How to remove tamiya putty?

Hi everyone!
I'm new to modeling and recently just made my first big mistake..
Trying to remove scratches I covered the whole car body with Tamiya Putty White...
Does anyone know how to remove it from the body? The car looks awful right now :-(

Thanks!

Sand paper?

a photo would help.

what do you mean by "covered the whole car body"?

Hi everyone!
I'm new to modeling and recently just made my first big mistake..
Trying to remove scratches I covered the whole car body with Tamiya Putty White...
Does anyone know how to remove it from the body? The car looks awful right now :-(

Thanks!

Buy a new kit, throw away the old one unless you want to reshape it.

Throwing away the kit may seem the best option, but I've noticed that Tamiya putty tends to get weaker when it's been soaked in brake fluid.
At least, that's what happened when I put my F430 body into the brake fluid. Areas that had been puttied had to be done again, because the putty had crumbled/rubbed off in places...

Before throwing away anything you might try to put the body into some DOT3 brake fluid and see if the putty gets weak/brittle enough to be scrubbed off...

Throwing away the body is not an option for me hence I want to push the best out of this kit. Sandpaper does the job but that good.

I'll certainly try brake fluid. For how long shoud I throw the body into it?

[UPD] Last night tried sanding with 1000 grit and dish washer liquid...made some visible progress.

If available a Tamiya 1/24 body shell costs some 6 Euro, is it worth losing hours (and money for the brake fluid) trying to save it?

What kit are you working on?!

@Axiom

My F430 had been in brake fluid for several days. Maybe the effect on the putty could have been seen sooner, I don't know.

What I do know is that brake fluid weakened the plastic, so be careful to not let the parts soak too long in the brake fluid.

Brake fluid should strip it no problem.

It's a Revell 1:24 Shelby Mustang GT 350H. I just love the way it looks and would really be disappointed if I'll have to throw away the body.

Thanks everyone. I'll try brake fluid a bit later. As for now I'll stick with the dish washer liquid and sanding.

To be honest, I can't imagine how much putty you must have put on the body (just to cover some scratches) that simply sanding the putty down is NOT the most obvious and simplest answer to your problem?!?!? :screwy:

A picture would be most useful in helping you out because it seems to me that your real problem is not how to remove putty but rather to help advise you how to you use putty properly in the first place. :2cents:

To be honest, I can't imagine how much putty you must have put on the body (just to cover some scratches) that simply sanding the putty down is NOT the most obvious and simplest answer to your problem?!?!? :screwy:

A picture would be most useful in helping you out because it seems to me that your real problem is not how to remove putty but rather to help advise you how to you use putty properly in the first place. :2cents:

It was foolish of me to do so with putty.:uhoh: It covered the panel lines on the roof, doors, trunk and the grid in front of the window. and I have no clue how to get it out. Maybe, jjust sand it off a bit and cut through new panel lines? I wish I knew how to do that correctly. The lines I curved are far from perfect.:runaround:

I messed up from the beginning by using 200-400 grit sand paper hence I didn't have any other. Now I have 1000, 2000 and 2500 grits and don't leave any more sever scratches on the car bodies.:rolleyes:

I'll post some pics later...

It was foolish of me to do so with putty.:uhoh: It covered the panel lines on the roof, doors, trunk and the grid in front of the window. and I have no clue how to get it out. Maybe, jjust sand it off a bit and cut through new panel lines? I wish I knew how to do that correctly. The lines I curved are far from perfect.:runaround:

I messed up from the beginning by using 200-400 grit sand paper hence I didn't have any other. Now I have 1000, 2000 and 2500 grits and don't leave any more sever scratches on the car bodies.:rolleyes:

That's exactly what I feared and why I suggested buying a new body shell for your kit.

I already ordered a new kit, but I still keep hope to save this one...

http://images26.fotki.com/v887/photos/7/1477817/7282580/100_8235-vi.jpg

http://images42.fotki.com/v1466/photos/7/1477817/7282580/100_8484-vi.jpg

http://images49.fotki.com/v1459/photos/7/1477817/7282580/100_8485-vi.jpg

http://images42.fotki.com/v1466/photos/7/1477817/7282580/100_8486-vi.jpg

http://images46.fotki.com/v1441/photos/7/1477817/7282580/100_8487-vi.jpg

http://images45.fotki.com/v1451/photos/7/1477817/7282580/100_8488-vi.jpg

Why not just scrape the putty out of the panel lines with a Exacto knife?

that's what I'm doing trying to save it (scrubbing the panel lines and sanding the body)...but there are just to many panel lines and I can't get them straight enough.

acethone ;) just use some cotton swabs with plenty of acethone...

acethone ;) just use some cotton swabs with plenty of acethone...
That's a pretty dumb idea in my opinion - it's more than likely going to melt the plastic and ruin the whole body for ever :2cents:

That is going to be a LOT of work to re-scribe all those panel lines. I see 2 options for you:
a) the quicker and cheaper option is going to be buy a new kit. This is not a rare kit I beleieve and you shoudl be able to find it quite cheaply. Put it down to experience and you will have this kit and body as spares/scrap to use for testing techniques BEFORE you try them on a new kit or for modding another build in the future.

b) try and save this one by filling all the lines with putty, sanding flat and then re-scribing again. Use either Dymo labelling tape or photo-etch rulers as guides. Where grilles atc are stuffed with putty, I'd cut them out and replace them with phot-etch parts. This is do-able but IMHO it's going to cost you more time, effort, money and frustration than just being philosophical about it and starting a new kit.

That's a pretty dumb idea in my opinion - it's more than likely going to melt the plastic and ruin the whole body for ever :2cents:



:nono:

acethone won't melt the sytrene.. Try and see.. I'm always using this cleaning methode for both fresh and hardened tamiya putty to minimise sanding and to save recessed details at aircraft kits, and none of them melted yet...

regards

Where grilles atc are stuffed with putty, I'd cut them out and replace them with phot-etch parts.

Do you know where I can get PE parts for a mustang?


I would really like to avoid usin acethone, as I almost ruinied a Silvia s13 body with it already.:sly:

Thanks everyone! Got all the putty of with a some kind of DOT4 brake fluid and brushed it all of with an old toothbrush afterwards.

Howerver there are a few places on the body where the putty or the primer has "ate" the plastic through. Looks like little holes in cheese. Should I just cover them up with putty once more?

Pics will be added later.

Why not just scrape the putty out of the panel lines with a Exacto knife?

Because the panel edges will be rough and uneven, not straight and smooth like they were to begin with. A Squadron scriber will do a much better job - not perfect in this case, but much better.

You need to think about the most productive use of your time. In about the same amount of time, you could:

1. Get a new kit and build it to perfection. (That will take, say, about four weeks.)

2. Struggle with it until it's "just okay" and you run out of patience. (That will also take about four weeks.)

Then, of course, you have to build it - four weeks more. Total project time: eight weeks.

You could build two great models in the time it will take to repair and build this one. And the chances are very great that it won't look as good as if you started with a clean body.

So which makes the most sense?

Ddms

there are a few places on the body where the putty or the primer has "ate" the plastic through. Looks like little holes in cheese. Should I just cover them up with putty once more?

Depending on where the holes are . . . if the underside of the body at that spot will not be visible (for instance, on a non-opening hood, or door panel that will be hidden by the interior tub), you might want to glue a piece of thin styrene sheet on the backside of the body so the putty has somewhere to rest against. It would be much less likely to fall 'through' the hole when you're sanding if there is something to back it up.

But I agree with some of the other sentiment - if you can replace the body, just replace it - it will save you frustration and look better in far less time. . .

I'm still a newbie, so I'll go one with this body practicing and improving my skills for future builds. Yet I already ordered one more kit exactly as this one.

I'm still a newbie, so I'll go one with this body practicing and improving my skills for future builds. Yet I already ordered one more kit exactly as this one.

Good idea! It might be a good idea to put the body aside and work on the interior, the running gear and other stuff you can use on the final model. If you make a mistake, you'll have a second chance when the other one shows up.

Take it from me: I'm an expert on wasting time trying to prove to myself that I can do the impossible.

Ddms

By the way, Tamiya putty does not eat plastic, so you should replace that plastic-eating primer with a primer that does not have an appetite for styrene.

It seems like it would be cool to use "real" automotive products for model autos, but they are risky. As a rule, hobby products work best for hobby applications. I'm a huge fan of Tamiya; most of their stuff is excellent, including their spray-can surface primers. Expensive but excellent. (I do prefer Mr. Putty over Tamiya putty, however.)

Later on, you can experiment with automotive urethanes, nail polish, home-made decals and other trick stuff.

Ddms

I have had experiences where Tamiya putty has made the surface of the plastic rough myself . . . maybe it's by design to increase adhesion, but I would disagree that it is totally plastic safe. I have never had problems with it causing actual holes, though.

Thanks for the advice Ddms =)

I guess the holes came from something else. I keep getting such holes at places from which I remove the Tamiya Masking tape. The fusion of smthng in the Masking tape interacts with the Tamiya putty and leaves such unpleasant results.

I have had experiences where Tamiya putty has made the surface of the plastic rough myself . . . maybe it's by design to increase adhesion, but I would disagree that it is totally plastic safe. I have never had problems with it causing actual holes, though.


Yeah...Tamiya putty can be messy sometimes.
Usually I use Tamiya Lacquer Thinner to strip the paint and all of the putty works...your body will be back to the original shape, without any paint or putty left.
For the holes...if it's really small, the putty wouldn't fill in,so sometimes I use tamiya cement or CA glue to fill it, saves time:p