Model Railroading > striping a Kadee boxcar

Gentlemen,
Was is the best to strip a HO Kadee box car?????

Thanks

JLSeale

Dinner and a movie? Sorry couldn't help myself.

I've used 91% isopropyl with great success on Kato locos, Walthers and Atlas cars. As for a Kadee car my guess is it would work. Maybe dipping a Q-tip and trying a corner. Other experts in this field
can jump in with great advice. Hope this helped a little...


Steve Hartrick

Try and remove as many of the small parts as possible, not sure what type of adhesive they use but when I stripped mine in 91% alcohol it dissolved the glue and I was fishing for parts in the alcohol bath.

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Kadee's freight car models are famous for being so well engineered that most, if not all, of their parts are simply press-fit in place without adhesive. It's possible the paint was all that was holding many of the parts in place. I've never tried to disassemble on of their models, so I'd be curious to hear from someone who confirm how many of the parts are actually glued. I have a couple undecorated PS-2 covered hoppers that I'll be disassembling some day.

Dave

Kadee paints the body of the car but the ladders, grab irons and small details are cast in a color matched flexible unbreakable plastic. I've stripped quite a few of them and I removed all of the small details before stripping them. You may have issues with the new paint chipping off the small details. The last batch of Kadee cars that I painted, I grit blasted the small details which roughed up the surfaces.

Dennis

Have done a couple Kadee kits and there is no need for glue. Really. The Kato covered hoppers are the same way. Engineered to fit. Also eliminates the need to strip a Kadee, because pretty much any Kadee undec is as far away as the mailbox.

kaDee's paint and printing on most models is so thin a thin coat of primer will cover anything there so nothing will blead through the final coat of a repaint or leave a raised surface.

Unfortunately for me, Kadee doesn't offer the PS-2 covered hopper as a kit, or I'd buy a dozen of them to kitbash into ballast hoppers (I have four of their RTR undecorateds). I always figured it's because it's a little more fragile to assemble with the delicate end ladder cages, so they thought it would be risky to offer in kit form, but I've never asked them.

Dave