Disaster!

[BM2]

I'm building another rx-79(G) for a diorama and when I did my oil wash the mineral spirits seemed to interact with the plastic in the "knees"- they shattered into tiny pieces! they are the only parts affected. What the hell am I to do? Does Bandai even have a parts replacement? Does any body have a spare set of knees? I can only guess that these parts are ABS and it did not react to the mineral spirit well at all- the bizzare part of this is it did not happen on the other RX-79(G) I built last year. Man this sucks!! It's the part that goes between the upper and lower legs so I dont knao how I'm gonna get around it-Damn. Any of you guys have a thought? BTW it's a 1/00 MG from the great Amazon sale last year!

[riccardo]

Does Bandai even have a parts replacement? Does any body have a spare set of knees?

Rainbowten selss Bandai Replacements, which part of the knee is that?

ric

[mtomczek]

Does Bandai even have a parts replacement? Does any body have a spare set of knees?

Rainbowten selss Bandai Replacements, which part of the knee is that?

ric

Rainbow 10 has discontinued their parts service.

[BM2]

I guess I'll find out how well my convesion/sctatchbuild skills are :x

[tetsujin]

See also the "Parts Replacement" sticky - the hotlink to bandai.com from that post no longer works, but you can still navigate to "customer service" and request replacement parts from Bandai of America.

[zerobxu]

Precisely which parts are affected? Take a picture. I might have some spare parts from a RX-79 (G) to offer up. They'll need to be stripped, but it shouldn't be too much trouble, and should be a fair bit faster than Bandai.

[BM2]

Disaster!

here's whats left of theses

Disaster!

any help will be appriciated!
zerobxu- if you have them -I'll owe you a big one -thanks :)

[zerobxu]

I've got 'em. They're painted in Tamiya gunmetal spray paint, but they should be easy to strip. They were also from my "learning to use nippers" days, so you may need to pry one apart and add just a smidge of putty. Not much work, though.

If you want them, PM me a mailing address. It'll be a day or two before I can get them in the mail, but I'll let you know when they go.

[bhop73]

Seems kind of strange that regular mineral spirits can do that.  It's not a very harsh chemical compared to some we use in this hobby.  Did you paint the part before hand?  If not, i'd recommend coating your next one in some kind of acrylic.

[FichtenFoo]

I've had this happen with Mineral Spirits and bandai plastic as well... some mineral spirits can make the plastic very brittle. It's what happened on my V2 and why I've yet to complete it. If you look at some parge plastic pieces you'll notice these faint lines... as if the plastic was injected then injected some more... those lines are the weak pints and will be the first to be attacked. Any time you use spirits make sure the parts are well protected with a coat or 2 of FFA.

[tetsujin]

Seems kind of strange that regular mineral spirits can do that.  It's not a very harsh chemical compared to some we use in this hobby.

What happened here sounds a lot like what's happened to me on the various occasions I've tried using ELO ("Easy Lift-Off" - a hobby paint stripping compound that's supposed to leave kit parts undamaged)  Basically, if I put too much ELO on any part that's under mechanical stress - a part that has a screw turned into it, a part that has a snap fit peg jammed into it, a part that's holding tension on something, whatever - the ELO will cause it to fracture and break apart.  I think the stresses must be creating tiny fractures in the plastic, then the ELO gets in there, soaks into the stressed plastic, and weakens it just enough to allow the tension to make the fracture bigger.  I destroyed my original Nintendo DS casing that way, as well as some parts I made for my HG Zaku years ago.

[BM2]

Thanks guys - Big shout out to zerobxu. I am going to try some experimenting with different solvents and oil paint and let you all know what happened - I belive it is the ABS that Bandai uses for the Frames as it has no effect on the Styrene armor.
I think tetsujin is onto something there...

[Maschinen Krueger]

Thanks guys - Big shout out to zerobxu. I am going to try some experimenting with different solvents and oil paint and let you all know what happened ...

Turpenoid...Turpenoid...Turpenoid, or something similiar. I use to have the same problems with mineral spirits and Bandai plastic, until I switched to Turpenoid, I also switched model brands, but that's something else. Youcan find it at art supply stores as well as Michael's Arts and Crafts and Hobby Lobby. It thins the oils just fine for a wash, but is gentle on the paint and plastic.

BTW - with an oil wash, you can go too thin. The thinner can cause the oil to seperate from the pigment, leaving spotty looking tiny clumps. The less expensive the oil paint, the more this happens. If it happens, you may want t use a thicker wash and use cotton buds to swipe the excess off. Always apply a wash to a gloss surface, it will stain a matt surface.