# ****-N-Span to the rescue again... wish I had taken "before" pics



## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Got these at the Beers show last weekend. One of the vendors had a box of trashed bodies for a quarter each. I think these were both in that box, but then I did a lot of bargain box hunting, and I might have paid as much as $1 each... don't remember for sure. They were both slathered in Testors brush paint. The Roadrunner had been painted yellow everywhere it was supposed to be white, with the blue pretty much unpainted. The Camaro was a two-tone silver and maroon. I originally bought them to use for parts... the Roadrunner had a good front bumper and the Camaro had good windows and was the first lighted Camaro I've seen, so I was gonna put the light diffuser under a runner Camaro. On a whim, I threw the Roadrunner in S&S and forgot about it for a couple of days. It cleaned up so well that I tried the Camaro too. Amazing.










Both cars needed rear bumpers and the Roadrunner needed windows, but I had also bought another Roadrunner for a quarter with miserably melted rear wheelwells. It had good windows and a pretty good bumper (it got a little of the melt treatment but was usable). I had a Camaro bumper laying around, too. I still need to fix the Roadrunner's window posts; both the A and B pillars are missing on the passenger side...

not bad for 75 cents, huh? :thumbsup:

--rick


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## WesJY (Mar 4, 2004)

yep!! not bad man!!!! good deal. i love looking for old bodies and fix it up just like you did and its alot of fun huh? 

Wes


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*Straight **** and Span or...*

Never tried **** and Span befoer Rick... What proportions do you use for soaking bodies and does it take a couple days to work normally?

thanks....dave


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Just throw them in it straight. It can sit for DAYS without harming anything. When I first put the Roadrunner in, I literally forgot about it till a couple days later. I actually have a pickle jar with a nice wide top, so any size body fits in it, and I just put the cap back on and leave the SnS in it when I'm done. This site is where I got the idea...

http://ho-slotcars.com/paint.htm

(To normally navigate to the page, go to Road Race Replicas' main site, then hit the link for FAQ's, then the link for Painting/Decaling. He talks about a few different chemicals to use for different kinds of stripping.)

here's a couple other threads where I did this:

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=122031

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=110798
(scroll down to the pics of the green Mako Shark)

finally, here's a before/after pic that I've posted here numerous times. The paint was removed from both these cars with just **** N Span and elbow grease...










--rick


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## Mad Matt (Dec 16, 2004)

Wow...
Yknow I have a AMX thant is painted (coated in) Forest Green paint... I know there is white underneath as a whell well rub shows some white underneath, Im hoping for a White with Red Stripe AMX (although it is probably a red white blue AMX or something like that ) So I have been seriously thinking about S&S..
If I do it Ill try to get Before and after pics up..
Should I yank the chrome and the window out or will those parts be ok in the S&S?
If the car has stripes will they be ok?


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Windows should be fine. I left the windows in the Camaro above and I was actually able to get off a little paint that was on them. But the chrome is another story. Too much scrubbing on it (I use an old toothbrush) and it starts to come off, which is what happened a little on the El Camino front bumper. The grille is all black now. I don't think the SnS will take the plating off, but I'd probably remove the bumpers anyway, just so the scrubbing process doesn't mess them up...

Stripes should be fine. The RRR site points out that the SnS doesn't touch the factory Aurora paint, and you'll notice all the cars above all still have their factory stripes and graphics. In particular, the Roadrunner was in like 2 or 3 days, and it still didn't damage the blue paint. I got a little overzealous trying to get paint out of the crevices of the Cheetah motor, which is why a lot of the silver paint came off it. I should have been patient and just let it soak longer...

--rick


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## Mike(^RacerX^) (Mar 15, 2003)

Thats a pretty neat trick.I never would have thought that it would actually work.

Thanks for showing that rick.I'll definetly remember this for future projects.

Mike


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## WesJY (Mar 4, 2004)

ParkRNDL said:


> Windows should be fine. I left the windows in the Camaro above and I was actually able to get off a little paint that was on them. But the chrome is another story. Too much scrubbing on it (I use an old toothbrush) and it starts to come off, which is what happened a little on the El Camino front bumper. The grille is all black now. I don't think the SnS will take the plating off, but I'd probably remove the bumpers anyway, just so the scrubbing process doesn't mess them up...
> 
> Stripes should be fine. The RRR site points out that the SnS doesn't touch the factory Aurora paint, and you'll notice all the cars above all still have their factory stripes and graphics. In particular, the Roadrunner was in like 2 or 3 days, and it still didn't damage the blue paint. I got a little overzealous trying to get paint out of the crevices of the Cheetah motor, which is why a lot of the silver paint came off it. I should have been patient and just let it soak longer...
> 
> --rick


Hey Rick, 

will SnS work on old lexan bodies? I have some lexan bodies that has old paint on it. or is there another way to do it? i would like to repaint it and i have some lexan bodies that already has painted but wasnt even cut to fit on chassis but i dont like the color . let me know.

Thanks
Wes


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## zanza (Sep 23, 2005)

Amazed by the results, great product.....
But here in Europa we never heard of this ****-N-Span stuff obviously

Does any european member (Claus?? Montoya1 ??) know what could be doing the same achievement??


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

Wes, sorry, but I never tried it on lexan... I would try it on a junker lexan body first to look for any damage...

Zanza, all I could find on the Web is www.spicnspan.com, and they don't even list the product as being available in Canada, much less across the pond. It's weird, because I can find distributor and wholesaler sites that list it as a Procter & Gamble product, but P & G make no mention of it on their site...

--rick


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## coach61 (Sep 6, 2004)

ParkRNDL said:


> Wes, sorry, but I never tried it on lexan... I would try it on a junker lexan body first to look for any damage...
> 
> Zanza, all I could find on the Web is www.spicnspan.com, and they don't even list the product as being available in Canada, much less across the pond. It's weird, because I can find distributor and wholesaler sites that list it as a Procter & Gamble product, but P & G make no mention of it on their site...
> 
> --rick



You can get SNS in Canada, or at least they always sold when I lived there.

Coach


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## WesJY (Mar 4, 2004)

ParkRNDL said:


> Wes, sorry, but I never tried it on lexan... I would try it on a junker lexan body first to look for any damage...
> 
> --rick


ok thanks i ll try it ..

Wes


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## zanza (Sep 23, 2005)

ParkRNDL said:


> Zanza, all I could find on the Web is www.spicnspan.com, and they don't even list the product as being available in Canada, much less across the pond. It's weird, because I can find distributor and wholesaler sites that list it as a Procter & Gamble product, but P & G make no mention of it on their site...
> 
> --rick


I also found the website and checked distributors too...No success...Thanks for helping


Coach, even Canada for me is the same as USA....I live in Europa, Switzerland ( a tiny country which doesn't produce any kinda ****-n-SPan, but more likely good chocolate and avid 'n silent banks :hat: )


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## tjd241 (Jan 25, 2004)

*Thanks Rick*

I've got plans for an AMX myself. Probably plain white under the orange Testors. :thumbsup: tjd


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## AfxToo (Aug 29, 2003)

ParkRNDL, do you find ****-n-Span better than Pine Sol? I've had about equal results with both cleaners. I've found it really depends on the nature of the paint that you're trying to remove. Old hobby paints in most colors come off fairly easily with most any full strength floor stripper designed for vinyl or VCT flooring. It makes sense because you don't want a vinyl floor stripper to damage the vinyl flooring, just remove all of the wax and crud. A lot of floor strippers aren't used full strength for most applications, but then again a slot car body is harder than a vinyl floor. I've had some paints, notably gold rattle can sprays, that seem to resist just about everything I throw at them and it still comes down to scrubbing with a toothbrush and scraping out seams with wooden toothpicks. Then there's the JL slot car bodies with metalflake paint. They can be stripped clean in just a few minutes with isopropyl alcohol.

If you can't find ****-n-Span or Pine Sol in your area I'd try any product that's designed to be diluted with water to strip wax off of vinyl or VCT flooring.Try it in various strengths, up to and including full strength, if it doesn't remove the paint when it's diluted.


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## ParkRNDL (Mar 20, 2002)

I've only used ****-n-Span to remove hobby paint applied after the factory finish, because that's what was suggested on RRR's site. I never tried it to remove JL pullback or slot car paint. Does it work? I always used Pine-Sol on them because that's what everyone on the boards used... and now that you mention it, the Pine-Sol doesn't work so well on some JLs. I tried to strip a black Batmobile with it and I got a gummy residue that was really tough to get off. I never tried Pine-Sol on Auroras because I've always tried to preserve the factory paint underneath, and I assumed the Pine-Sol would remove it... does it? I know I removed the paint from a JL diecast hearse with Pine-Sol and it worked pretty well...

Isopropyl alcohol, huh? Gotta try that...

--rick


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## zanza (Sep 23, 2005)

AfxToo said:


> If you can't find ****-n-Span or Pine Sol in your area I'd try any product that's designed to be diluted with water to strip wax off of vinyl or VCT flooring.Try it in various strengths, up to and including full strength, if it doesn't remove the paint when it's diluted.



Thanks, 'll ask wifey (or browse in her closet) to see what she could have and will make some test on dead bodies I could find around 
But these time I'm more concentrated on the construction of my shelf and folding track with plexi cover.......


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## T-jetjim (Sep 12, 2005)

DON'T USE SNS FOR LEXAN - I tried it, the body will curl. It is okay for maybe a day, but after that it will ruin the lexan!

Jim


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## WesJY (Mar 4, 2004)

T-jetjim said:


> DON'T USE SNS FOR LEXAN - I tried it, the body will curl. It is okay for maybe a day, but after that it will ruin the lexan!
> 
> Jim


thanks for the info.. i havent tried it yet but wont do it. 

thanks
Wes


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