Compound in panel lines

So I'm working on my the Revell 430 (I love this kit!!) and I'm finally finished polishing away. What's left is to clean up the compound from the panel lines. However, no matter how much I scrub with a toothbrush, the stubborn compound does not seem to want to break free. The water makes it look translucent and appears out of the panel line but once dry, the white powdered compound is still there! Drives me nuts!!! Does anyone care to share how they remove the compound from the panel lines?

TIA,

a

toothpaste and a toothbrush usually works for me

toothpaste and a toothbrush usually works for me

LOL beat me to it. I was gonna say "toothbrush". Works well for me too..

Wow, you guys are fast!!

I've tried the toothbrush and went as far as to try to work the bristles in the panel lines to massage the compound out. What I didn't mention was the I rescribed all the panel lines and made them deeper/sharper. That's probably what's killing me right now. Its just alot harder to get the compound out now. I'll try the toothpaste along with the toothbrush and see how that works out. Thanks!

a

Have you tried to rescribe it again very lightly? Do it so light that you are not making the lines deeper.

You need an instrument that can penetrate deep enough.

Winston

Winstona- The thing about rescribing it again is that the paint buildup has made the panel lines really narrow and hard to get to. Doing so would risk chipping the paint... something I'm really hesitant to do. If all else fails, I'll redo the panel lines with paint and that should just cover up the color differential (but I really don't want to do that either.) Hopefully the toothpaste works...

a

Did you think of using a toothpick/cocktail stick with the ended sanded to a fine point and dipped in a drop of water to clear the compound out the panel lines?

i just work on it with a stiff tissue paper, or a dulled toothpick for severe ones.

Toothpicks are too thick but paper worked out pretty well. It got most of it out but there is still some left over. You can see the white compound on the left and right side of the hood panel lines--

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/appleseed415/bucket/compound.jpg

I might just go ahead and put another wash on it when I'm finished to eliminate the white specks...

Thanks guys!

a

The toothpick trick always works for me, but best to get it quickly before it dries too much.

I use a toothpick cut to thickness with a No 11 Blade.

Toothpick never works for either. Even if I sharpen the edge a little. Toothbrush and water works well for me, but I just rewash the panel lines if I get a stubborn bit of compound…

What works well for one, doesn’t always work well for others. That’s the beauty of this hobby. You find your own ways to make something work, and pass this knowledge on, and then the person asking for help can try them out, and see which one works best for them…

In this case, toothbrush, with stiff tissue and water… Glad it worked out for you. And VERY nice paintjob you’ve got there.

Toothbrush has to thick hairs (? is it the right word?), much better resoults are achived with wide hard brush slightly cut (so that those hairs are very short and stiff), I have one brush from my wife's cosmetics that works perfectly for this kind of problem.

I have found a rather effective method recently - you know those household spray bottles?

http://www.gssdist.com/SB910.gif

I found that if you hold the nozzle a few milimetres from the panel line and spray into it, the water will remove all polishing compound, even dried one. HTH.

i tend to use a piece of scrap paper folded so that i have a little scoop to work with.

i tend to use a piece of scrap paper folded so that i have a little scoop to work with.

that's what i do also.. except i use the edges of a dollar bill.:)

I just wash my model under water (yes with decal applied also w/out clear, not a problem and I done dozen times) and I clean with a flat brush: it works only with Tamy compound: some other grease compound I tried wasn't affected by water. Before clear application I unlike for sure compound dust so..

Thanks for all the tips! Paper seems to work out best thus far. I might give it another go at it before I resort to another wash. I tend to redo the panel lines with photoetched saws/scribers so they stay narrow while giving it a bit more of depth. It also helps create a really sharp panel line after the wash. The only problem is that even trimming down toothpicks would not work in getting them all the way to the bottom while maintaining rigid enough to work with.

Yesterday I tried to use toothpaste and ended up scratching the paint as I have the 'whitening' toothpaste which had some fine grit in it. A bit of buffing took it out but I was sure glad that I felt it before I really went at it with the toothbrush.

Thanks again for all the replies!

a

Maybe its best As i've learned NEVER to let too much compound build up in any area without cleaning it off or wetting the area again with a wipe or a soft sponge..

Sometimes its possible to put a thin strip of tamiya masking tape along a panel line... Especially one thats very noticable.Like a bonnet line :P

M1CRO.

I get that problem often. If toothpicks and toothbrushes dont work then i fold a piece of paper in half and use the folded side of the paper. Yesterday night i had to use the back of a sharp blade, but if you do that then you have to be very careful not to damage the paint.

Hey Appleseed!!!
Haven't been on in forever long. I saw your post and thought I may share something that has worked for me. I've always used a cotton swab (Q tip) and pinched the end so that it jsut barely fits into the cut lines and VERY lightly soak the tip of the cotton with WD-40 (light machine oil) and just gave the lines a few swipes.
This method won't scratch paint and will work on just about every type of paint that has been properly clearcoated and painted, but use it sparingly. Please don't completely immerse the cotton tip with the oil. The oil actually breaks down the waxes just like the way oil will break grease down. Has anyone ever tried cleaning up grease and tar stains with WD 40 or light machine oil? That was the reasoning behind my trying it out. I usually paint with enamels and that's oil based and I haven't had problems with it once the paint has fully cured, but use at your discretion and know if you enamel paints are fully cured. I don't want to be held responsible someone ruining a paint job.
Once you have removed the excess wax, you can use glass cleaner to remove the oily residue for decal application or just wax the surface again to get that polished surface back and carefully avoid the cut lines.

This is my second post in this thread...

Today, I tried using a tooth pick while rinsing the panel line with running water. Works like a charm!

Winston

Hey Walter! Haven't seen you here in quite a while!

That's a pretty bold move with the WD-40. I don't know if I want to go that route yet. I currently have the body in some cold water and it has sat there for a day now. I'm gonna go at it with a soft bristled toothbrush and see if I can get the rest of the compound off.

Thanks for all the help guys!!!

a.

Sorry to bring back an old thread, but I was having the same problem as appleseed, stubborn compound.
Learned a few things:
1. Don't soak your newly painted very shiny s2k body in soapy water for a day.:banghead: the dish washing liquid that I used ate some of the paint. Result: scrub, sand, repaint.
2.Don't use a scribber to try to remove the compound, even if you're SUPER careful u'll probably nick into the paint.:banghead:
Result: rinse, wash, repaint.

Finally I tried something like what ales does:
I have found a rather effective method recently - you know those household spray bottles?
I found that if you hold the nozzle a few milimetres from the panel line and spray into it, the water will remove all polishing compound, even dried one. HTH.
I used my ab and sprayed water with around 30-40 psi. at around 2 or 3 milimeters distance, and only moved the trigger on my ab about 0.5-1mm back. If you look you'll see that when you're ab'ing most of the time they paint atomizes from 0 - 3 mm from the tip of ur ab, before that there is a "thread", and that is what I found does the most 'damage' to the compound.
Well, I'll stop here before I sound like a old man ranting on :nono:. HTH somebody out there:rolleyes: