The Little World

I was a little nonplussed at discovering that the Heyford wings and tail were painted on their sprue trees. The job was well, done, but it wasn’t what I would have used myself.

What to do? Risk leaving the paint on and then having a top coat of lacquer start to react and dissolve into it? I have seen this before and it can mess up a colour scheme badly. If you are going to use a light colour over a dark paint you are asking for trouble.

Remove it? How? Don’t know if it’s enamel or acrylic. It’s matte, so if it was painted in the 80’s in Perth, it could equally be Humbrol or Tamiya. Testing time.

a. Test on the inside of a wing – if it screws up the styrene, it will not be seen.

b. Try lacquer thinner. No, dissolves the surface of the styrene.

c. Try mineral turpentine. No, it also dissolves the styrene surface.

d. Try methylated spirit. Styrene surface is okay, but very little paint shifts. It’s been on there a long time!

e. Try film cleaner – isopropyl alcohol. Styrene surface is fine – and more paint comes off.

Now to patiently work a wing and see if the result justifies the effort.

If the worst comes and it doesn’t shift, it will at least be a stable base and I’ll just try a thin coat of Mr. Surfacer or Base White.

Note from the heading image that the dustbin gun turret on the underside has been firmly sealed up and no bombs will be required.