Rolls-Royce No Chemicals, No Paint, No Harmful Glues

[MarkJ]

David, I live in southeast Texas that is full of pollutants in the air from the many plants I live around and the weather is almost always very humid which promotes mold . I live in a 55 year-old house and if I did not have 3 separate plug in air filters going 24/7 I would be in a lot of trouble.. Even with a central air conditioning system which is necessary for anybody who lives down here whether you have health issues or not.  I switched to acrylic paints about ten years ago and have no issues with modeling. I have to use a rescue inhaler albuterol twice a day, morning when I get up and evening when I go to bed and a maintenance inhaler Asmanex also twice a day. If I did not, I would be in a lot of trouble.  I have made a place outside to airbrush when the weather allows it and only use acrylics out there as well only because I don't have a place in the house with an evacuation system and I would get overspray all over the work area I use. I am like you; I can't give up modeling. It is the only thing that keeps me sane.  If you don't have plug in air filters in your house you should definitely look into getting at least three of them and spread them around your house.

[Big Messer]

Check behind the furniture that is always against walls. And Mark gave some very sound advice also. It wouldn't hurt to check with somebody who deals professionally with this kind of issues also.

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, stitchdup said:

white vinegar kills it

White vinegar spray is what is needed then Les  !  Thanks . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

7 hours ago, MarkJ said:

David, I live in southeast Texas that is full of pollutants in the air from the many plants I live around and the weather is almost always very humid which promotes mold . I live in a 55 year-old house and if I did not have 3 separate plug in air filters going 24/7 I would be in a lot of trouble.. Even with a central air conditioning system which is necessary for anybody who lives down here whether you have health issues or not.  I switched to acrylic paints about ten years ago and have no issues with modeling. I have to use a rescue inhaler albuterol twice a day, morning when I get up and evening when I go to bed and a maintenance inhaler Asmanex also twice a day. If I did not, I would be in a lot of trouble.  I have made a place outside to airbrush when the weather allows it and only use acrylics out there as well only because I don't have a place in the house with an evacuation system and I would get overspray all over the work area I use. I am like you; I can't give up modeling. It is the only thing that keeps me sane.  If you don't have plug in air filters in your house you should definitely look into getting at least three of them and spread them around your house.

Your advice is all good Mark, and from what you say, it sounds like the environment in which you live is even more harsh than I thought mine was. My feeling regarding the model car building is that without this absorbing hobby I would be incredibly bored, and probably not quite sane ! . . . You have made me think seriously about plug in air filters for the house, so I must look into that requirement in terms of cost and availability. I have never seen such filters advertised here in the UK, but then again I wasn't searching for them to be honest . . . At the moment I am staying away from enamel paints, acrylic paints, aerosol cans and airbrushing. The only paints that I am prepared to use are water based emulsion paints and the Vallejo brush on acrylics. This Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud build is my first ever to use polished plastic body parts, washable PVA glue (child friendly) and also using a drilling and pinning method instead of super glue to attach parts. The Revell Contacta Professional glue is a very good product, for example, but the smell is almost overpowering. The strong smell of Humbrol Enamel Thinners that I would have used for brush cleaning only was guaranteed to trigger an immediate violent response from my wife, even though I am two floors upstairs from her in the loft and with the roof window open too . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

The Retro Orange emulsion paint by WILKO was still slightly tacky after 20 hours drying overnight, which is surprising for emulsion paint in my experience. This did not matter too much really, because I intended to scratch the surface of the paint anyway for this dashboard. The gauges of the dashboard and a few other areas were scraped clean of orange paint, to allow the black plastic to show through, using the pointed tip of a cocktail stick . . . Then I used a brass bristled brush to stipple the surface of the paint quite firmly, so as to create a burr walnut effect . . .

So far, the dashboard looks pretty good and I shall add white acrylic detail for the gauges, also applied with the tip of the cocktail stick and not a brush.

David

[MarkJ]

15 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

Your advice is all good Mark, and from what you say, it sounds like the environment in which you live is even more harsh than I thought mine was. My feeling regarding the model car building is that without this absorbing hobby I would be incredibly bored, and probably not quite sane ! . . . You have made me think seriously about plug in air filters for the house, so I must look into that requirement in terms of cost and availability. I have never seen such filters advertised here in the UK, but then again I wasn't searching for them to be honest . . . At the moment I am staying away from enamel paints, acrylic paints, aerosol cans and airbrushing. The only paints that I am prepared to use are water based emulsion paints and the Vallejo brush on acrylics. This Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud build is my first ever to use polished plastic body parts, washable PVA glue (child friendly) and also using a drilling and pinning method instead of super glue to attach parts. The Revell Contacta Professional glue is a very good product, for example, but the smell is almost overpowering. The strong smell of Humbrol Enamel Thinners that I would have used for brush cleaning only was guaranteed to trigger an immediate violent response from my wife, even though I am two floors upstairs from her in the loft and with the roof window open too . . .

David

David, the picture below is what I have in my den or largest room in the house. The other two are the same type but made by Holmes that are about half the size, but they all do the same thing. Forgive the picture quality. I had to take a picture of a picture on my p.c. monitor. You don't have to get these brands just get one or how many you want that does the same thing the pictured one does. There are probably hundreds of brands out there and all are probably very similar in quality. I'm sure there has to be something in the U.K. that is readily available, or you could always use amazon or something like that. Take care.

[Anglia105E]

8 hours ago, MarkJ said:

David, the picture below is what I have in my den or largest room in the house. The other two are the same type but made by Holmes that are about half the size, but they all do the same thing. Forgive the picture quality. I had to take a picture of a picture on my p.c. monitor. You don't have to get these brands just get one or how many you want that does the same thing the pictured one does. There are probably hundreds of brands out there and all are probably very similar in quality. I'm sure there has to be something in the U.K. that is readily available, or you could always use amazon or something like that. Take care.

Thanks for the information Mark, and here is a link to one that I found on Ebay here in the UK . . .

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/316245272621?chn=ps&_ul=GB&var=614903943724&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1vVp9eJgrQcuKEBmQz9kw1g26&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=614903943724_316245272621&targetid=2425733423477&device=c&mkt

They don't seem to be at all expensive really, from what I have seen so far . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

Earlier today I picked up a set of three metallic Sharpie marker pens, one Gold, one Bronze and one Silver . . . Working on the actual body shell for this build, I began to apply the Silver Sharpie to the driver's side rear window frame of the model. This was after I had masked off the surrounding area of the body shell with my narrow orange tape, because the Sharpie product is difficult to remove as it is permanent. To begin with, the Sharpie went on smoothly and with hardly any effort and no excessive pressure. Just when I was thinking this will look good, the fine point nib of the silver Sharpie began to leak badly. The almost chrome liquid ran along the frame of the door and collected in a blob. Fortunately, this was on the tape, and not on the surrounding body.

I have never had any Sharpies do this to me during eight years of model building. The liquid is escaping from the nib and running down to the pointed tip, or at least it was for five minutes, and the the pen stopped working altogether. I did manage to coax a little bit of silver grey out onto a piece of card, but it was not possible to apply any silver Sharpie to the window frame of the model . . .

As an experiment, I applied the gold Sharpie to the rear window frame of the test body, and there was no problem. Also, I repeated the process with the bronze Sharpie on the front window frame of the test body. Again, no problem . . . So it is only the silver Sharpie that is leaking. There isn't much point in me claiming that one of the three pens in the pack appears to be faulty by contacting the supplier, so does this mean that I have to contact the Sharpie company directly?

My previous pack of three metallic Sharpies is probably around five years old, and both the gold and the bronze still work fine to this day. The silver pen ran out early in the first year, five years ago. I was wondering if any other MCM Forum members had experienced any problems with the silver Sharpie pens?

David

[MarkJ]

1 hour ago, Anglia105E said:

Thanks for the information Mark, and here is a link to one that I found on Ebay here in the UK . . .

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/316245272621?chn=ps&_ul=GB&var=614903943724&_trkparms=ispr%3D1&amdata=enc%3A1vVp9eJgrQcuKEBmQz9kw1g26&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=614903943724_316245272621&targetid=2425733423477&device=c&mkt

They don't seem to be at all expensive really, from what I have seen so far . . .

David

good to hear, David. I think you will find that they do make a difference in the quality of your inside air

[Anglia105E]

I managed to get a full refund for the faulty Sharpie set, and also I was able to purchase a replacement set of pens . . .

It was time to set about changing this Silver Cloud dashboard from LHD to RHD, so I used my saw to remove the steering column support tube from the dashboard. Then I measured and cut out the location for the same support tube to slot into it's new position . . . I found that by using the narrow orange tape instead of glue this was sufficient to hold the steering column in place nice and firmly. Once the top half of the hole in the dashboard is enlarged slightly the steering wheel will not be touching the driver's seat . . . With the dashboard mounted into the interior seating tub, the orange tape and also the cut out on the left side of the dash are not visible.

Using the fine pointed tip of a cocktail stick, I applied a tiny amount of Vallejo acrylic white paint to the detail on the speedometer gauge. The incredibly tiny control knobs on the dashboard were given a touch of silver Sharpie, using the new pen this time . . .

David

[johnyrotten]

Nice work on the gauge. I've never had a sharpie do that, paint pens and molotow have done that to me. I've taken to either airbrushing it,which isn't an option for you,or a brush. Is bare metal foil available to you? Your build,and ingenuity with this project is very interesting and educational to follow. On the topic of your condition, the air purifier is a fantastic idea, when I was hospitalized they believe it was from the window air conditioner.  I had just installed it the week prior and became ill the next day. Keep up with great work,sir.

[Big Messer]

FWIW regular black Sharpie ink can be removed with alcohol, but I don't know about theses colors.

[Anglia105E]

9 hours ago, Big Messer said:

FWIW regular black Sharpie ink can be removed with alcohol, but I don't know about theses colors.

Thanks for the tip Jose, but Isopropyl Alcohol is one of the chemicals that I cannot use . . . I think it would remove the metallic silver Sharpie.

The only other option that I have is my baking soda toothpaste !

David

[Anglia105E]

13 hours ago, johnyrotten said:

Nice work on the gauge. I've never had a sharpie do that, paint pens and molotow have done that to me. I've taken to either airbrushing it,which isn't an option for you,or a brush. Is bare metal foil available to you? Your build,and ingenuity with this project is very interesting and educational to follow. On the topic of your condition, the air purifier is a fantastic idea, when I was hospitalized they believe it was from the window air conditioner.  I had just installed it the week prior and became ill the next day. Keep up with great work,sir.

Thanks John . . . This is the first time in eight years that a Sharpie pen has leaked in the same way that a Molotow Liquid Chrome pen would do. Yes, I do have three packs of Bare Metal Foil, but they are well past their sell by date so not sticking well. I do like the BMF product, but at the moment there are suppliers in the UK showing no stock, or the price is too high for me . . . So I now have some aluminium kitchen foil, which I shall try with PVA glue.

I am beginning to believe that the problem inside my house is more than likely going to be mold ( or mould ) and of course I need to deal with that possibility. My first course of action will be to spray white vinegar all around the areas where there could be mold, and then I will take it from there. Really, I don't want to come into close contact with whatever is causing my lung condition, even with a protective mask . . .

David

[johnyrotten]

25 minutes ago, Anglia105E said:

am beginning to believe that the problem inside my house is more than likely going to be mold ( or mould ) and of course I need to deal with that possibility

Yes, the environmental factor was exactly what I was getting at. I had neglected to do a thorough cleaning after storing the a.c. in my garage for winter. There are mold test kits available here in the U.S., how good they are I'm not sure, and if theyare available elsewhere.  My situation was a nasty bacteria (legionnaires)found in nature, one of those kind of rare incidents. Hopefully you are able to remediate the problem. 

[Anglia105E]

1 hour ago, johnyrotten said:

Yes, the environmental factor was exactly what I was getting at. I had neglected to do a thorough cleaning after storing the a.c. in my garage for winter. There are mold test kits available here in the U.S., how good they are I'm not sure, and if theyare available elsewhere.  My situation was a nasty bacteria (legionnaires)found in nature, one of those kind of rare incidents. Hopefully you are able to remediate the problem. 

I hope your health continues to improve John, and I shall take steps to overcome this bacterial attack on my property !

[Big Messer]

7 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

I am beginning to believe that the problem inside my house is more than likely going to be mold ( or mould ) and of course I need to deal with that possibility. My first course of action will be to spray white vinegar all around the areas where there could be mold, and then I will take it from there. Really, I don't want to come into close contact with whatever is causing my lung condition, even with a protective mask . . .

David

Look for spots, either dark or discolored. Google "mold" to have an idea about how it looks like.

[Anglia105E]

14 minutes ago, Big Messer said:

Look for spots, either dark or discolored. Google "mold" to have an idea about how it looks like.

Yes, I will be looking for those signs . . . Many articles suggest checking underneath refrigerators, and behind as well as underneath any furniture that never moves, including beds . . .

[Anglia105E]

As the following photos show, I used some baking powder toothpaste applied to the leaked silver Sharpie on the bodywork, and this was followed by wiping off the area with micro fibre cloth and distilled malt vinegar . . . Then I had the idea to apply a small amount of Meguiars Carnauba Wax polish to the same area, which was again wiped clean with the vinegar. Although this process has removed most of the Sharpie spillage, the end result is not perfect by any means. This area of damage is simply not good enough for a Rolls-Royce . . . Maybe as I have five body shells for the Silver Cloud available to me, I should use a different body altogether?

The last two photos show the difference between the two tyres, which is the one on the left being a Minicraft tyre and the one on the right is the tyre that would be found in a Revell kit or an Entex kit . . . The Revell / Entex version of this tyre is much more realistic in appearance, and has more of a rubber look to it than the Minicraft version, as well as being slight bulkier . . .

I realised only this evening, that the dashboard is not right . . . I have moved the position of the steering column from LHD to RHD, but the speedometer gauge is on the left of the three gauges, which is correct for a LHD motor car, but the speedo should be on the right of the the three gauges for a RHD motor car. Not sure yet how I shall rectify this error, but there must be a way, there always is . . .

David

 

[Anglia105E]

The steering column was removed from the dashboard and I enlarged the hole for the mounting tube, so that a different steering column could be mounted. This one has a steering wheel that is smooth, with no cutouts inside the rim . . . The steering wheel was touching the driver's seat cushion previously but does not touch the seat now.

Having picked up some grey felt material today, I used my boot carpet template to cut out a piece of carpet. This was then test fitted inside the boot floor, and the spare wheel black surround panel was also test fitted. Both look good . . .

I printed out two number plates for the registration plate ' BD 12 ' in white on black, and cut them to size 22 mm x 5 mm. One of the printed plates was then PVA glued onto the rear number plate plinth and left to set overnight . . .

David

[Anglia105E]

Having tried various different methods to remove the silver Sharpie marker spillage from the bodywork close to the rear quarter light of the Silver Cloud, there were only two options remaining . . . One was to use hand sanitiser, which is basically rubbing alcohol, and the second option would be to use WD40.

The first photo of the following batch of photos shows the area of damage after I had tried hand sanitiser. This has actually removed a small amount of the blemish, but not completely removed . . . Then I tried using a buffing pad with my mini grinder tool, but I might have inflicted some additional damage to the plastic. Maybe the buffing pad was spinning too fast, or maybe I exerted too much pressure. The Sharpie marks have not been removed satisfactorily.

The only remaining method of removal that I can think of, would be WD40, but I cannot find my can of WD40 anywhere. I shall probably purchase a new can at some point, but I am not hopeful that it will have any effect . . .

I have considered using a different body for this build, and I do have four bodies to choose from. However, each of these four bodies has a scratch mark in the plastic of the roof, and due to the fact that I need to polish the bare black plastic rather applying paint, this means that I cannot use any of them.

Work on this build has halted, while I come up with Plan B . . . if indeed there is a Plan B.

David

[Big Messer]

You can polish off the scratches with very fine sandpaper and water. I only use the Dremel with sanding disks on mostly flat surfaces. It overheats plastic real fast.

Edited September 6 by Big Messer

[Anglia105E]

11 hours ago, Big Messer said:

You can polish off the scratches with very fine sandpaper and water. I only use the Dremel with sanding disks on mostly flat surfaces. It overheats plastic real fast.

I am a little nervous about using sandpaper and water on the body surface, but if this body shell is ruined anyway then I don't have anything to lose by at least giving it a try out . . . You are right about the Dremel, and in my case the Blackspur mini grinder, they do overheat the plastic pretty quickly !

David

[Mattblack]

Does your mini grinder have adjustable speed? I have a 'Parkside' (Lidl brand) one and always have it on the slowest setting for plastic.

[David G.]

I have to say, I've never seen a Sharpie leak... ever.  😮

Have you tried using a black Sharpie to go over the silver spillage? One pen's ink should act as a solvent for another's. At the very least, painting the black ink over the silver would dilute the silver and/or replace it with the black. You may even get the black pen to act as a sponge-mop drawing the silver ink up onto the nib of the black pen. I would try it with a rolling motion turning the pen as I go using it as one would a cotton swab. It would likely ruin the black pen, but if it saves the model...

Having the spare car bodies is most fortunate, but I would also weigh the time and effort against what it would take to get one of the spare bodies to a similar state as this one is now.

In either case, best of luck.

David G.