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Hey folks!

I'm taking apart a poorly assembled Monolith so that I can soak the whole thing in Simple Green, which I generally use in combination with a soft wire brush to strip plastic.

It has globs of superglue in places, and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to soften up the superglue so that I can scrape it off? Acetone works like a charm on my metal models, but tends to melt plastic so....I'm out of ideas.

*edit* And it appears to have been also held together with some sort of hardened foam crap...its yellowish.

superglue will fall apart in water. Your simple green soak will loosen it up no problem.

I've heard that freezing the models helps make breaking the pieces off easy, not sure if it would work on a monolith however.

In my experience, both of these methods work but for different reasons. Freezing it will make the superglue more brittle so you can snap it pretty easily. I certainly wouldn't try this on delicate parts.

Simple Green will loosen it...I stripped a land raider which had been assembled with super glue and after a day or two it pretty much fell apart on its own in the simple green. If you're going to be stripping the monolith anyway, this is definitely the way I'd go.

The foam...I have no idea.

Dash,

The yellow foam sounds like Gorilla Glue (lucky you).

I had a carnifex I needed torn apart (after 5th edition came out ) that was super glued in some very hard to access places. I tried prying and the ice box trick but neither worked. I ended up sticking the model in a tub of simple green for 3 weeks and the items easily came apart with a little preasure. The residue was brittle and chalky and was easy to remove with a file, router, or by scraping along with a hobby knife.

Don't know if simple green will affect Gorilla Glue, but it should work.

They sell a super-glue debonder.

Here's a quick search result: http://www.hobbylinc.com/CA_Super_Glue_Debonder

You ever use that stuff Redbeard?

I know I have used similar products before and the only thing it did was make my hands feel cold. The hard part is getting the solvent to get into the cracks for any length of time without first evaporating.

Nope, I haven't really had a need to. I just know it exists.

I've had good results both with extended soaks in Simple Green and with just freezing the model to make the glue brittle. Sometimes with freezing the model will pop apart on its own without any pressure even being needed.

I have had mostly good results with CA debonder.
In my experience it's best to use it in a capillary fashion, let dry and repeat. After that a few scrapes at any outlying superglue gunk and some steady pressure will usually make your part pop free.
It's taken me a few repetitions to get it to work some times but when you have no seem to get at I think simple green and time are the only answer

If its a yellow foamy bond- it sounds like urethane glue. If its urethane glue- you might be screwed. I used the stuff to glue a shovel back together 2 years ago and its still intact.

Id suggest trying SuperClean over simple green. I use it exclusively for stripping, and long soaks seem to penetrate into the models crevices and actually get between the glue and the plastic. In short- whole models go in, bitz and glue chunks come out. If you're lucky it will do the same with the urethane glue.

Otherwise- anything that will soften the urethane, will have long since eaten away the more fragile styrene based plastic.

Good luck. (PS- if you use a super glue debonder, make sure you get one thats safe for plastic!! Other wise it does BAD things to plastic models).

If it is gorilla glue this will take some doing. Ive used the stuff once to try and hold a stubborn vehicle together........ I ended up having to use a dremel to grind it off, as it doesnt really respond to razor blades to well. If its that, youll be in for some fun, basically have a backup plan for making some "self repair" sections


As for the super glue, most of it should be able to scrape off if youve got a good knife. Id suggest getting one of those strait razors from box cutters (these ones)

Those you can get under alot of super glue bonds, specially since its a monolith it has alot of flat surfaces. After that some careful slices to help break the bonds when you apply pressure and you should be golden. Good luck on it

never used simple dreen, but i know a soak in purple power delaminates glue pretty well, never used it with minaturs as i've not yet had to take any apart, but i do know it disolves gorilla glue, so if simple green doesn't work then its worth a shot maybe try on one knowing you might be sending it to the grave.. or just delimbing it as intended