Paint Removal.

kosherbacon · Post by **kosherbacon** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:16 am

please forgive me if someone has already asked this question.

i need to remove some Acrlylic, Model Masters, Water wash up, Flat gul gray paint from some clear parts.

would rinsing it with water take it off and not leave a residue on the clear platic or am i going to need something stronger?

thanks

irishtrek · Post by **irishtrek** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:33 pm

No, holding the plastic under running water will not makke the paint go away. You'll need to use rubbing alcohol or something stronger, and let it soak for a few hours.

kosherbacon · Post by **kosherbacon** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 1:47 pm

thanks!
ill go get the rubbing alcohol!!

kosherbacon · Post by **kosherbacon** » Tue Jan 02, 2007 5:14 pm

my mom went out and got me some rubbing alcohol.
she got two kinds Ethyl Rubbing alcohol 70% USP (what ever that means)
and Isopropyl Rubbing alcohol 70% by volume.
is there a difference or will they both do the same thing?

thanks for the help!

kosherbacon · Post by **kosherbacon** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 7:56 pm

anybody?

Morty Seinfeld · Post by **Morty Seinfeld** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:02 am

kosherbacon wrote:my mom went out and got me some rubbing alcohol.
she got two kinds Ethyl Rubbing alcohol 70% USP (what ever that means)
and Isopropyl Rubbing alcohol 70% by volume.
is there a difference or will they both do the same thing?

thanks for the help!

Ethyl alcohol is the alcohol found in alcoholic beverages (if I'm not mistaken from that old rhyme "Ethel drinks ethyl alcohol"). I generally use this alcohol in dealing with models and save the other stuff for boo-boos and owies.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:42 am

I need a bit of help here.

I have a clear styrene rc car body (for a Tamiya Tamtech) that is covered with what looks like white and blue Tamiya spray paint, Tamiya XF-1 flat black paint, and craptactular decals and dirt.

I plan to wash the body first to remove the dirt, then use MicroSol to soften the decals and rub them off.

Then there's the paint. It has also been applied to the side windows and headlights.

I need a solvent that will NOT attack the plastic in any way, as I want it to remain clear after paint removal.

Keep in mind that I'm not in the US, but in Europe. Anything commonly available over here to remove the paint that isn't dangerous for my health

Morty Seinfeld · Post by **Morty Seinfeld** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:59 am

Superclean is what you need. I don't know if its available in the Netherlands, but it won't attack the plastic and works wonders (be sure and use gloves).

http://www.superclean.com/index.php

Darth Humorous · Post by **Darth Humorous** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 3:56 pm

What therefit said. This stuff is awesome.

Mark

Go Flight · Post by **Go Flight** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 9:05 am

Another stripper that hasn't been mentioned in a while is Strip-A-Kit. SAK is safer than oven cleaner, low odor and 100% biodegradeable - http://www.hangar3.com/sak.htm

Even our own 1-0 gave it kudos in his online build article - Day 17 -
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/olb/jl_fss.cfm#day17

UltraMagnus · Post by **UltraMagnus** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:54 am

hi,

can anyone tell me what to use to strip acrylic paint over gw undercoat from styrene, that i can get in the UK. seeing as EO, CSC, and SG are not avaliable here?

thanks in advance

Kun2112 · Post by **Kun2112** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:24 pm

UltraMagnus wrote:hi,

can anyone tell me what to use to strip acrylic paint over gw undercoat from styrene, that i can get in the UK. seeing as EO, CSC, and SG are not avaliable here?

thanks in advance

For acrylics I use Windex. Any window cleaner with ammonia will make mincemeat out of acrylics.

Now for my quandry...I let me airbrush sit about 0.1 seconds too long over a certian area. The coat in question is enamel. The coat under it is acrylic.

Is there a way to
A. ever so slightly remove that extra enamel that messes with my perfectly translucent coat?
or
B. remove the enamel without affecting the three coats of acrylic and preshading under it?

SJM · Post by **SJM** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 3:06 pm

whats the best product to use to remove enamel paint off a styrene model and keep the putty intact??

LastBattlestar · Post by **LastBattlestar** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 9:38 am

Saturn wrote:I use Super Clean on resin all the time. Not only does it strip paint very well, I've found it to be indispensible for cleaning resin prior to priming. From Black Box/True Details cockpits to the Alliance Galactica and every resin kit/conversion/base I've bought from the SM store. I've never had a problem with it. I love the stuff.

Can someone tell me exactly what this stuff is? I need to find an equivalent product over here to remove paint from resin. Is Super Clean a paint stripper, oven cleaner, car parts cleaner or what?

Thanks.

Mike, Oz

Ziz · Post by **Ziz** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 10:45 am

It's a concentrated cleaner for removing, among other things, grease and oil from automotive parts...not to be confused with the standard soaps for washing the outside of the car. Hit the auto parts store and see what they have along those lines.

LastBattlestar · Post by **LastBattlestar** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 1:15 pm

Are we talking about an alkaline (like wheel cleaner), alcohol, petrochemical or citrus-based cleaner?

Mike, Oz

SJM · Post by **SJM** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 7:03 pm

Tony Agustin wrote: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.

Would this stuff damage tamiya putty?

Lt. Z0mBe · Post by **Lt. Z0mBe** » Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:53 pm

Peanuts wrote:
Tony Agustin wrote: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.
Would this stuff damage tamiya putty?

Most likely if it is lacquer-based. But, I don't know much about Tamiya putty.

Kenny

Saturn · Post by **Saturn** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:41 am

LastBattlestar wrote:Are we talking about an alkaline (like wheel cleaner), alcohol, petrochemical or citrus-based cleaner?

Mike, Oz

SuperClean's main ingredient is lye, just like Oven Cleaner but in much stronger concentration. You definitely want to use disposable vinyl gloves when working with it.

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:29 pm

After stripping the same kit 3 Times I can say that yes for resin Super Clean does take off the paint and some of the automotive body filler.

Antenociti · Post by **Antenociti** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 8:39 pm

Simple Green

wont harm plastics, resin or metals.

will remove lacquers, acrylics and enamels.

just soak then scrub, rinse repeat if needed.

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 11:00 am

I have tried Simple Green.

The only thing is that I was never really sure that I had gotten the film off the kit once I rinsed it off.

modeler1964 · Post by **modeler1964** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:32 pm

You guys have convinced me to try and strip the testors enamel paint off of an old K'Tinga and repaint it. Tonight I will go and get some super clean from autozone and check it out. I will take some pictures of the process and document the results here for everyone.

modeler1964 · Post by **modeler1964** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:10 pm

See this video I made about using super clean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WknPAl1NOA4

Saturn · Post by **Saturn** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:20 am

Nicely done.

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 2:20 pm

Cool!

admiralcag · Post by **admiralcag** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 5:44 am

I learned some things about Purple Power the hard way:

It will dissolve CA.
It has a hard time with lacquers.

Time to clean up my TOS Enterprise and repaint!

Vern

starmanmm · Post by **starmanmm** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:46 pm

I learned some things about Purple Power the hard way:

It will dissolve CA.

That can be a good thing tho.

Disco58 · Post by **Disco58** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:16 pm

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT use citrus based cleaners, or worse, strippers, on styrene. They melt. I ruined a FM Falcon canopy set that way. That was in September, still waiting for replacements.

Saturn · Post by **Saturn** » Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:01 pm

FWIW, Citristrip, a citrus-based paint stripper, does work great on die-cast metal cars. Make dang sure that you've got all the plastic parts removed though...