Repairing badly crazed plastic

[Theo]

Hi all

Got a glue bomb for cheap of the revell 76 van (I think the most recent release). Paint was terrible appearing lumpy and so thick the panel lines were completely gone.  Thought it was just bad paint, but as I stripped it down the problems were deeper than I initially thought.  There were so many layers of paint it appears that the builder was trying to correct paint problems with more paint.  From superficial to deep there was an orange enamel (?rustoleum), then a white primer, then a green (?type), finally a metallic green lacquer directly on the plastic.  Looks like the first lacquer layer badly crazed the plastic.  By the time I got to the bottom I found the plastic surface was quite soft.  After a couple rounds of sanding, Mr. Surface 500 and rescibing lines finally had what I thought was a workable surface.  So laid a medium layer of primer down.  Surface stills needs some work but the issue is that the primer is remaining tacky even after a couple of days of drying. Conditions in my garage for the last couple of days have been in the 90s with humidity <20%. 

 

Before I do anymore work, wondering if it is possible that the plastic is just too damaged to recover. Any thoughts appreciated.

 

Thanks

Theo

[Mark]

Was the plastic still "soft" when you primed it?  If so, it might be too far gone to save.  The combination of materials and paint removers used may have been excessive.

[Theo]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the fast reply. The surface was still a bit softer that usual, but thought I might be in the clear since the Mr. Surface had held up and behaved normally. The plastic did go through the ringer to get all the paint off. Simple Green soak just turned the outer layers into a goopy mess. Then a rub down with 90% isopropyl alcohol (no soak), finally a couple of rounds with the new QCS which finally got me down to the plastic. So overall a lot of chemicals involved including at least 2 paint types.

Thanks

Theo

Edited July 22, 2022 by Theo

[Plowboy]

I would try putting it in a dehydrator if you have one. If not, place it out in the sun. What is QCS?