Westley's White for resin

[andy12646]

Some years back, I read a post from someone that used Westley's White tire cleaner to degrease and prepare resin parts for painting. I found some (old but unopened) Westley's at a garage sale and tried it. It worked GREAT! I understand that the formula has changed over the years and the original is no-longer available. I would like to know what other builders would suggest as a replacement that would work just as well.

[Khils]

19 minutes ago, andy12646 said:

(old but unopened) Westley's at a garage sale and tried it. It worked

You are absolutely correct! The new formula is useless and had left a residue that caused the term "fish eyes"...the only thing I use anymore is a toothbrush,comet & warm water flowing over as I scrub.

  I "soak" nothing resin  anymore!

Edited June 8 by Khils

[sidcharles]

i've had good luck with the same stuff i use to strip chrome:    Cut through grease and dirt with Purple Power.

the former gets diluted 50% w/ tap water; latter used straight.

saves me for buying yet another product to store under the sink. but full disclosure is i do not use a lot of resin products mostly small parts.

i don't like the high sensitizer the sanding dust is.

but for cleaning, almost any powder cleanser & a toothbrush can work if you've the time.

isopropyl alcohol will degrease (get the 91% stuff; it evaporates quicker) on a sunday afternoon if you don't feel like running out to buy something else.   

[DJMar]

This topic comes up every now and then.

Like most, I was first made aware of soaking resin cast parts in Westley's or Super Clean to get rid of mold release agents, but that was 30+ years ago. I'm pretty sure that info came from a Modelhaus recommendation in one of their catalogs, and was probably repeated in a few articles in SAE.

I don't know what folks were using as mold release back then, but I haven't soaked a resin body in anything in decades. I just wash & rinse it, three or more times, with a toothbrush, good dish soap and warm water. I will occasionally use Soft Scrub or other mild abrasive cleanser (Bartender's Friend) on some resin parts, depending on the surface.

I've heard of people using Simple Green and other similar degreasers/all-purpose cleaners, but I've no personal experience with them.

 

[Shark]

You can keep reusing the Westleys. I have some in a Tupperware bread box that has been there about 5 years now. Some casters still use a mold release, so I still soak my parts.

[Mike 1017]

Westlys was my go-to for removing chrome. The new bottle that I just bought does not work. I did find Easy-Off in a spray bottle at my Jewel-Osco. Much better than the aerosol can fume wise. It removes chrome in a matter of minutes.

Mike

[peteski]

1 hour ago, Mike 1017 said:

Westlys was my go-to for removing chrome. The new bottle that I just bought does not work. I did find Easy-Off in a spray bottle at my Jewel-Osco. Much better than the aerosol can fume wise. It removes chrome in a matter of minutes.

Mike

While I don't have the list of ingredients for the original Westly's formula I believe it contained Lye and likely bleach. Both of those will strip "chrome" (actually thin layer of aluminum) from plastic model parts. Modelers still use those two  chemicals (in various forms) for stripping "chrome".  Obviously the "new and improved" (and likely more environmentally friendly) Whestly's cleaner likely contains alternative chemicals which are not caustic enough for stripping "chrome".  This "new and improved" thing happens to other items we use in modeling and those new formulas do not work as well s the older ones.  Even the no-fumes "new formula" Easy-Off in spray cans doesn't work for stripping paint like the original formula did.