Plarail and Hand Sanitiser (Sanitizer)

Hi all,

For the interest of all, something happened yesterday that I would not like someone else to experience.

Due to the global pandemic humankind's use of hand sanitiser has increased significantly. As such, more of the things we do and touch may come into contact with hand sanitiser. This could be leaks in the containers or residue on hands after using hand sanitiser.

Hand sanitiser is commonly manufactured from alcohol-based chemicals such as ethanol and propanol (propyl alcohol).

Alcohols are good solvents.

Paints can often be dissolved and cleaned with solvents.

Plarail and other toys with printed details are printed with paints that dissolve in alcohol.

While repairing a recently purchased 3-car set, the sanitiser (isopropyl alcohol in this instance) came in contact with the printed lines on the Plarail. The printed details were smudged all over the other parts of the toy. 

Luckily this was a used toy that was a spare (second set in the collection) and the dissolved paint was minor. Using more alcohol, the smudges were removed with a fine cotton bud. It it was a brand new addition to the collection or if it was major printed details such as a logo, there would have been tears.

The advice is therefore, do not handle toys immediately after using hand sanitiser and only start touching things after it has completely dried. If there are children in the house, ensure that their hands do not have sanitiser before touching the toys.

Hope this type of incident will not happen again. 

-plarnold

[Super]

Thanks Plarnold.

I moved this Thread over to our General Forum because your advice could pertain to all the trains and toys.