removing foil attached with microscale adhesive

I know how you feel. I am working on a project usung Bare Metal foil. Have you tried 3M Duck Tape or Gorilla Tape? They are super stickey and should pull the aluminum foil off of the model. Of course, then you meed to deal with removing the adhesive. Maybe the purple stuff will disolve it.

NO!!! DON'T PUT ANYTHING LIKE THAT ON YOUR MODEL!!! Use WATER to gently SOAK off the glue so that you get it to remove without damaging your parts. A little patience goes a LONG way! Try it - I guarantee that it's a lot better than going gung-ho on your parts, and being sorry for it later.

~ Cobra Chris

All the more reasons why I think using bare metal foil on the whole or part of an aircraft. I never could understand why anyone would want to do it. Better off painting it instead. At least with paint, you can remove it without ruining the kit.

I don't understand why anyone would want to use this on their model unless you'd want to ruin it! It doesn't look very realistic, except for small parts that you don't want to paint, or for patches that resemble repair jobs. It doesn't go on very smoothly, or have a reasonable way to appply it without having to finesse it a lot. Now we have metal paints that look exactly like real metal so now you don't have to use aluminum foil - EXPENSIVE aluminum foil in a vain attempt to make a more realistic model on any scale!

~ Cobra Chris

The only time I will use BMF is for trimwork on auto kits. (windshield frames, wipers. door handles, etc...)

Cobra427;

   Oh , Boy ! You surprised me with this comment .I have foiled cars and airplanes for over twenty five years with NO problems. The one plane I always mention was done completely that way !  

   I discovered something with the paint .You Cannot Polish it, after cleaning it in six months to a year .If you do, you wind up with a dull silver color with plastic showing through on the edges . Question, though . Will you ever display the rest of the squirrel band ? Love the little guy - Really do !

Tanker - Builder

Cobra427;

   Oh , Boy ! You surprised me with this comment .I have foiled cars and airplanes for over twenty five years with NO problems. The one plane I always mention was done completely that way !  

   I discovered something with the paint .You Cannot Polish it, after cleaning it in six months to a year .If you do, you wind up with a dull silver color with plastic showing through on the edges . Question, though . Will you ever display the rest of the squirrel band ? Love the little guy - Really do !

 

Uh... Testors carries a line of Buffing Metalizer paints. You do need to add a coat of sealer afterwards though. Also Alclad and AK Interactive both can achieve the desired polished or Bare Metal look as well.

Hey , Black Sheep !

 You know what ? I think the " Buffing Metallizer" that Testors has , is a form of liquid " Rub n Buff " . Really ! I once used that on the large " Flying Wing " Prop model and it still looks great ( Not Finished ) Darned !  T.B.      P.S. Yes, they can create a very fine Polished surface .But , My comment was, What if , say a year later it looks dusty and dull and you try to polish it back up .That's a No-No ! It's paint , not metal !

Putsie!

 I have read All the posts . I still do this . Find a spot where you can peel it back on itself . Then very gently use a brush with " Mineral Spirits " On it and gently apply the spirits to the crease area .

  Keep peeling till it's off .Wipe the surface only ONCE and there you go .Clean and ready for more work .This does work for me .    T.B.   P.S. with Vac- U - Form it is imperative you only wipe once after removal !

Hi guys !

Thanks for all the help.  Nice to hear from fellow modelers.  BTW.....I'm working on a Rareplanes FXM-1 for my "X-Planes shelve".

To address all the comments and suggestions:

I don't always use foil for natural metal finishes....it is tedious and I get lazy.....but I do think that foil is nice because it is actually aluminum......this was the first time I had the need to remove it (I rushed things and got results fitting my lack of patients....sanding/filler marks, creases in the foil...you follow the mess haste creates).  I've use kitchen foil, gum wrapper foil with the paper packing removed, aluminum tape, gold leaf on the "lunar lander" and combinations of foil and paint to get a variety of panel effects.  I have not tried any of the pre-glued sheet products

 I have used several of the "buffing paints" and SNJ products, but foil appears more realistic to me.  I have also used combinations of buffing paint and foil where contours make foil difficult.

Foil isn't expensive though, the glue goes a long way and I just use household foil

I took the suggestion of soaking the part (s) in warm water, I added a  couple of squirts of liquid hand soap and left it for two days and the foil came right off with a little finger-nail action to lift the edge.....no problem...I cleaned off residual glue with a "0000" synthetic steel wool pad............thanks for the suggestion.

Great hearing from all of you.

Putsie

im so glad that worked for you. I have been following this and was concerned that you were going to have big difficulties. thanks for sharing.