poster, I simply find it worthy of note.

Plastics do seem to be different.  Kato shells will stand up to brake fluid but LL and B-mann become brittle.  What I find REALLY curious is that Mehano shells will stand up to brake fluid.

Consider, as well, that both brake fluid and Pine-Sol come in plastic containers, these days.

Thank you for your help and comments, everyone.

[peteski]

Most plastic models are very often molded from Polystyrene or sometimes from ABS, which is a type of styrene.  Older models were almost always molded from polysterene while newer models are often mlded in ABS. Kato for exampel uses ABS.

Polystyrene in its pure form is clear and very brittle, so to make it more durable additives (such as plasticizers or fillers, and of course pigments). Different companies use different types and proportions of additives.  I believe that is why Polystyrene-molded models from different companies (or even from the same company but molded at different times) is affected differently by various types of chemical paint strippers.  Then of course the same goes for ABS plastic.

True, plastic bottles are often used for storing volatile liquids and paint strippers, but those are usually molded from Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or Polypropylene (PP). These plastics have totally different properties.