Glue removal?

Ive also heard that freezing the parts makes it easier for glue to just pop out

Ric

There is something called "Hyper-Clean" sold in the UK (in car supply/repair shops) which may or may not be the same as Castrol Superclean (which isn't available in the UK), but is very effective at both removing paint and glue from plastic, without affecting the plastic at all (it sometimes has a bleaching effect, but this doesn't matter if you're going to paint it anyway).
Basically it seems to destroy the adhesion of both paint and glue to the base plastic (it doesn't dissolve them), allowing them to be peeled or scraped away. You need to soak items for at least 24 hours for it to work effectively, preferably for longer (2-3 days).

It doesn't work as well on liquid-type glues which "weld" the plastic, but with old-fashioned tube glue (the sort sold in "toothpaste tubes"), and cyanoacrylate-type glues, it works very well.

Hyperclean is an oily, clear liquid which is sold in large screw-topped metal cans. Not sure if this the same as Castrol Superclean.

Hi Guys,

I wanted to thank you for the suggestions. Between what you guys came up with, and my idea for having some crew 'swabbing the decks' to cover the bad spots, I think I have a salvagable project here.

Thanks again.
Bill

Ahoy Grizzlybear,

Years ago I read an article describing the properties of tube glue.
It stated that tube glue is composed of 2 principle elements:

The glue and the carrier.

The jelly-like substance is the carrier and it contains the glue.
The article explained that the carrier dried very slowly to allow
for proper postioning of parts and then after some time the
glue would go into effect. This is especially helpful for beginners
since as you may know liquid glue is very fast setting and
dissolves the plastic much more rapidly.

The bond of tube glue can be quite strong if used properly.
Using to much tube glue on a part would create some problems too;
the parts would not properly bond and what would actually hold the
parts together was just the dried carrier. Then surprize, months later
when you touched and handled the model, things would start falling off !!!

So start by gently prying the parts and see if they come loose. If they do,
then proceed to scrape off the excess carrier ; there should be minimal
damage to the plastic and repair as necessary.

Also try soaking the model in undiluted household bleach for 24 hours,
this apparently will loosen the bond of tube glue.

Good luck with your project !
Have a nice day and happy modeling,

Joe

could replace the deck with sheet plastic that looks like wood decking

that sounds like cool and original, best of luck with it.
Alan

Hi guys,

That's not wanted to hear, but I thank you for the input.

Any thoughts about that purple Castol super-cleaner maybe desolving the glue? I know it works good on paint (except for Krylon).

Hmm, the glue spots are about as big around as a pencil is thick. Anyone have any suggestions about 'deck clutter' that Bismarck might have that would be that size?

I just had an idea! What do you guys think about this? Since I'll be replacing the molded in anchor chain anywaysm I only have to worry about deck planking. So, I can use the moto-tool, to clean it as much as possible, then using photo-etch sailors, I can have them mopping the deck with acrylic 'wash-water' covering the spots on the deck!

I'm still open to ideas.

Bill

dito. Perhaps you could sand it off, then scratch build the parts again and rescribe the panel lines, but that is a lot of work. The other thing you could try is a dremmel tool to get as close to the problem as you can.
Sorry to hear about your bad luck.
Alan

if its tube glue there isn't much hope for not doing much damage due to the 'melting' nature of it...