I have a lot of second-hand plastic models which I want to strip down for repainting.
Some are painted with enamels, others with acrylic paints.
I’ve heard a lot about “Castrol SuperClean” being the best material for removing paint. However, this doesn’t
seem to be available here, I’ve tried asking in car/bike shops and nobody has even heard of it!
Is it available under a different brand/product name, or is there another equivalent product which I can use?
I’ve tried using “Modelstrip” which is available in most UK model shops, however this is difficult and tedious
to apply (a thick paste which needs to be painted on), and expensive (£5 for a small jar, and not re-usable)
I’ve also found that acetone-free nail varnish works quite well on some paints. With others, however, it will either
simply not remove them, or will react badly with them causing them to ripple and stick to the underlying plastic - too
risky to use in most cases!
Drawde, Easy-Off oven cleaner also does the trick, put the model in a plastic ziplock bag, spray it down, close the seal and wait overnight… and it’s cheap!
I’ve heard of people using auto brake fluid as well, put it in a metal pan, put your model in and after a few minutes start gently rubbing the paint off… not sure about this one so I would wait for more confirmation on the technique before you tried that…
With acrylics Fantastik all purpose cleaner with orange oil worked. same thing, ziplock bag, put it in the bag and overnight it stripped it of acrylic! Don’t know how good it would work on enamel but it seemed to get the laquer off as well…
–edit— Fantastik doesnt seem to like clear bits… it fogged a canopy I tried for fun once… but on the regular plastic it was just dull after I cleaned it… washed it and dried and painted it with no probs!