Hello!
I´ve just pulled out from a box an old Revell 1/48 ME109 kit that was partially built and painted by me a long time ago. I want to finish it now, but some parts were painted with the wrong colors.
Is there a way to safely remove enamel or acrylic paint from plastic model kits?
Your responses and advice will be highly appreciated.
Regards,
I use fume free Easy Off oven cleaner. Normally for pieces parts, I’ll put them in a large ziplock bag and spray them with the foam and let sit overnight. But for a more precise method, you may wish to spray some in an old cup and scrub with an old toothbrush.
[dto:] to what Rob said. That’s how I’ve done it in the past myself.
Gary
I’ve had success with oven cleaner too. It was a store brand lye oven cleaner. Make sure you have good ventilation and wear safety glasses. I spray the parts and let them sit, then rinse and scrub with an old tooth brush. Lye will dry out your skin but you can wash it off and neutralize with lemon juice or vinegar, etc. may take a few attempts to dislodge thick paint, but even 20 year old paint comes up.
Methyl hydrate works wonders on acrylics.
I have been very successful using “Castrol Super Clean” to strip enamels from old kits. I pour some in an old plastic container & let the parts soak overnight. If there are stubborn areas, let it soak a little longer. It works faster on flat finishes but will work on gloss as well, & in my experience, will not harm the plastic (except clear pieces). It’s biodegradable, but as with anything used to strip paint, you should always wear gloves & goggles. A similar (and slightly cheaper) product is called “Purple Power”.
I use Super Clean, too. I first tired it a couple of years ago, to remove the chrome from a sprue of chromed parts. It took it off in under 2 minutes. I find that it will soften paint in about 5 to 10 minutes, at which time I can gently scrub the paint off with an old toothbrush. I do find, though, that if I soak parts longer, the paint will lift off and dissolve into the liquid.
It is not nearly as caustic as oven cleaner, whose principal ingredient is lye, as noted in the earlier post. Also, you can use a batch of SC over and over, whereas oven cleaner is a one-shot product. I keep a couple of glass jars of various sizes, filled with SC, for parts of various sizes.
I use it to strip paint from plastic, and also from metal figures. I also use it, since it’s a de-greaser, to clean kits before I start building, just a couple of drops in the warm water that I use.
I also use it as a brush cleaner, for acrylics, and it also has household uses (I unclogged a drain with it).
I have used Pine Sol in the past, but am not sure it is still available. Just soak the model in it and most of the paint will slide off.
John
And, it will smell good too![:D]
If it was painted with Acrylics, Simple Green can strip it off with no issues. Just let it soak. Enamel can be removed by Easy Off.
I have to disagree. I use enamels to paint my toy soldiers, Testor’s gloss enamels, for example, and I have stripped them off with Super Clean, using the method I described in my previous post.
Avoid Pine Sol! I soaked a model in that stuff overnight and not only did the paint turn into a gummy, sticky, impossible to clean mess, but it softened the plastic as well. It may be a fine product for cleaning floors, but not for cleaning paint off plastic models.
I tried the oven cleaner route, and although it took off some paint, there was much more than just hung on. On the advice of someone in a modeling forum, I went to Lowe’s and picked up a bottle of Purple Power, which did a much better job. I soaked the parts for a couple of hours and most of the paint came right off, leaving me just a little to scrub off. The stuff is strong, though - I used it outdoors and washed the parts off with water as soon as I took them out of the solution. Latex gloves are a must.
Okay, every now and then I see this question come up. And I have to ask what to me is a rather simple and easy question. If one originally used enamel why not use enamel thinner to remove it? Why try and use all of these “exotic” chemicals to remove the paint?
Enamel thinner will attack the plastic after a few minutes of the plastic soaking in it. Dried paint does not come off as quickly or easily as fresh or wet paint. The exotic stuff mentioned above won’t attack the plastic, plus, most of it is enviromentally friendly.
DD,
Thank you, as I said, I’ve seen this question come up in the past. And I’ve always wondered why it was that people didn’t try the thinner that was made for the type of paint orginally used.
Question, if one didn’t soak the model in the thinner, but applied it with a toothbrush, or even an airbrush would that work?:
Cowboy, if we’re talking about solvent-based paint, then no, the thinner will craze the plastic. amhik…[;)]
Gary
In the same vane (AMHIK), I’ve found that a wetting down with CA accelerant like zip kicker, will easily remove enamel.
I recently asked this same question. Some suggested Simple Green to me and I just tried it out last week. It took off both the acrylic and enamel paint that was on my 1/700 Oliver Hazard Perry. I just let it soak for about 6 hours and then used a soft bristled tooth brush and a nylon bristled gun brush and the paint off. Do like I did and take the advice and used rubber gloves. This technique also had an added benift for me as it losened the glue that was used so now I can rebuild it more carefully using better techniques, although I suspect the reason it took the glue off is that the glue I used has most likely gone bad.
I don’t think so. The paint remover (whatever type you use) needs time to soak in and loosen the paint. Just applying it with a toothbrush or airbrush won’t give it any time to soak and loosen the paint (a minimum of a few hours would be needed with any of the removers listed previously). Again, if you try to use paint thinner for this, you’re just asking for trouble, as the thinner will attack the plastic and mar it - probably to the point that sanding out the blemishes won’t work. Try it on a piece of painted scrap plastic to see if does what you want.