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Hey guys,

I'm painting up a Landraider model on commission. My client bought the model used off of eBay, and while it was assembled fairly well and doesn't have any damage on it/old paint on it, there is one big problem: the top of the hull is covered in superglue puddles. They will look terrible if I don't remove them before painting the model, so I have to get 'em off somehow. I've considered scraping the glue off with an exacto knife or very fine sandpaper, but both of those methods would scratch the model up pretty badly.

Any ideas? I'm really at a loss here.

Thanks!

~Tim?

You can try some rubbing alcohol and your knife. I sometimes do that to myself when I'm not paying attention, so I usually just cheat and try and throw a vehicle bit onto the spot if its in a good area, otherwise I just scrape and if that doesn't work turn it into a rust spot or weathering.

Bobaram wrote:
You can try some rubbing alcohol and your knife. I sometimes do that to myself when I'm not paying attention, so I usually just cheat and try and throw a vehicle bit onto the spot if its in a good area, otherwise I just scrape and if that doesn't work turn it into a rust spot or weathering.

Hmm, I'll try that out. Thanks!

~Tim?

I think you can get superglue remover in art shops.

Super glue puddles should pop off with firm pressure of something fairly stiff. I have a set of plastic "razor blades" for that sort of thing. Under normal circumstances, the glue will just be on the surface so you wont have to deal with anything fancy. If it is exceptionally stuck, a little plastic safe oil can help lift it up (I generally will snag the valve oil from my wife's clarinet case) or another fluid that has good penetrating properties like alcohol.

Careful with some of the debonders and removers, many of thse contain chemicals that will dissolve plastic, so while you might remove theper glue, you will then need to deal with solvent bumps...

Which of course is the next thing...are you sure they are super glue puddles? About half the puddles I deal with are solvent cements as opposed to superglue. If they get a bit crazy or are working in a high static environment, you can get bumps and puddles all over when not careful. These need to be dealt with mechanically though since the plastic itself has been changed (sand down high spots, putty to fill low spots). Hopefully it is just superglue though, as you can clean those up i a matter of minutes.