Tragedy turned into an opportunity - Stripping complete

The canopy actually doesn't look that bad. You could probably make your P-51 into a war ravaged aircraft with that canopy and some more weathering on you aircraft's wings and fuselage. Either way that canopy looks pretty good, considering the fact it cracked, fogged up, was sanded, and dipped in Future. 

Yeah, I went into it thinking I couldn't make it worse.  I might try the idea of making it pretty banged up.  I plan on trying several other new things out on it.  You really can't tell from the one picture, but the overall finish on the model is fairly bad.  All hand painted, with lots of thick spots, brush strokes, and uneven lines.  The decals were old, and I didn't know about any of the techniques for applying decals well (heck, I'm not sure if I even used decal set on them).  So I am going to play around with it and see what I can learn.

 

Okay, here is phase 2.  Here are some close-ups of the original detailing.   Note the bad decals (both from age and from my bad application, I can't blame the actual decals for everything).  And the paint job - brush strokes, uneven coverage.

So, the first thing I did was open my new can of odorless mineral spirits.  Not really odorless, but not too bad.  I am trying it as a substitute for the little (expensive) bottles of Testors paint thinner.  Poured some into a bucket and started applying it to the model using a coffee filter as a rag.  Why a coffee filter?  That is another experiment.  I got an e-mail from my Mom extolling the multitude of uses a coffee filter can be used for.  Didn't really read it, but one thing jumped out at me:  They are lint free.  So I am trying them out as a substitute for paper towels or cotton balls.  Anyway, after a while of rubbing away I have this:

Not really making much headway, so I toss the coffee filters, and bring in a toothbrush.  As I am scrubbing away, the paint starts to "fade" and come up in spots.  Also, parts start to come off.  I remember that I have used thinner before as a glue solvent, so I think that it isn't a big deal, I'll just glue things back on after.  I keep scrubbing, and more paint comes off, and so do more parts, and some of the parts start to break.  At that point I think maybe the solvent in mineral spirits isn't great for long term exposure to plastic.  I rinse everything off and end up with:

 

Lessons learned:

1. The vinyl disposable gloves my wife buys are:  too small for me and react with the mineral spirits and harden (and leak).  I need to get myself some large rubber gloves for this kind of thing.
2. Mineral spirits aren't the best thing to use to strip paint.  Or I just don't know how to use them properly.  More research needed.
3. Coffee filters aren't good as a scrubbing implement.  Toothbrush is much better.

Suggestions and comments are welcome.

 

Simple Green will remove the paint. Get it at Lowe's or a similar hardware store. Immerse the model in it overnight; it will be bare in the morning.

Doog, thanks for the tip.  I picked up a bottle of Simple Green at the grocery store on my way home from work yesterday.  I didn't quite read/remember your post, because while you said "immerse", I was thinking "spray". 

Anyway, I liberally spray the model parts with simple green and left it overnight (and through the next day).  Didn't get back to it until this afternoon.

I donned my new rubber gloves (I figure this stuff is way less bad than the mineral spirits, but no sense getting my hands all messed up) and took a toothbrush to the parts.  After rinsing I noticed that the paint removal was patchy (and it was at that point I remembered that Doog did say immerse).  You can see the results:

And flip them over...

Overall I was very pleased with the result.  The stuff did the job (where it was allowed to stay in contact with the paint).  While figuring out how to soak the whole thing, I decided to remove the rest of the canopy, the flight deck, and the prop, to make it easier.

I didn't want to take a big bucket and fill the thing with Simple Green (I didn't have enough and I thought it would a waste).  So I liberated a plastic container from the kitchen that still had a few drink powder mixes in it.  It was in the back of the cabinet, so I don't think the wife will notice.  I put all of the smaller parts in the bottom, stuffed the wings and fuselage standing vertical, and filled to half way up the wings.  Since I can't get the whole thing immersed, I'll probably have to do this in stages.

Lessons learned this time:

1. When Doog offers advice, read all of the words.
2. Simple Green is fantasic.
3. Find bigger bottles of Simple Green.

More later, thanks for looking.

 

Finished stripping this afternoon (my daughter's school was cancelled due to snow/ice, and I decided to "work from home").  The final result:

Ended up with way more parts than I started.  I probably need a more gentle hand when it comes to wielding the toothbrush.

At this point, I plan to take this project over to the aircraft forum.  I am mulling ideas around in my head of what I want to do.  I will continue to try some new techniques.  Working on a model that was going to go into the trash bin is liberating.  As I keep telling myself, I can't make it worse.