Cleaning coaches - Soap or solvent?

[gavino200]

I recently picked up these Lima Orient Express cars for a good price. They're filthy though. By far the dirtiest coaches I've ever had. I've never really had to clean a train car before. But I'd like to do a nice job. What's best to use? Just some gentle soap and water? Any special type of soap? Warm water, cold water? Ok/necessary/good/bad to use alcohol on unpainted parts? 

 

Any suggestions will be welcome.

 

[Densha]

That's a good question. I have been wondering what to use to clean one of my N scale models as well.

[medusa]

I would start with warm (not too hot) water plus soap (maybe dish cleaner). Too hot water can soften and warp plastics. Most plastics are tolerant to alcohol but better test that on an invisible place like inside the case. However  I would not trust the paint to resist alcohol.

Any other solvents probably will attack the plastic.

 

I learned it it the hard way by removing price stickers from plastic models. :(

Edited November 19, 2017 by medusa
typo

[Densha]

I would recommend against dish cleaners, especially those with lemon, as they often tend to have stinging stuff inside that may damage the paint. I also wouldn't use alcohol on paint for exactly the same reason. I don't know if there's any detergent that is pH neutral for paints.

[gavino200]

1 hour ago, Densha said:

I would recommend against dish cleaners, especially those with lemon, as they often tend to have stinging stuff inside that may damage the paint. I also wouldn't use alcohol on paint for exactly the same reason. I don't know if there's any detergent that is pH neutral for paints.

 

Good point. Also, I don't really want my coaches smelling lemon fresh!

[cteno4]

The good gentle soap is the plain ivory soap. Pretty ph neutral and little extra stuff in in. You want it very dilute like less than 1%. There are some speciality soaps that conservators use, but those I'm sure ain't cheap.

 

always start by using the cleaning with very soft swab (those lip makeup applications are great as they don't shed a lot like qtips will) in a small more hidden corner at first. Rinse it and let it dry for a day or two to make sure there are no bad reactions. Usually it's the decals that will be the most vulnerable as the paints will be organic solvent based. Do multiple passes of gentle cleaning and not a big rough one.

 

alcohols are good as they can really affect decals and also mildly solvated many paints some.

 

Cheers

 

jeff

[nah00]

I just used a touch of dish soap on the 381 series I got that was covered in mud. Disassembled the entire train and soaked the whole lot in warm water for a bit and the started the cleaning. An old toothbrush can work but be careful since it can scratch paint.