With apologies to Meredith Wilson (author of the Music Man), we’ve altered the lyrics to “Pick a Little, Talk a Little”….by a little bit.
Our twenty (plus) year old quick-build F1 Rocket kit came covered in a variety of twenty (plus) year old vinyl and plastic—white stuff, clear stuff, blue stuff, green stuff—and getting it off is a long-term project in itself. Anyone who has left the plastic on their aluminum parts for years knows—the longer it stays on, the harder it is to get off!
We live in the desert, so we aren’t really concerned with corrosion during the build process but we don’t want this old plastic and glue to become anymore cemented than it already is. So we’re devoting a fairly large amount of the early build time peeling (stripping, chipping, dissolving…) the stuff off. It makes for a peaceful respite when you’re trying to envision an upcoming set of holes to measure and drill, or thinking through a problem or way of doing something better.
So….we build a little, then pick a little, then build a little—and pick a little. For some things (the thicker white plastic) heat is your friend, but not too much! For other things (the cracked, baked-on white vinyl) it was a combination of GooGone gel, heat, paint stripper, and scrapers. And when you get frustrated with the pickin’ you can always go back to building!
