Paint Removal.

Post by **TER-OR** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 10:50 pm

At Irishtrek's behest, a thread on removing paint.
We've all needed to do it at some point - strip that awful paint job, orange-peeled paint, crackled clearcoat, etc.

Share and Enjoy, everybody!

Tony Agustin · Post by **Tony Agustin** » Tue Jan 03, 2006 11:07 pm

I spray Easy-Off oven cleaner to remove old enamel and acrylic paints.
Dump the painted parts in a large (more than a gallon) zip-lock plastic bag or if the model is too large a large plastic bin with a cover.
This stuff is very caustic and kind of stings if you touch or accidently take in a whiff so use a breathing mask and latex rubber gloves when you spray it.
I like to really put on a nice thick coat of Easy-Off and wait about a 15 to 20 minutes till the paint softens. I'll take an old coarse toothbrush and start scrubbing. Also make sure you wear protective eye-wear when you start scrubbing with the toothbrush. Sometimes a second spray/scrub session might be needed to completely remove stubborn paint.
I've also heard about and tried Castrol Superclean but that stuff takes way too long IMO. I prefer the Easy off for it's speediness.

irishtrek · Post by **irishtrek** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:04 pm

Thanks TER-OR.
The pieces that I soaked in Pine-Sol at first had a sticky fell to them, but it disapeared after 24hrs.

macfrank · Post by **macfrank** » Wed Jan 04, 2006 5:32 pm

irishtrek wrote:Thanks TER-OR.
The pieces that I soaked in Pine-Sol at first had a sticky fell to them, but it disapeared after 24hrs.

That's the plastic softening, then drying/hardening again. Same thing happens with the lemon scented Pine-Sol, and you can scrape off a thin layer of plastic with your fingernail.

irishtrek · Post by **irishtrek** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:30 am

What will Pin-Sol do to clear styrene? I need to strip paint off a set of warp engines that have clear pieces glued into themand cannot be removed without tearing the engines apart.

Arsenic Hipster · Post by **Arsenic Hipster** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:38 am

I've got some GW miniaures that I want to strip the paint off, they were painted in Citadel spray undercoat and acrylics but I figure the clear coat will be more of a problem. At the time I was looking for a cheaper alternative to the Citadel spray varnish (almost $20 a can) and hadn't yet discovered the wonders of future (well its Australian equivelant), I ended up using a spraycan of Wattyl Instant Estapol mat varnish (a wood laquer/varnish). At the time it was great, its tough, cheaper and almost invisible once dry (and the smell has gone away), but I never considered the need to remove it. The best way to do this (turpentine according to the can) will also turn the miniatures into blobs of molten plastic.

I've got some expendable test minis that have been soaking in undiluted simple green for about 2 days and seem to be making some progress, one has had a couple of coats of easy off and seems to be going a little quicker. The test minis have got a thicker coat of the varnish on them than the others but it looks like its still going to be a long process. I was wondering if there is anything else I should try before stocking up on oven cleaner and scrubbing brushes?

Post by **TER-OR** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 11:12 pm

Both PineSol and lemon or orange-based cleaners rely on terpenes for cleaning power. These compounds will dissolve styrene or other olefins and non-polar compounds - like grease!

The lemony-scented plastic glues are merely lemon terpenes. They will evaporate again.

What it will do to clear styrene? I'm not sure. I've had no problems removing acrylic paints from clear parts with ammonia-containing window cleaner, though.

Digger1 · Post by **Digger1** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 11:26 pm

I took one of those steam cleaners to a model that's scrap the other day. It was painted and clear-coated. I wanted to see if the jet of hot steam would remove the decal without lifting the paint or warping the plastic. Didn;t touch it. Well, it dulled the shiny sheen of the clear-coat.

I then tried it on the bare plastic on the reverse side of the part. All it did was make it look nice and clean. I'm sure prolonged steaming would have warped the part.

Post by **TER-OR** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 11:31 pm

It depends on how well the decal is clear coated. Sometimes tape is a great choice. A damp cloth sitting on it for quite a while will soften a decal - if the clearcoat isn't very good.

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 6:26 pm

Any words of advice for fixing a spot on a model? Say you painted it and then chipped it. You want to aves the chip then paint it over without stripping the whole thing.

I got this fiber-optic like pen brush from the badger booth at wonderfest. As you turn the plastic housing the bristles are feed out of the tip. I think it is for spot cleaning/sanding painted areas so you can make a touch up. Is this what I should be doing

Ter_or knows the tool I'm talking about, we got ours at the same time.

PS Please assume that the putty/repair of the chip must be done. The damge will not be hidden by a simple touch up of paint.

darth_daniel · Post by **darth_daniel** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 6:50 pm

IÂ´ve got some Nitro for cleaning brushes, would it remove dried paint as well or would it destroy the styrene?
Is there any stuff that will remove enamels from normal AND clear styrene and that wonÂ´t kill you cause itÂ´s so poisonous?

Post by **TER-OR** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 12:24 am

That touch-up is tricky, Joe. If it's not super-thick, I'd touch-up with paint over-thick and then lightly sand with super-fine sanding film. K&S markets some film with is uber-fine. I've got some around here somewhere. I've sanded paint jobs before - sometimes you can get it to look like oxidized paint.

Isn't this off-topic?

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 1:41 pm

I was looking for a safe way to do localized paint removal. . . I also have some of the 1200 grit paper. If that's the way to make local repairs that's what I'll do.

Post by **TER-OR** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 5:21 pm

I have one of the Badger brushes - glass fiber bristles?
I've used it for this, and it might need a bit of wet-sanding to boot. I think the brush-pen is probably your best first step.

irishtrek · Post by **irishtrek** » Sat Jan 07, 2006 9:16 pm

Sparky are you talking about
spray
air brush
or just brush from abottle?

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 1:03 am

Ok That's what I needed to know. Bristle pen and some wet send for spot repair.

(It was hand brush acrylics on primer)

irishtrek · Post by **irishtrek** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 3:02 am

[quote="Sparky"]Any words of advice for fixing a spot on a model? Say you painted it and then chipped it. You want to aves the chip then paint it over without stripping the whole thing.

I was going to suggest that you "feather" the spot around where the paint is chipped. By "feather" I'm talking about sanding and smoothing out the edges around the chipped spot.

Arsenic Hipster · Post by **Arsenic Hipster** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 5:34 am

An update, I took the test minis out of the simple green after about 3 days and in about 10 minutes had removed most of the paint off of them both with an old toothbrush. I've chucked them back in to get to the paint left in the recessed areas but it looks like this will be the way to go. It even softened the glue holding the sand to the bases, the plastic underneath seems fine so I assume it won't affect the glued joints on the others (these were single part minis), not that I'd mind I would give me a chance to repose them and the landspeeder needs rebuilding anyway.

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 3:52 pm

Was the paint acrylic or enamel?

Arsenic Hipster · Post by **Arsenic Hipster** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:55 am

The paint was Citadel Acrylic, from other discussions here I knew it would come off. It was the varnish I had used as a clearcoat/sealer (see earlier post) that I thought would be a real problem. I wasn't sure if it would be possible to remove it without using something that would dissolve the miniatures as well.

Since it worked I figure it would probably remove enamel paint as well if given enough time.

Sparky · Post by **Sparky** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 12:45 pm

Thought I'd provide a <a href="http://www.kc6sye.com/techmages_2_17_04.html" target="_blank">picture</a> for the easy-off method of stripping. This took off the automotive sandable primer Tony used. (Tony did the stripping after I 'cleaned' the parts by putting them in some simple green which blistered the primer in spots.)

scanam2005 · Post by **scanam2005** » Sat Jan 14, 2006 4:58 pm

Revell Airbrush cleaner works very well for both spot and enire surface paint removal. The airbrush cleaner is available in Germany where it is manufactured but I have not seen it in the United States. A little airbush cleaner applied to a Q-tip is great for removing stray spots and blemishes. After using the cleaner, fresh water on the area removes any traces.

kallen-bortas · Post by **kallen-bortas** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:01 pm

I had seen one place, an article about using Castrol Super Cleen to remove paint. Does anybody recall seeing that article or one like it.

I remember it compared Easy-Off and some other products.

Saturn · Post by **Saturn** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:59 pm

Bonedigger's Guide to Paint Strippers

FYI, Castrol Super Clean doesn't carry the Castrol name branding anymore. It's simply "Super Clean" (sold in the same purple gallon jug)

Darth Humorous · Post by **Darth Humorous** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:39 am

I know there are threads on the HobbyTalk BB regarding (formerly Castrol) Super Cleaner/Degreaser. Awesome stuff. Actually, I have a post or two on this board somewhere about it, one of which is detailed. I can't say enough good things about it.

Mark

Darth Humorous · Post by **Darth Humorous** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:43 am

I know there are threads on the HobbyTalk BB regarding (formerly Castrol) Super Cleaner/Degreaser. Awesome stuff. Actually, I have a post or two on this board somewhere about it, one of which is detailed. I can't say enough good things about it.

Mark

Darth Humorous · Post by **Darth Humorous** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:43 am

I know there are threads on the HobbyTalk BB regarding (formerly Castrol) Super Cleaner/Degreaser. Awesome stuff. Actually, I have a post or two on this board somewhere about it, one of which is detailed. I can't say enough good things about it.

Mark

Andrew Gorman · Post by **Andrew Gorman** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 10:47 pm

It does do a grand job at stripping paint! The active principal to look for seems to be butoxyethanol, butyl cellusolve, or butyl ether- all different names for the same thing. Here's a link to a list of products that contain it:
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cg ... chem&id=45
I played with some straight, 100% butyl ether and it did soften styrene and PVC pipe(!) but most products containing it have less than 15%. Plain old Easy Off will do just about as well, and may be easier to find.
Andrew

Darth Humorous · Post by **Darth Humorous** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 1:10 am

I have much experience with both Easy Off and the Super Cleaner Degreaser. The environmentally nicer one is almost worthless, and the standard one works fairly well, but I've found that the Super Cleaner Degreaser to be significantly superior in every way. Regarding softening of styrene, no matter how long I have left parts to be cleaned in it, none were ever softened or damaged.

Mark

irishtrek · Post by **irishtrek** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:47 am

Ok a while back I some pieces oof styrene in Pin Sol to get the old paint off that had yellowed, now is there a way to get the odor out of the plastic? And yes I cleaned them with dish soap and water right after I took them out of the Pine Sol.