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Using the "Purple Pond"


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Just dipped an old AMT '29 Model A roadster body. Had a few questions but lumbering along on my own, figured most of it out my own self. :P

#1, Found a little plastic tub just big enough for the job.

#2, immersed the body with enough Purple stuff to cover it.

#3, left it over night, 12 hours.

#4, rinsed it off in the sink, with a little toothbrush action.

#5, Wiped her off, lookin at one pristine piece of plastic.

?#1, How long to leave it in the pond?

?#2, What to do with the Purple stuff when done? Figured that out myself, amount used vs amount purchased insignificant, @ $ 5 / Gal. at Walmart, down the drain it went.

?#3, what material tub to use? So far so good. Probably wont use the good Tupperware.:lol:

 

Edited by Greg Myers
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Greg I use a 3 gallon bucket with a lid and the purple stuff stays in it. I have strained it a few times. Just label the bucket so you remember what it is. 

Soak time varies by how warm it is, and the type of paint. I have stripped over a dozen bodies ( some my messed up paint and some purchased glue bombs) with my mix. A good warm summer day I have found is the fastest strip time. 

Edited by 1930fordpickup
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I am guessing you don't do much paint stripping or rebuilding old bad looking models.  Myself I have left a body in the pond for six months, as a matter of fact I just pulled out a Maverick Jo-han body and interior,  Cleaned it in the water and now it is sitting in primer.  I just keep it in the plastic container on the floor under my desk, and when I want to soak a body I do so.  I think it is a chemical so I don't think it is a good idea to pour do the drain put it back into the jug it came in.  If you want it gone take to a place that takes old paint and oils, a chemical recycling.

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Just dipped an old AMT '29 Model A roadster body. Had a few questions but lumbering along on my own, figured most of it out my own self. :P

#1, Found a little plastic tub just big enough for the job.

#2, immersed the body with enough Purple stuff to cover it.

#3, left it over night, 12 hours.

#4, rinsed it off in the sink, with a little toothbrush action.

#5, Wiped her off, lookin at one pristine piece of plastic.

?#1, How long to leave it in the pond?

?#2, What to do with the Purple stuff when done? Figured that out myself, amount used vs amount purchased insignificant, @ $ 5 / Gal. at Walmart, down the drain it went.

?#3, what material tub to use? So far so good. Probably wont use the good Tupperware.:lol:

 

Greg, 

Dont dump it. It will last quite awhile. I've stripped about 10-12 bodies/complete builds, along with another 20 or so chrome trees and mine still works. I think this bath is getting pretty close to a year old now. If memory serves I swapped it out last Sept/Oct from the previous batch. Just get a container with a lid. I use a rectangular no name Tupperware one from the dollar store. Its about the size of a lasagna dish but a little deeper. 

The stuff pulls oils from the paints or you hands so make sure you're wearing gloves. I just use the same Nitrite gloves I use when I airbrush but be warned, they too with start to deteriorate if you keep your hand in the Super Clean for any length of time. I will use a toothbrush to break the surface tension on the older paint, you'll find this will help as the bath gets older. Then, I just pull my parts out, once clean and put them in a tub then go to the bathroom and put some Sunlight dishsoap along with some warm water and let the parts soak then scrub again with an old toothbrush then rinse off and let air dry. 

For disposal, I'll save the old empty jug and poor it back into it when it's time to renew. As stated above you can strain it from time to time as you'll get clumps of paint and sediment in the bottom of your container. My used stuff goes into the garage till I'm making a dump run and I dump it with the toxic materials my local dump has. Usually in the spring they have a weekend where you can drop off old paints etc for free. 

Time in the pond will vary pending on the paint used. Also good to have is a bath of isopropyl alcohol (IPA), 90% + , lower percentages dont seem to work at all, or very well. I get 93% from Target when I'm over in the US. Again, lasts a long time, same process as Super Clean. One notable exception. DO NOT USE IPA on resin. It will soften the resin up and make it gummy. Super Clean is safe to use on resin, well any of the resins I've used it on, HRM, Studio 27. MFH, LMM Jimmy Flintstone. If unsure about a specific brand of resin ask before using anything on it to strip paint.

 

Edited by Jhedir6
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This batch did many clean-ups, it was never strained of paint sediment just put the tupperware lid back on. I left it open for about 2 months and I found this. Its mushy with a crust top on it and had 3 inches of Super Clean, now has 3/4 inch of crud. Make sure its covered when your done , mine would have lasted longer...., and wear gloves

DSC08238

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 I am guessing you don't do much paint stripping or rebuilding old bad looking models. 

Pushin 70 next month, I'v been at this awhile. I used to use Easy Off oven cleaner, quite messy and toxic. Purple Power is the answer. . My problem is I go at this stuff in spurts. Someone goades me to build and I might find something interesting to build.  In this case I had an ols AMT '29 roadster body with a bunch of green paint on it and, well it needed to come off.

Also , you may have noticed, I like to keep the board going , so I try to come up with  topics that may be of interest and provoke comment.

Edited by Greg Myers
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Pushin 70 next month, I'v been at this awhile. I used to use Easy Off oven cleaner, quite messy and toxic. Purple Power is the answer. . My problem is I go at this stuff in spurts. Someone goades me to build and I might find something interesting to build.  In this case I had an ols AMT '29 roadster body with a bunch of green paint on it and, well it needed to come off.

A plastic tub with a lid and the stuff will stay viable for a long time. You definitely get your monies worth out of Super Clean. I've not used Purple Power but there was another thread here not that long ago where someone else compared the two and felt that Purple Power wasnt as good as Super Clean. SC here in Canada is about $15 for a 4L jug when its on sale, $20 normally. I've not seen Purple Power here, but I havent looked for it either, since I find SC works so well I just stick with it. Tho I find on the predecorated kits that Revell has put out, SC dosent work on them, but IPA works like a charm.

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I just recently stripped a vintage stock car from the early 70's with Super Clean and it removed everything on the body and most of the flat black on the chassis and interior. Left it in the tub for two days. 

Odds are this was painted with Testors paints back then. 

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I will tell you from experience to definitely where gloves.  I originally used Super Clean when it first came out to degrease some 1:1 car parts.  I made the mistake of working for about 10 minutes in the stuff with my bare hands.  Skin got pretty raw, and drew all of the oils out of my skin.  Took about a week and a half to heal.

If you live in cold weather climates, also make a point of storing it where it won't freeze.  I made the mistake of storing my jug in my unheated garage where it went through a couple of winters.  I helped my wife try to remove some paint from some craft items she had recently painted and wanted to redo.  It softened and removed about half the paint on them, but never got them completely stripped the way a fresh jug would.  This was plain old Krylon rattle can spray paint, which normally would be no problem. Probably a combination of many freeze/thaw cycles and age.

 

Edited by Robberbaron
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I use a 5gal. bucket with lid , from Home Depot. Purple power from walmart and for small parts I use a $3.00 Tea. I leave the parts in the bucket overnight. wash them off in the sink. Put the lid back on the bucket until next time20170712_203015.thumb.jpg.a308d9e932bd3d-ball from wal-mart

Edited by Super28
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I use a 5gal. bucket with lid , from Home Depot. Purple power from walmart and for small parts I use a $3.00 Tea20170712_203015.thumb.jpg.a308d9e932bd3d-ball from wal-mart

I do the exact same thing with a tea strainer for small parts, so nice not to have to fish around inside the puddle for those little things.

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I read on another site a number of years ago that you really must use gloves with Super Clean,  The thinking at the time was that there was a chemical in the Super Clean that will attack a person's liver.  Whether this is correct or not, I will leave to each person to figure out.  But I always use a thicker pair of gloves and would not trust nitrile gloves.  I am not going to ruin my health over a hobby and I encourage others to use the same level of caution.

As far as disposing this stuff, NEVER, EVER put it down the drain.  While the Super Clean or Purple Power may be harmless, the paint is not.  I put the stuff that I am not using anymore in its original container, label it and take it to the chemical disposal facility.

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As far as disposing this stuff, NEVER, EVER put it down the drain.  While the Super Clean or Purple Power may be harmless, the paint is not.  I put the stuff that I am not using anymore in its original container, label it and take it to the chemical disposal facility.

Especially if you're using a septic tank! I can't imagine that stuff sitting a few feet under my front yard. Fortunately, my well is in the back yard, so the leech fields from the septic have a looong way to go to affect my water.

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Greg, 

 

The stuff pulls oils from the paints or you hands so make sure you're wearing gloves. I

Um, it is a bit more potent that that.  It contains, among other chemicals, Sodium Hydroxide (Lye) which will literally destroy human tissue. That's the stuff murderers use to dissolve the corpses of their victims! :D

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Like paint, it will strip the oils from your skin, leaving your skin dry and flaky. The longer you have your hands in it the worse it would be. Quite quickly your hands will look wrinkled like you had them in the tub for a while. Just wear gloves. Dispose of use product responsibly. Build some models.

David

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