Dissolving cured enamels?

This has come up before.  Actually there are quite a few substances on the market that will take enamel off resin.  (It in fact seems to be less of a problem than taking enamel off styrene.  Resin apparently is somewhat more resistant to certain solvents.)  I've seen references to oven cleaner, and to various products that are made for the purpose.  (I wonder, in fact, if any of the "paint removers" sold by hardware stores would work.  Old-fashioned paint remover - the smelly, jelly-like stuff I grew up with - destroys styrene in record time, but I don't know what it would do to resin.  And the paint companies have come up with a number of more gentle paint removers in recent years.)

My personal favorite, though, continues to be the one I heard about thirty years ago or thereabouts:  automotive brake fluid.  It's widely available, it's cheap, and it works.  A good technique is to stop by the local grocery store and buy one of those disposable aluminum foil cooking pans, of a size that will hold the model.  Put the model in the pan and pour in enough brake fluid to cover it.  Let it sit a few minutes (the time necessary will vary somewhat depending on how firmly the paint's stuck), then take the model out and hold it under a running cold water faucet.  In most cases, every bit of the paint will float off in sheets and blobs.  In some circumstances, a little paint may stick in the nooks and crannies; gentle application of an old toothbrush should get rid of it.

Model railroaders have been using this trick for years to remove unwanted manufacturer-applied paintwork from railroad cars.  There may be some circumstances in which it won't work, but it sure has worked every time I've tried it.  And I've never know brake fluid to have any negative effect on the plastic beneath the paint.  Just be sure to rinse it off thoroughly; mixing brake fluid with fresh paint probably would produce nasty results.

Hope that helps.  Good luck.

I suppose you pour the left over fluid down the drain?

Brake Fluid is probably IMO the worst thing you can use from a safety and environmental standpoint. There are other products that will do the job that are much safer and environmentally responsible than using Brake Fluid.

Try:

Using household safe cleansers or detergents allows you the ability to filter them for reuse for their intended purposes. Try stripping paint with Brake Fluid and adding it to your car! Just because you can purchase a product at the store, means it is safe for use other than what it was intended for.

This may seem like I'm preaching, but I've seen too many "accidents" involving the use of Brake Fluid or Oven Cleaner as a cleaner/stipper.  Use those for their intended purposes only. PLEASE!

There are many novice modelers on this forum without the benefit of decades of life's experiences, teaching them poor habits doesn't solve anything in the long term. I'd hate to be the one who suggested doing something that resulted in harm being done after an accidental mishap.

What is the quote..."Do as I say not as I do." 

Yesterday's problems plus yesterday's solutions equal today's problems.

I'm sure all of HawkeyeHobbies' points are well taken.  I fear I come from a generation that, until recently, didn't worry sufficiently about such matters - largely because, until recently, we didn't have access to products that would accomplish the same things without the risks. 

For what it's worth, I switched to acrylics a long time ago.  I can't claim that concern for the environment was the primary motivator, but it did make me feel better to know that I wasn't dumping things like turpentine and mineral spirits into the environment any more.

I don't think the quantity of brake fluid I've poured down drains in the past thirty years or so (maybe a couple of quarts, at the most) has done significant harm to anybody; one could assume, until the relatively recent emphasis on recyling, that virtually all such stuff was going to end up in some theoretically sensitive segment of the environment eventually.  But if Bleche-White works, and doesn't present risks to the environment - by all means use it.

Thanks for the replies, guys.  I tinkered with the idea of using break fluid because I know what it will do toy your car's finish.  But I wasn't too sure of propper disposal afterwards.

Hey Gerald, since you posted in this thread, how will the westley's bleache white effect your SnJ gold powder?  I've been trying to get a polished/reflective gold finish on something using the gloss black enamel and gold powder, but I messed up and need to get it all off before I can restart.  Any ideas?

Thanks,

Fred

Well I need to remove the paint as well because that's where I messed up.  The gold powder only made the flaws much more visible.

-Fred

Don'tcha hate when that happens! Try the Westley's. Get yourself a plastic tote, filler up and let it soak. If you can get the liquid to cover the model, flip it over occasionally or wrap it in papertowels. The towels will wick up the liquid. Keep the tote covered, the vapors help the process too. Set it someplace warm like grandma use to do with the bread dough.

After a while you should be able to use your fingernail to scrap away the paint, once this starts to occur you can place the model under warm running water and strip the paint away. Repeat as needed. I use a wooden sculping tool to scrap with. It is soft enough not to damage the plastic yet tough enough to remove the paint. Also keeps all that paint from building up under your fingernails.

For really thick areas, a little sanding stick action might be warranted to break the paint up some so the detergent can soften deep enough to remove it.

Once done, return it all to the jug (filtered of course) and you have your stripper ready for the next project. 

If you have to buy something I'd recommend Super Clean before Westleys. I think it's faster, does a better job and lasts longer. Simple Green or Purple Power work pretty well too but I still think Super Clean(Castrol's) is the best of these four.

Brake fluid works great too. Enamel shouldn't be a problem with the other products, other than flat black and silver, but some paints just don't want to let go and brake fluid almost always works. You can use it over and over too and when you're done with it, take it down to your local auto parts store and recycle it. You can filter it too.

91% or 99% alcohol works well for some paints. Tamiya sprays and some other acrylic lacquers come to mind.  Easy Off Oven Cleaner in the yellow can works but with the fumes and mess it's pretty nasty.

If your hobby shop carries Polly Scale paints they may have a product called Easy Lift Off. This requires a little more effort in that you don't soak the parts in it, you brush it on. It usually takes at least a couple applications. If you use a pan of some sort to strip your parts in you can recover and reuse it. There's also products made by Scalecoat and Chameleon that work the same way.

Thankfully, I don't use them as much as I used to but I keep a 2 quart tub each of Super Clean, brake fluid and Westleys. I mainly use Westleys to clean parts before paint and use a small tub of it for stripping chrome. Also a small tub of brake fluid to strip the chrome undercoat. It's the only thing I've found that works every time. I keep alcohol on hand just in case. I use the Super Clean to drop my airbrush bottles and caps in to clean.

All that applies to styrene, if you have any resin parts most of these products will destroy them. All resins seem to be different in what you can use on them. You'd have to ask someone specifically what to use on them. But if you want one product that will take off just about anything, brake fluid is it. You still need something to clean the parts with afterwards and that's why I don't use it for everything. And, whatever you use, some of it and some of the paint is still going down the drain...

Tony

Wingman_kz wrote:

If you have to buy something I'd recommend Super Clean before Westleys. I think it's faster, does a better job and lasts longer. Simple Green or Purple Power work pretty well too but I still think Super Clean(Castrol's) is the best of these four. Brake fluid works great too. Enamel shouldn't be a problem with the other products, other than flat black and silver, but some paints just don't want to let go and brake fluid almost always works. You can use it over and over too and when you're done with it, take it down to your local auto parts store and recycle it. You can filter it too. 91% or 99% alcohol works well for some paints. Tamiya sprays and some other acrylic lacquers come to mind.  Easy Off Oven Cleaner in the yellow can works but with the fumes and mess it's pretty nasty. If your hobby shop carries Polly Scale paints they may have a product called Easy Lift Off. This requires a little more effort in that you don't soak the parts in it, you brush it on. It usually takes at least a couple applications. If you use a pan of some sort to strip your parts in you can recover and reuse it. There's also products made by Scalecoat and Chameleon that work the same way. Thankfully, I don't use them as much as I used to but I keep a 2 quart tub each of Super Clean, brake fluid and Westleys. I mainly use Westleys to clean parts before paint and use a small tub of it for stripping chrome. Also a small tub of brake fluid to strip the chrome undercoat. It's the only thing I've found that works every time. I keep alcohol on hand just in case. I use the Super Clean to drop my airbrush bottles and caps in to clean. All that applies to styrene, if you have any resin parts most of these products will destroy them. All resins seem to be different in what you can use on them. You'd have to ask someone specifically what to use on them. But if you want one product that will take off just about anything, brake fluid is it. You still need something to clean the parts with afterwards and that's why I don't use it for everything. And, whatever you use, some of it and some of the paint is still going down the drain... Tony

Simple Green on enamels? Don't you mean acrylics?

I too would submerge the model in Super Clean as it contains Sodium Hydroxide (Lye) as does Easy-Off over cleaner. It may take some time to get it all off and sometimes you need to put on rubber gloves and use an old toothbrush for the stubborn paint areas but it usually does quite well.

Here's a good reference for you.

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

No, I meant enamels.

Tony