The Murphy Builders Site

Gentlemen, I have an older Elite kit that has been started. I used the fuselage pieces. The hang-up is that one wing was started the stored out in the sun with the protective plastic still on some parts. The plastic pretty much disintegrated but I'm having trouble removing the adhesive. Anyone out there found a way to remove the sticky without destroying the skin ? bjornretd@gmail.com

Try MEK or Acetone. I've gone through a few 20L pails of Acetone. I still have the skin on my windshield after 20 years so that's going to be my nightmare.
Monty

Seems I've solved the dilemma. GUN WASH has some powerful stuff in it so the adhesive softens enough after a bit of a soak to scrub loose with a small plastic bristle brush. It's not real quick and a bit messy but saves showing out the skins. MEK does not seem to be available in Canada anyway. Bob

Bob, I presume you are talking about spray paint gun wash. Brand names?

Monty,
I had the same problem with my Glasair windshield. I put a heavy coat of SprayLat on it and was then able to easily remove the film.

Mark Banus

Thanks Mark, ill keep that in mind when I get to the windshield.

I had an issue with the plastic I had left on the vertical fin as it had gone hard and crazed.
50C in Dubai will do that. There was no way it would peel.
I ended up using a paint striper what contained dichloromethane, methanol and toluene that I picked up at NAPA Canada.

it was able to penetrate through the crazed plastic and lifted. Modern environmentally friendly stripers are as good as H2O so ensure it has dichloromethane or its derivative.

Monty

We tried every chemical we could get our hands on. Nothing really worked. In desperation, we tried carburetor cleaner and discovered that it will remove the sticky residue left when plastic is pealed from AL2 sheets. Spray it on. Let it sit a bit, then use plastic brush to loosen. Pick up residue with paper towels.
Also, we discovered that when pealing plastic sheets off, heat the other side of the sheet with a heat gun. The plastic comes off without leaving residue.

This is on kit 676 so it has been on a long time!

Mark Banus

What I'm up against right now. Leading edges I got from a member that he stored in the garage loft and appears they got solvent misted as well. It's on there like paint and of course only on the leading edge I need. The left LE that was inside this one is peel-able of course! I tried gasket remover with no luck and a lot of other things. Heavy Gator packing tape laid over top and then the heat gun applied starts to peel it, but at that rate it would be a 100+ hour job to get this shit off. Hoping paint stripper will work, but weather isn't very conducive to that right now. Worst case I've ever seen in 26 years.

If the skins are damaged or you can’t get the plastic off I would just make new ones. 4x12 sheet of Aluminum,2 garbage bags, roll of duct tape, and a shop vac. Fold the sheet over tape the edge together garbage bag on each end poke a hole in one end suck the air out with a shop van. About a 20 minute job forming. Here are 3 pictures of the process.

Si WIflier
N431SS N572TA

Thanks Si, if I had a sheet of .020 in the rack I would have probably already been there transferring holes to it and using my 14' press brake and 12' shear to knock out a new one, but that's some great info for forming one with vacuum for the guys here.

That said, the buzz is real today.. I now know why they keep Toluol behind the counter in Home Hardware! Guess I should have used that $3500 fresh air hood system bolted to the wall of the shop while I was playing with every solvent known to man... but I did figure out how to get 26 year old plastic off aluminum ! On full pieces carb cleaner sprayed lightly helps it lift nicely. Baked on, cracked, UV'd stuff that is on like old lead paint on Gramma's house, Toluol sprayed on and covered with plastic for about an hour. It then shatters off like glass with a plastic putty knife.

What a job, At least you got a good buzz. Thanks for sharing that. I've got a windshield with10 year old plastic on it.

Curtis

I believe it's a 50/50 mix of alcohol and kerosene that LP Aero recommends to remove stuck plastic on acrylic, check with them first. I use lighter fluid for windshield clean up after an install.

Ok, thanks Wayne. I appreciate the helpful advice.

Curtis