Removing molded on ladders etc.

Often too a little trial fitting will reveal that something like a water tight door or a ladder doesn’t need to be entirely removed if you are putting a new one over the spot. The more the better, but it might not have to be pristine.

Remember “Aztec” ladders?

EdGrune

 

Use a #17 Xacto chisel.   Hold the blade flat against the surface (bevel up) and gently pare away the raised surface.  Go back with set of sanding sticks and clean up using coarser to finer grits.   Sometimes old-school is faster & better

 

Same method I use.

Use a thin micro flat file several  times then with Tamils liquid thin cement brush over several times until it levels out.

ddp59

i would use a chisel blade to cleanup after removing the molded on ladders.

 

I have a really nice, sharp 1/4 inch chisel (Stanley) that does a nice job of removing ladders all by itself.  If I am careful, virtually no cleanup needed.  If you are going to replace them with PE ladders, removal need not be perfect if any slight damages or unevenless is restricted to area behind ladder- not very visible through new PE ladder.

I usually grasp the chisel on the blade, not far from edge, rather than the handle.  The chisel is sharp enough it does not take much force.  I try to take off a first cut leaving a few mil of the ladder, then I do a more careful second cut flush with the bulkhead.

you are so right Ed. i didn't consider the very tiny detail on a 1/350 scale model in which case the Dremel and sprue cutters wouldn't be good tools to use ...my bad

Thank you!

From Micro Mark I bought a detail removal chisel, quite good at getting rid of unwanted plastic lines and rivets. I think about $10. Look it up on line, it works really well for me.

Whether an X-acto chisel or other, I find slightly rounding the side corners at the sharp end to be important, otherwise it's easy to gouge the plastic as it moves over the surface. Overall I lose less adjoining details around the area I'm working on, with no surface tool damage to correct.

Patrick

Jay Jay

Removing molded detail is mainly a process. i first try to clip of as much as I can with my Xuron sprue cutter. If there is a lot of the detail still left I'll CAREFULLY grind it off with a Dremel tool on the lowest setting. Then  you can tape around the area to protect the surface while sanding what remains with sucessively finer sandpaper until the area is smooth. Good files can save a lot of work here instead of sandpaper if you have them. If ,after all of that ,the area is not smooth enough, it can be polished with Novus #2 plastic polish back to the original sheen of the plastic. Good luck 

 

A dissenting opinion -

Using a Dremel, even at its slowest speed is among the fastest means of screwing-up the surface.   Melting is almost a given.  Motorized tools are good mostly when hogging off large things like resin pour stubs

Very difficult to get close enough with a set of side clippers/sprue cutters.

Use a #17 Xacto chisel.   Hold the blade flat against the surface (bevel up) and gently pare away the raised surface.  Go back with set of sanding sticks and clean up using coarser to finer grits.   Sometimes old-school is faster & better

i would use a chisel blade to cleanup after removing the molded on ladders.

Thank you for your response! 

Removing molded detail is mainly a process. i first try to clip of as much as I can with my Xuron sprue cutter. If there is a lot of the detail still left I'll CAREFULLY grind it off with a Dremel tool on the lowest setting. Then  you can tape around the area to protect the surface while sanding what remains with sucessively finer sandpaper until the area is smooth. Good files can save a lot of work here instead of sandpaper if you have them. If ,after all of that ,the area is not smooth enough, it can be polished with Novus #2 plastic polish back to the original sheen of the plastic. Good luck