Removing enamel from plastic kits.

[Simon Dunsmore]

Hi Folks, Thanks for the replies and suggestions.

 

So, no joy with the oven cleaner, not even a dulling of the shine. 

 

I took the plunge and ordered a tub of biostrip 20. It's waterbased, safe with styrene and listed as being effective on enamel. Sounds to good to be true, not super cheap but if it rescues a couple of kits, should be worth it. I'll let you know. 

[kiwimodeller]

Hi Simon

Like someone mentioned earlier, give Dettol a go if you have some on hand.

I recently stripped a figure of paint and it worked well. I had both enamel and acrylic on there and both came off easily after soaking for about 30 mins.

Any paint that was still there came off after a gentle scrub with a tooth brush.

Edited February 18, 2019 by kiwimodeller

[71chally]

New convert here!

 

A couple of weeks ago I completed the finish on an Airfix 1:48 Lightning, this was finished in foil, stuck down with Humbrol 35 Polyurethane varnish, and three coats of Humbrol blue on the fin/rudder and spine, aswel as the intake, jet pipes and cockpit all being painted.  But I was unhappy with the result.

 

I decided to take the plunge and try and strip it, so I used a product called 'Oven Pride - UK's No1 Deep Cleaner', which is one of those pop it in the bag oven cleaners. 

I poured half a bottle of the cleaner in the supplied bag (and using the supplied gloves), popped in the Lightning, agitated the bag gently so that the solution contacted the model all over and then left it outside over night.

I was staggered what I found this morning, I thought that the foil would partially peel back off, but it had in fact dissolved completely in the solution, and there was no sign of the blue paint, the kit appeared as a completely naked unpainted item.

The plastic is as new with no surface damage at all, and even the cockpit decals are still in situ!  I finally left the Lightning in a bowl of water for a few hours, and finally rinsed it off under a running tap. 

I should stress that none of the transparencies were fitted or needed stripping.

 

It amazes me that these products can be so effective in getting rid of paint, but don't attack the plastic, I think this product was about £3.00 from Homebargains.

Will definitely use on some other older kits that have suffered paintwork issues.

[Troy Smith]

On 17/02/2019 at 18:26, Troy Smith said:

I suspect this will be good, but not got around to testing it on plastic.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-paint-varnish-stripper-500ml/17091

there is a COOSH  data sheet which may give an idea if it will affect plastic,  it didn't do anytghing to the old toothbrushes  I used to apply and scrub with though.

 

A look through the Q&A sections

 

 

 Update, I tested some on a model part with 30 year old enamel, cleaned it fine with no damage.  Always worth a small test though,  if you have unused bit or some sprues.

 

What I find slightly puzzling is while some of the other items listed undoubtedly work,   why not just use something that IS ACTUALLY PAINT STRIPPER! 

 

It's like a thick yoghurt, so pretty easy to apply, and that maybe useful if you do not want a complete strip job as well, as you can just do a bit if applied carefully.

[Black Knight]

Normally that is true. I sometimes use a paint stripper out of B&Q. It doesn't always work though.

But presently, one cannot just pop into a hardware store for paint stripper. Not here anyways. Whereas you can drop a tin of Mr Muscle oven cleaner in with your supermarket shopping.

[Davie]

On 3/31/2020 at 8:26 PM, 71chally said:

New convert here!

 

A couple of weeks ago I completed the finish on an Airfix 1:48 Lightning, this was finished in foil, stuck down with Humbrol 35 Polyurethane varnish, and three coats of Humbrol blue on the fin/rudder and spine, aswel as the intake, jet pipes and cockpit all being painted.  But I was unhappy with the result.

 

I decided to take the plunge and try and strip it, so I used a product called 'Oven Pride - UK's No1 Deep Cleaner', which is one of those pop it in the bag oven cleaners. 

I poured half a bottle of the cleaner in the supplied bag (and using the supplied gloves), popped in the Lightning, agitated the bag gently so that the solution contacted the model all over and then left it outside over night.

I was staggered what I found this morning, I thought that the foil would partially peel back off, but it had in fact dissolved completely in the solution, and there was no sign of the blue paint, the kit appeared as a completely naked unpainted item.

The plastic is as new with no surface damage at all, and even the cockpit decals are still in situ!  I finally left the Lightning in a bowl of water for a few hours, and finally rinsed it off under a running tap. 

I should stress that none of the transparencies were fitted or needed stripping.

 

It amazes me that these products can be so effective in getting rid of paint, but don't attack the plastic, I think this product was about £3.00 from Homebargains.

Will definitely use on some other older kits that have suffered paintwork issues.

Thanks for the tip re Oven Pride - I bought some today and hopefully get to try this weekend in on an old Tamiya 1/12 Mini I'm changing from red to blue. I'll post up before and after pics if it works.

[Davie]

Just got round to buying the Oven Pride. Here's some "before" pics. "After" ones to follow.

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by Davie

[Davie]

I didn't think the Oven Pride had worked. I followed the instructions but couldn't get all the shell coated in the bag due to its shape.  However next morning, I took it out and found a good scrub with a toothbrush took 95% of the paint off. The rest I used 1200 wet and dry.