Stripping vinyl...

Rogviler · Post by **Rogviler** » Sat Jul 26, 2014 7:30 pm

I've been working on a Batman figure for awhile now, and the first thing I completed was his belt. I had it perfect, and set it aside. About a year later it started to get tacky. I thought the lacquer I used was safe, but it turns out that some vinyls don't like any paint but straight water-based, I guess.

Anyway, now I've stripped it with oven cleaner and that got most of the paint off (though it was more goo than simply dissolving away and took days), but it's still sticky in a few areas. What's a good way to get that last little bit off? Is lacquer thinner safe? It's going to be impossible to get another belt, so I just don't want to melt it.

-Rog

kenlilly106 · Post by **kenlilly106** » Sun Jul 27, 2014 8:13 am

I've used lacquer thinner in the past to strip several vinyl kits from various manufacturers and never had any problem with it attacking the vinyl.

If you have sticky sections lacquer thinner will probably help to pull out the stickiness as well, lacquer thinner will dry out the vinyl a little but it seems to help with paint adhesion.

Ken

Wug · Post by **Wug** » Sun Jul 27, 2014 2:10 pm

Lacquer thinner worked OK on Wave's Vinyl Nadesico kit. If you still have the pour stubs test on those first.

Rogviler · Post by **Rogviler** » Sun Jul 27, 2014 11:54 pm

Thanks, that worked great. I just put it in an inflated Ziploc bag with the lacquer thinner and shook it. Of course the thinner eventually ate a hole in the bag (always do this stuff outside!), but by then it was done. A glass jar would have been better, but I didn't have an empty one. I'll give it a day or two just to be sure the stickiness is gone. It looks good though.

Now, to find a water-based gold that's as perfect as that lacquer was... Curse them for making this one piece in the material I hate the most.

-Rog

seam-filler · Post by **seam-filler** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 8:04 am

Rogviler wrote:Now, to find a water-based gold that's as perfect as that lacquer was... Curse them for making this one piece in the material I hate the most.

Try gold leaf and doing the old-fashioned way. You can't get a better gold finish than gold!

Rogviler · Post by **Rogviler** » Tue Jul 29, 2014 3:21 pm

Heh, I actually found a water-based 14K liquid "gold leaf" that I'm going to try. In the bottle it certainly has that sort of brassy titanium look that I'm going for (Christian Bale/Arkham style).

I'll probably make a thread for the figure once I'm done. I haven't seen another one...

-Rog