ianmajor Posted January 17, 2016 Share #1 Posted January 17, 2016 (edited) I wish to remove some wood planking from my ship which is fixed using PVA. I understand isopropyl alcohol aka rubbing alcohol does the trick. Can anyone in the UK suggest a way of getting small supplies of this liquid locally? For such items in the past I always went to a well known High Street chemist chain but latterly they only seem to be interested in selling aromatic liquids sold under the brand name of brain dead "celebrities". I tried last week to buy Iso but was meet with looks from the staff that suggested that they believed I was either i) planning some sort of terrorist atrocity, ii) a certifiable alcoholic or iii) both. So they all moved away from me...... Actually I suspect some of their aromatic products could strip the paint and glue off a battleship at 50 paces. (I hope I have submitted this thread in the right category). Edited January 17, 2016 by ianmajor druxey, Canute, hornet and 3 others 6 Quote Ian M. Current build: HMS Unicorn (1748) - Corel Kit Advice from my Grandfather to me. The only people who don't make mistakes are those who stand back and watch. The trick is not to repeat the error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Ensign Posted January 17, 2016 Share #2 Posted January 17, 2016 Check out Amazon Ian, that's where I got my last supply in 2014. B.E. mtaylor, ianmajor and Canute 3 Quote Current Build: HMS Indefatigable-1794-by-blue-ensign-vanguard-models-164-scale Medway-longboat-1742-by-blue-ensign-½”-scale Completed builds: HMS Sphinx 1775 by Blue Ensign. 1:64 scale - Vanguard Models Queen-Anne-Royal-Barge-circa-1700-by-Blue-Ensign Fifie fishing boat Lady Eleanor Muirneag-1903-–-a-scottish-zulu-fishing-boat-164-scale-based-on-the-vanguard-models-zulu-kit/ HM Cutter Alert 1777 HM Cutter Cheerful 1806 18th-century-English-longboat-by-Blue-Ensign-ms-148-scale/ finished 18thc English Pinnace by Blue Ensign-Model-Shipways-1:24 scale/ finished HMS-Pegasus-by-Blue-Ensign-finished-Victory-Models-1:64-scale/ Heller Seventy-four 1:150 scale - modified Le Superbe/Le Glorieux kit after Boudriot, waterline setting with sails. The schooner Pickle, Jotika pob kit 1:64 scale, my interpretation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowsprit Posted January 17, 2016 Share #3 Posted January 17, 2016 If you can't get isopropyl alcohol, might you consider surgical spirit, instead? I've always understood it to be made of much the same primary ingredient, but with added extras (ie to make it smell less pleasant, and also to make it undrinkable, etc.). I've bought it in the past from chemists quite easily for such as modelling and cleaning purposes. Canute and ianmajor 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GLakie Posted January 17, 2016 Share #4 Posted January 17, 2016 Hairdressers or beauty salons would carry the 99% rubbing alcohol also as an alternative source. mtaylor, Canute and ianmajor 3 Quote GEORGE Don't be bound by the limits of what you already know, be unlimited by what you are willing to learn. Member of the Nautical Research Guild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkay11 Posted January 17, 2016 Share #5 Posted January 17, 2016 I bought mine on eBay. You can get 500ml very cheaply. E.g. £6.79. Tony Canute, ianmajor and mtaylor 3 Quote === First build: Caldercraft HM Cutter Sherbourne 1763 FINISHED 2nd build: Triton cross-section COMPLETED 3rd build: La Chaloupe Armée / 42ft Armed Longboat of 1834 by tkay11 – scale 1:36, plans by M. Delacroix COMPLETED 4th build: Allège d’Arles 1833 (Ancre) POB by tkay11 – scale 1:100, plans by F. Fissore COMPLETED Working on La Jacinthe 1:96 POB (ANCRE publications) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbshan Posted January 18, 2016 Share #6 Posted January 18, 2016 (edited) Checking on Google, Surgical Spirit may work in place of Isopropyl for dissolving white glue, they have many commonalities, but do a test before using it on the good ship HMS Afterguard. I don't know if it is significant to your not being able to find it, but one of the first commercial uses for Isopropyl was as a step in the production of cordite. Edited January 18, 2016 by jbshan Canute, ianmajor and mtaylor 3 Quote Joel Sanborn http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/9953-lexington-by-jbshan-dlumberyard-164-from-the-seaways-practicum-by-clay-feldman/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grsjax Posted January 18, 2016 Share #7 Posted January 18, 2016 Try a paint supplier. Denatured alcohol will work and it is used as a solvent for some paints. ianmajor, Canute, mtaylor and 1 other 4 Quote My advice and comments are always worth what you paid for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAnderson Posted January 18, 2016 Share #8 Posted January 18, 2016 (edited) Try a paint supplier. Denatured alcohol will work and it is used as a solvent for some paints. You really want denatured alcohol, %99. Rubbing alcohol is not the same thing. Pharmacies have it. Edit: Isopropyl is good too. I went back and reread Ian's post. Rubbing alcohol is too weak. Edited January 18, 2016 by PAnderson Canute, mtaylor and ianmajor 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaager Posted January 18, 2016 Share #9 Posted January 18, 2016 Isopropyl alcohol is 2-propanol - it does not need to be "denatured" - it will make you quite sick all by itself. Here in the US, it comes as 70% and 91% - in any pharmacy in the first aid section. By tradition, 70% is the optimal concentration for killing 'bugs', but in all likelyhood, it is the physical cleaning that does the most good, not the chemical killing. I am guessing that 91% would evaporate more quickly, so it is for cooling. -- Having a higher concentration of the organic solvent, it would be better for dissolving PVA. I had a pharmacy order in a gallon of 100% isopropyl to use as shellac solvent. It was not too expensive back then, I would not bet on that being the case now. My thinking being that isopropyl would evaporate more slowly than ethanol and give longer working time. Denatured alcohol is ethanol - ethyl alcohol - booze - that has something added to make it not drinkable. The denaturant is added to avoid having to pay a Federal tax that was $30/gal. It is also likely to be the solvent in shellac thinner - but methanol is also used for this. It is more water-like in its solvent properties and is not listed as a PVA solvent. It may work for Titebond I and "white" PVA - as would water. The best you can do with it is 95%. Even if you get 100% - distilled from benzene - as soon as it is exposed to air, it pulls water from the air until it get to 95%. hornet, Canute, ianmajor and 3 others 6 Quote NRG member 45 years Current: HMS Centurion 1732 - 60-gun 4th rate - Navall Timber framing HMS Beagle 1831 refiit 10-gun brig with a small mizzen - Navall (ish) Timber framing The U.S. Ex. Ex. 1838-1842 Flying Fish 1838 pilot schooner - framed - ready for stern timbers Porpose II 1836 brigantine/brig - framed - ready for hawse and stern timbers Vincennes 1825 Sloop-of-War - timbers assembled, need shaping Peacock 1828 Sloop-of -War - timbers ready for assembly Sea Gull 1838 pilot schooner - timbers ready for assembly Relief 1835 ship - timbers ready for assembly Other Portsmouth 1843 Sloop-of-War - timbers ready for assembly Le Commerce de Marseilles 1788 118 cannons - framed La Renommee 1744 Frigate - framed - ready for hawse and stern timbers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbshan Posted January 18, 2016 Share #10 Posted January 18, 2016 Thank you, Jaager, that's very clear. And no, you can't filter denatured alcohol through a loaf of bread and drink it. You'll just make the bread poisonous. Lemon extract might be OK, though. ianmajor, mtaylor and Canute 3 Quote Joel Sanborn http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/topic/9953-lexington-by-jbshan-dlumberyard-164-from-the-seaways-practicum-by-clay-feldman/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianmajor Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share #11 Posted January 19, 2016 Thanks guys for your input. It is most appreciated. I also now know more about Isopropyl alcohol than I did before - fascinating information. Canute and mtaylor 2 Quote Ian M. Current build: HMS Unicorn (1748) - Corel Kit Advice from my Grandfather to me. The only people who don't make mistakes are those who stand back and watch. The trick is not to repeat the error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianmajor Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share #12 Posted January 19, 2016 (edited) Thanks Spyglass. I have not come across them. There are none around north east Cheshire or south Manchester that I am aware of. I searched for them on line but only found a rapper, a printer and a single independent chemist in Swansea. Perhaps they are shy! Thinks - I should ask my wife - she will know. Edited January 19, 2016 by ianmajor Canute and mtaylor 2 Quote Ian M. Current build: HMS Unicorn (1748) - Corel Kit Advice from my Grandfather to me. The only people who don't make mistakes are those who stand back and watch. The trick is not to repeat the error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeaidanh Posted January 19, 2016 Share #13 Posted January 19, 2016 (edited) Ian, Maplin Electronics shops stock it. Mike. Edited January 20, 2016 by mikeaidanh mtaylor and ianmajor 2 Quote Previous Build: LA gun deck cross section. Previous Build: Lancia Armata. Panart 1:16 Previous Build: HMS Pickle. Jotika Build. HMS Triton cross section 1:32. Shelved awaiting improved skills: Chuck"s Cheerful. Current build. Tender Avos. HM cutter Alert. : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianmajor Posted January 20, 2016 Author Share #14 Posted January 20, 2016 I did some research on surgical spirt. I found an electronic discussion group where the use surgical spirits to clean CDs, read heads etc was not recommended on the basis that it can leave greasy deposits when the alcohol has evaporated. Looking further on the Superdrug web site I found a description of their surgical spirit. The text included: "Benefits Surgical Spirit acts to tighten, harden and disinfect the outer layer of the skin. It also contains castor oil to help prevent dryness and cracking." (my italics). <source> This suggests that using surgical spirits on a wooden ship model would leave a caster oil residue which would probably make further gluing difficult and also affect the finish. So I decided between Amazon and Maplin. The Maplin offering was slightly more expensive but is local. When postage was taken in to account they came out about the same. From Maplin Isopropyl can be bought in a spray can which comes with a fine nozzle to direct it accurately to where you want it. I am now in business. Having Isopropyl in a spray can took me back nearly 50 years to when I worked on some of the early disc drives. One wonderful machine weighing in at a ton and a half held the staggering amount of 30 Megabytes of storage. The active part of the read heads were pads an inch in diameter and the disc platters were 3 feet in diameter and about quarter inch thick. Periodically we had to clean these things using 4 feet long rods sheathed in lint free cloth soaked in "Iso". It was quite exhilarating pushing these rods back and forth, slightly drunk on the "Iso" fumes with the large platters whizzing around at 2400 rpm a couple of inches from our ears. Ah - those were the days! ......... Once again guys, thanks for your help. mtaylor, Canute and Altduck 3 Quote Ian M. Current build: HMS Unicorn (1748) - Corel Kit Advice from my Grandfather to me. The only people who don't make mistakes are those who stand back and watch. The trick is not to repeat the error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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