Well.. I melted my 1st shell the other day. I have mentioned before that I have used NON Acetone nail polish remover to remove lettering, and/or paint for some time.. I decided to "try" it with removing paint from a Kato RS2 shell. Well, to put it mildly, "Does anyone have an extra Kato or even Atlas RS2/3 shell they want to donate, or even sell? I am afraid this shell is going to end up a burned up, and abandoned train scene or something for the back of my yard.. Safety Tip Of The Day: Don't put nail polish remover on your kato shells.. lol. I think I am doing alright, being in the hobby for 30+ years and only melting one shell with all the re-paints I do..
Yeh, but it still gives you that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, doesn't it! You're not alone - believe me. Sorry I don't have any shells.
Can't help with a Kato, but the Siskiyou Southern is willing to donate one unpainted Atlas RS3 shell with windows and railing assembly. If you can't do better, PM me your mailing address. Donations will go to the Paint Strippers Support Group - we've all been there! Scott
I'll take it.. I want to replace it with an Atlas shell anyway.. Let me know what I can give ya for it.. PM Sent..
91% isopropyl alcohol works for removing the Kato pad printing (I get mine from Target). Rubs right off with a dab of alcohol on a clean rag and a little pressure. Now, if I could just find something to remove the base paint that is fairly safe to use indoors. Brian
Brian, I've found that the 91% alcohol will also remove most of the Kato paint, but the one shell I stripped using that method thus far took about 3-4 days worth of soaking/scrub brush sessions. There's still a little residual paint left down in the nooks/crannies that I'm still trying to get loose. Mike C.
You can always melt it a little further and put it on a siding to simulate a wrecked loco, or put it on a gondola as a scrap load!
I use the Chameleon stuff. It has worked so far on Atlas and LL repainting projects. I have not yet tried it on anything from Kato.
Yeah, I seen them, and almost swallowed my tonge when I saw the price on the Kato site. Funny, because on the Atlas site, the Atlas RS3 shell is less than $10 for the whole shell and side rails (about $6 if I remember correctly). and IMHO is a much better shell. I think I only remember paying about $20 for this whole Kato RS2 on ebay a couple years ago. Before I paid over $30 for a shell from Kato, I would just pick up another total unit on Ebay. I see them fairly regularly pop up for $20-$40.
Sorry to hear about you shell. I did hear, that some of the model cars guys, use Over cleaner to remove paint. I tryed some cheap oven cleaner to strip the paint off my scooter, and it would not touch it. Must have been because it was the cheap grade.
Yep.. I have used oven cleaner a few times on projects and it does alright, but allot of elbow grease too... The non acetone nail polish remover actually does awesome, and I use it allot. But this was the first Kato shell I did with it.. I think Kato uses corn starch for their shells not plastic.. lol..
