# Has a Bandai Gundam ever *crumbled* in your hands?



## RB (Jul 29, 1998)

My buddy Shannon called me this morning to tell me his new $40 Gundam SEED kit started crumbling into dust while he was holding it. He had just finished an oil wash over an acrylic finish and it just started crumbling. He's going to send me a picture.

I've never heard of this before. He does an oil wash over acrylics all the time with no problem (Model Master). Anybody else have this happen? Unstable plastic maybe? Some kind of paint reaction?


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Well what is crumbling? The plastic or the paint? A solvent based wash CAN effect plastic and make it brittle, snap, or crumble.

Since you don't say what kind of wash he used, its hard to tell exactly what happened. Even some of the pre-mixed washes you can buy are very harsh and need to be used carefully. I had some MiG brand wash destroy a Tamiya Panzer II, and have also had some issues with AK Interactive stuff. One of the few SAFE washes is Weber's Turpenoid (blue label) synthetic thinner mixed with good grade artist oil paints. Turpenoid is NOT Turpentine (which can attack plastic too). It's a branded product.

Not all model plastics are the same either. For example, I found I can spray a Revell car body with Duplicolor automotive lacquer straight from the can. But, if you spray an AMT body with it, the body will melt into a glob of goo. Also snap together kit parts are often under some kind of stress due to the press-fit assembly and tension within the parts. Thinner can aggrevate that and cause the stressed parts to break,


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## RB (Jul 29, 1998)

Everything he used was Testors brand...Model Master enamels, acrylics, and Testors brand enamel thinner. He's done this particular kind of wash many, many times before and never had this result, he was pretty gobsmacked. Some of the wash was used on bare plastic, but he said it was not an inordinate amount and he's done this before with no problem. I guess he'll have to chalk it up to one of life's modeling mysteries. He did send photos, shown below. I'm not really familiar with these Gundams so it's a little hard for me to make heads or tales:

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/medium/gun1.JPG

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/medium/gun2.JPG

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/medium/gun3.JPG

http://photos.hobbytalk.com/data/509/medium/gun4.JPG


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Never use mineral spirits (Testors thinner) as a wash agent. It can and will harm plastic. Parts that have stress or have been stressed (like on a snap together model) can snap and break when hit with a hot thinner. I had a similar thing happen when I had to CA glue a warped model together. When I applied some Mig brand pre-mixed wash, it caused the plastic to crack and crumble all around the stressed areas. Thats why I recommend using the Turpenoid thinner for a wash. 

Sounds like your friend got lucky before but his luck ran out. Live and learn. Don't use a harsh solvent for a wash.


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