Cox Stuka and polishing plastic

Sig Skyray Tue Jun 02, 2015 9:35 am

I have a black plastic Stuka in very good condition that I apparently committed a plastic offense on...
I used a strong degreaser on the fuse and wings and it clouded the plastic.

Any tips on shining it back up? What do you guys use to polish plastic?

Greg

GallopingGhostler Tue Jun 02, 2015 10:48 am

I use Meguiar's G12310 PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner & Polish on the plastic parts of my motorcycle, like the fairing parts and windshield on my tourer, on car hard plastic including headlight lenses, radio and appliance plastic. It gently removes hazing from weathering, light scratches. That is available in most auto parts and department stores with an auto section.

For harder etchings, I've used Turtle Wax White Polishing Compound and Scratch Remover, available also in the auto section. It has a mild abrasive, then followed up with the PlastX.

I'd test it first on an inconspicuous spot or on something else to get the hang of it. You may find that these provide a finish much shinier than the original, may take some practice to get a finish that looks inconspicous and blends with the surrounding surfaces.

YMMV (your mileage may vary)

rsv1cox Tue Jun 02, 2015 3:38 pm

That's the stuff Greg, I just couldn't think of how to spell "Meguiars". Smile

Thanks GG.

Bob

Mudhen Tue Jun 02, 2015 3:47 pm

**RknRusty** Tue Jun 02, 2015 4:09 pm

Hiya, Mud. Good to see the old Superhog snort. I bet y'all's flying weather is nice and hot out in San Diego by now. You been having any fun?
Rusty

Sig Skyray Tue Jun 02, 2015 4:20 pm

RknRusty wrote:Hiya, Mud. Good to see the old Superhog snort. I bet y'all's flying weather is nice and hot out in San Diego by now. You been having any fun?
Rusty

Haha! Where's your polishing advice Rusty ! I must've missed it. Just kidding of course. Oh, BTW, I identified my little yellow and red stunt trainer (now my avatar). It's a Sig Deweybird.

The good news is... the clouding is minor and I got less on the wings than I thought. Mostly just around the engine area, but it's light and the plastic there is all smooth. I appreciate the advice, I'll pick up some Meguiar's G12310 PlastX Clear Plastic Cleaner & Polish and I'm going to look into the Novus too. They have it at my local Walmart.

Thanks! Greg

Mudhen Tue Jun 02, 2015 7:42 pm

DanMc Fri Apr 02, 2021 9:19 pm

I have been searching out this subject to see if there is anything new that has been discovered in recent years. I have a Wen-Mac Dauntless that I made a similar mistake on, but luckily I only did on the fuselage. the bad part is I did it on the nose pf the fuselage where there is a lot of small detail!! If there is a good tutorial out there some where, could some one guide me to it, please? I seem to remember some one mentioning on the old Yahoo 1/2A group about using brake fluid to do some kind of job, but that isn't available any more. This model was in pretty good shape, but was covered in a really sticky residue like I had never seen and was VERY tough to get off. That is why I tried this stuff called Mr. Awesome that I have had hanging around for a long time, and I have seen at the dollar stores. It worked pretty good and didn't bother the plastic if I scrubbed it off right away, but I sprayed down the nose section of the fuselage ( I had already taken everything apart ) put it in a bucket of water to soak like that and then forgot about it. I have been working on it with several polishes and I'm having some mild success. Doing the detail around the nose is where I'll need help.

I got a nice, complete Cox Spitfire in the same deal that was in about the same shape covered with the same sticky stuff. It only had some minor damage where the landing gear bolted on like they usually do, but that was easily repaired, and it even still had the antennae!!. The same cleaner didn't seem to bother the Cox plastic either. Cox plastic seems to be a harder plastic than Wen-Mac plastic and I think that is key to what I'm dealing with. I have also thought of using some Pine-Sol to see what happens. Believe it or not, some guys on a vintage dirt bike forum really recommend that for cleaning out old carburetors and used straight from the bottle, is even supposed remove varnish from old gasoline. I'm heading out to the garage to look for my brake fluid and Pine-Sol!
Thanks in advance
Dan McEntee

944_Jim Fri Apr 02, 2021 10:43 pm

Yup..
Pine-Sol and a cheap Harbor freight hydrasonic cleaner for bike/lawnmower/British carbs!

crankbndr Sat Apr 03, 2021 7:30 am

Two products I used to clean and shine the harder plastic, the plastic cleaner is no longer available because it causes sudden death if you use it in Comifornia.
The body was pretty dull so I used a 3 inch cotton wheel spinning at low speed and polish. For final polish I used Turtle wax polishing compound.