American household products used in modelling - and their equivalents in other countries

[Junkman]

There is a lot of such stuff used by American modellers, such as Easy-Off oven cleaner, 409 cleaner, "purple pond", etc.

Importing this kind of stuff is a. prohibitively expensive and b. often forbidden because of that there safety, you know.

Although many of these these brands are not available outside North America, equivalent, or at least similar products do exist.

My idea is to create some sort of a cross reference to help modellers in any part of the world identify these products in their countries.

I have little knowledge myself, so this will be something we need to work on together.

One I have figured out though:

"Future" (the acrylic floor stuff) is available in the UK and it's called "Klear" there and it's made by Johnson Wax Ltd, Frimley Green, Camberley, Surrey, England.

Also, in America it seems to be common practice to soak resin bodies in Westley's Bleach whitewall tyre cleaner to get rid of the mould residue.

No such cleaners exist in the UK (to my knowledge), but it can be subsituted with any "thick bleach" toilet cleaner.

After a bath in it, the parts should be rubbed down with cotton and a bit of cellulose thinner, though.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Great idea, and a nice acknowledgement that this is a worldwide hobby, with international representation on the forum.

[Junkman]

I just learned that the American "Future", English "Klear", is called "Pledge" in Canada.

[Junkman]

"Easy Off" oven cleaner is called "Mr Muscle" in the UK and "K2R" in Germany.

[Art Anderson]

And, the active ingredient in Easy-Off is a very common chemical: "Sodium Hydroxide", which I have to believe is available in just about every developed country on the planet. It's the Sodium Hydroxide that strips "chrome" off of plastic, along with the clear coats used before and after vacuum plating, as that plating is nothing more than a micro-thin layer of aluminum, which sodium hydroxide dissolves in an instant.

Art

[Ace-Garageguy]

And, the active ingredient in Easy-Off is a very common chemical: "Sodium Hydroxide"...

Also the active ingredient in most commercial drain openers, also known as "lye".

Edited January 16, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Ramfins59]

Ammonia will also remove chrome plating from plastic parts.

[Matt Bacon]

Also the active ingredient in most commercial drain openers, also known as "lye".

Available in any UK household goods/ironmongers/hardware store as "Caustic Soda", used for unblocking drains, serious cleaning of greasy surfaces etc. It's a nasty chemical so gloves, a ventilated room and great care are a must in using it. But whenever I see discussions about how many hours or days you need to soak chromed parts in XXX to get the chrome off, I find myself wondering why people don't just use this common household chemical, which takes literally seconds to achieve the same effect...

See the intake manifold and induction tubing here?

I did that by carefully dipping the chromed part into caustic soda solution and watching the chrome dissolve away in seconds.

You need to fill a jam jar 3/4 with cold water and stand it in an empty sink, and wearing gloves, and safety glasses if you need/have them, stir in about 2 teaspoons of soda crystals, stirring carefully all the time. It will get hot, and steam away some eye-watering vapour, so don't lean over it. When it's cooled down in the sink, drop in the chromed parts and watch the metal disappear in front of your eyes. Once it's all gone, I carefully pour out the liquid down the sink, still wearing gloves, and then run fresh cold water gently into the jar for a minute or two to flush the soda solution off the parts, then fish them out with stainless steel tweezers and leave on a paper kitchen towel to dry. If your parts have a brown "varnish" layer under the chrome but over the plastic, it'll take that off as well, but it'll take a few minutes longer. If I'm planning to repaint with, say, chrome paint then I leave the varnish on; if I'm going to paint some wheels matt black instead of chrome, I take it off before priming.

People get very nervous around caustic soda, but it just requires the kind of basic safety precautions I was taught in chemistry lessons three decades ago -- you don't need a fume cupboard, and it's not going to kill you if you inhale a sniff, unlike some of the things we used in organic chemistry practicals... Use it if you feel comfortable doing so, but if you do, you'll never strip chrome with oven cleaner or bleach (or Coke) again...

bestest,

M.

Edited January 16, 2015 by Matt Bacon

[martinfan5]

you'll never strip chrome with oven cleaner or bleach (or Coke) again...

bestest,

M.

I think I will stick with using my methods, they work, and they work fast, no need to for all that.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Available in any UK household goods/ironmongers/hardware store as "Caustic Soda", used for unblocking drains, serious cleaning of greasy surfaces etc. It's a nasty chemical so gloves, a ventilated room and great care are a must in using it. But whenever I see discussions about how many hours or days you need to soak chromed parts in XXX to get the chrome off, I find myself wondering why people don't just use this common household chemical, which takes literally seconds to achieve the same effect...

I used to have a split 55 gallon drum lying on its side, 3/4 full of the solution, behind the resto shop. Lockable, hinged steel lid. Used it to strip grease and paint from ferrous parts prior to bead- or sandblasting. Wonderful stuff...if you're careful with it. Destroys aluminum, though.