Disaster!!!

I've uszed la ack quers fir abut 35 years and fgia[r ]09igae]  nnothg hasss hipppehnd tooo meae yettta...

I can tell!

Laquer thinner evaporates at such a high rate that it doesn't do much to exposed skin... If you spill it on your hands, wash 'em with Dawn...  If you spill it on you clothes, change them as the stuff doesn't evapoarte as fast on clothing and can cause a chemical burn akin to over-filling your Zippo and putting it in your pocket..

But it's not Mustard or Nerve gas, so don't get too wound up about it...  If you spill it, clean it up and continue to march...  If it gets on the floor, you run a much greater risk of slipping on the stuff and breaking your neck in the fall than you do from inhaling it...

At any rate, a respirator will only help protect you from the particulates... It does nothing about the oxygen-displacing fume-hazard associated with it... (You need an OBA for that...)  Good cross-ventilation is usually enough for the amount of painting any modeler does with laquers, but if it helps you sleep at night, go for it... Also, there isn't anything you can do about the smell.. If it bothers you, about all you can do is stop using it.. Make sure you have no facial hair.. The masks won't seal on more than a day or so's beard-growth, and you'll smell even more of it.... 

 Keep in mind too that most of the scary stuff you read about fume-hazards is written by folks who make and sell pro-masks...

  BTW, don't clean paint off your mask with the stuff either... It'll eat it..

I've uszed la ack quers fir abut 35 years and fgia[r ]09igae]  nnothg hasss hipppehnd tooo meae yettta...

Hey Karl - Thanks for the advice. I have gloves and I had every intention of using them but I forgot to until it was too late.

I did the same thing with my respirator the first time I used my AB. (My OHS department at work loves me! )

Too late smart.

Griffin

 There was nothing salvageable in that mess. I had melted plastic all over my fingers, even the tub was getting gooey!

 

Please wear GOOD gloves when handling thinners. Don't let these poisons into your body through carelessness. A lifetime of exposure can have drastic health consequences.

I think a good rule of thumb would be that if it smells stronger than Simple Green or Windex then test it on a scrap piece first.

Hans von Hammer

At least you didn't make the model spontaneously combust...

Yup - at least there's that.

It was 25 cents (plus the thinner) spent on a good lesson!

At least you didn't make the model spontaneously combust...

I managed to do that with resin and too much catalyst once... Burned the Kingfisher (to a puddle), the diorama base (to a crisp), AND the bench (steel surface, so it was ok, and it kept the house from going up in flames)...

I learned, "Read and Follow All Label Directions" after that...  Especially mix-ratios...

Ain't chemicals fun????

Had the same happen to me too.  I also tried Goof Off once.  That was a total mess also.

I tried to remove lacquer based paint with Super Clean once.  It didn't work.  I avoid the lacquer paints now since I can't figure out how to strip them if I need to.

-Jesse

You can also use "hot" laquer thinner to your advantage: just melt spure in the thinner and you have a home made putty. Ideal to use under nmf finishes. 

Maybe this "laquer thinner" issue should be one of the standard warnings for modelers?

While I didn't lose a kit over it, I also found out about the stuff's effect on plastic kits while trying a new method.  Over 10 years ago, I had asked a guy that I bought some resin kits from about filling bubbles on some of the kits had.  He suggested making a slurry by mixing Squadron putty with laquer thinner.  A few months later I was working on the Enterprise E kit and had to do some puttying on it.  My inexperience with putty and impatience at the time led me to think that placing the stuff would be easier if I used the slurry approach with that project.

It didn't take long for the plastic to start melting but I caught it quickly enough to avoid ruining the kit.  I guess it's a good thing that my impatience with sanding makes me a little stingy when applying the putty.

Many years ago I started a build on a 1/72 Hasagawa He 51B float plane.  Started painting it and wasn't happy at all with how it looked.  As I use enamels, they tend to stick a little better than most.  One trick I learned was to use Easy Off oven cleaner to remove chrome, paint and etc from kits.

Well, the Easy Off basically made the kit just fall apart.  Nothing really bad, just way more than I wanted to deal with then.

A couple years went by and got an inspiration to try and salvage the little beast.  Went all out and it turned into a real beauty.  Even won a first place at an IPMS Regional with it.

It is still with me even though it is quite fragile.  Has made at least a dozen moves etc.

Note:  All the rigging is stretched sprue.  Amazing how well this 20+ year old build has held up.

Borg R3-MC0

I once used laquer thinner and tissues to remove primer (whilst still wet) and made a mess out of the surface of that kit. Fortunatly it was salvable:

/forums/p/94913/928061.aspx#928061

Did that too (to remove Tamiya's crappy white primer) - fortunately it was on the wing of an F4F-3 Wildcat that was getting the yellow wing treatment. That color covers A LOT of mistakes.

I once used laquer thinner and tissues to remove primer (whilst still wet) and made a mess out of the surface of that kit. Fortunatly it was salvable:

/forums/p/94913/928061.aspx#928061

Super Clean degreaser is the best overall and will not harm plastic. Easy-Off oven cleaner in the yellow can is second best and Simple Green is third in my opinion. Never, ever soak anything in lacquer thinner unless you know it will not harm it.

I used krylon primer out of a rattle can. I definitely won't be using lacquer thinner to remove paint from a model anymore.

I've heard brake fluid and oven-cleaner work well too.

Don't try to strip paint off a model with any type of paint thinner at all, I have had enough workbench accidents to know that personally. 

I use bleach to strip paint, but there are an assortment of chemicals you can pick up from the grocery store that will strip paint and will not damage plastic.

What kind of primer did you put on it?

Sorry about your disaster.  I have found than once painted, don't try to remove it.  Usually, the results are not good, as per your experience.  I have had to throw out several models as a result of stuff like that.