strippping paint

When I used to repaint and weather railroad rolling stock and locomotives in H.O. scale I used automotive brake fluid (dot 3) to strip the factory paint jobs. I never had any bad results as far as melting the plastic (styrene). After stripping the paint I would use a common dishwashing liquid detergent to remove the brake fluid and it would be "squeaky clean". The new paint would adhere as normal. I'm not sure how the brake fluid would effect the newer plastics and resins, but it might be worth checking out. I have only recently returned to military aircraft modelling so I haven't really done any painting as of yet. Give it a try on a test model. Good luck. 737man.

Well I'll try some of that castrol stuff then....

ben1227 wrote:

Thanks for that link...That's useful. Will any type of engine degreaser work?

I don't think so as I have tried some others and they did no better than Simple Green. The reason Super Clean works so well is that it has Sodium Hydroxide (Lye) in it like Easy Off oven cleaner. The only down side is that larger parts have to be submerged in it to work as fast.

 

Thanks for that link...That's useful. Will any type of engine degreaser work?

ben1227 wrote:

I've never heard of using automotive engine degreaser to strip paint...Tell us what happens...

Read this:

http://www.bonediggers.com/1-3/strip/strip.html

One thing to watch for is if the interior has been painted-I soaked a Hellcat (interior painted) to strip the exterior paint, which was MM acrylic.  I used Castrol Superclean-exterior paint was removed but some cleaner entered the interior (holes for the belly tank) and removed some of the paint.  Not sure what it will do to the canopy glue, but since it doesn't attack any other glued joints, I think you are ok.  But to be safe, follow the earlier suggestion and test on an old/cheap model.

I've never heard of using automotive engine degreaser to strip paint...Tell us what happens...

What kind of degreaser?  I'm using the Super Clean.  I havn't had to strip a canopy, but if you are worried about it, I would go buy a cheap plane, glue the canapoy with the same glue use some of the same paints and give it a run through and see what happens! Prolly worth the 10-15 bucks you would spend if it ends up weaking it! Good luck!