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Stripping Tamiya Acrylic?


GazB

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Hello :).

In the midst of waiting for some thinners to arrive to continue my Y-Wing build, my thoughts wandered to an unfinished 1/35 Dragon M1A2 SEP I'd put in the garage. I still have all the parts for it (though it would probably take me a while to discover exactly what I put together and haven't) and I figured this might be a good opportunity to use some of my greater knowledge to fix it up and finish it. Part of that process is to repaint it with sprays, masking it off for the camo scheme.

Currently, the main parts are done in tri-colour NATO, which I hand-painted from the jars. I'd like to redo it in the same scheme with spray cans at some point, but I'd also like to try and restart the painting completely by resetting to the bare plastic. The current paint layer is pretty thin so spraying over probably won't make much difference to detailing, but all the same...does anyone know of a plastic-friendly, easily obtainable means of stripping the paint? I've seen some suggesting IPA, but others say its difficult to obtain.

Would these methods also fog up clear parts or affect the glue (that's partly degraded in some places, which was a bit of a happy flaw in the end :))?

Cheers in advance :)

Edited by GazB
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Mr Muscle oven cleaner. Spray it all over, leave for a couple of minutes then rinse. Stubborn areas may need help with a toothbrush or sponge. Works for me every time.

edit: Won't affect clear parts.

Edited by Darby
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Mr Muscle oven cleaner. Spray it all over, leave for a couple of minutes then rinse. Stubborn areas may need help with a toothbrush or sponge. Works for me every time.

edit: Won't affect clear parts.

Nice. Thanks for that. I'll give it a whirl :D

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Tesco Everyday Value all-purpose cleaner - or any other non-ionic surfactant. Just 25p a litre.

Doesn't work on all acrylics but strips and cleans Tamiya perfectly, won't affect enamels (oven cleaner will strip everything and makes plastic go brittle). Leave on for a couple of hours.

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Another thing - oven cleaner will greatly weaken plastic liquid glue bonds. Good for disassembling old models.

That's something that could be useful, but could it damage the plastic?

Isopropyl Alcohol (also known as IPA) will do it very nicely, too.

Do you know where I'd be able to pick some up, as an option? I hear its a little difficult to find. ASDA etc not selling it and so on.

Thank you all for the advice so far guys :)

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ASDA, Tesco and Sainsburys all do the same value cleaner. Its so cheap you can just make a bath of it and lob the model in. I also use it to clean out old Tamiya paint pots to use as mix jars. Just fill and stand overnight. I think its fine with clear parts but test a bit first.

Oven cleaner will strip anything, but does make clear parts cloudy (in my experience) and the plastic brittle. Quite big bits snap off very easily. I once stripped a 1/700 battleship deck, washed the gunge off, waved it to shake the water drops off and it just shattered! Maybe I left it too long. If you do use it, sealing the gunged model in a zip-lock plastic bag or other airtight container will enhance the effect.

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ASDA, Tesco and Sainsburys all do the same value cleaner. Its so cheap you can just make a bath of it and lob the model in. I also use it to clean out old Tamiya paint pots to use as mix jars. Just fill and stand overnight. I think its fine with clear parts but test a bit first.

Oven cleaner will strip anything, but does make clear parts cloudy (in my experience) and the plastic brittle. Quite big bits snap off very easily. I once stripped a 1/700 battleship deck, washed the gunge off, waved it to shake the water drops off and it just shattered! Maybe I left it too long. If you do use it, sealing the gunged model in a zip-lock plastic bag or other airtight container will enhance the effect.

Thanks for the help :D

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Do you know where I'd be able to pick some up, as an option? I hear its a little difficult to find. ASDA etc not selling it and so on.

Thank you all for the advice so far guys :)

Probably the easiest is via eBay. 70% is fine, 99.9% will just work a lot faster... but it'll dry your skin out almost straight away :). Not sure whether Boots still sells it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I usually strip paint with brake fluid. It works well with any type of paint and doesn't damage the plastic

I've picked up some Revell Paint Remover. Haven't tried it yet, but I've heard its quite effective :)

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Lidle W5 kitchen degreaser in a spray bottle, also use it as an airbrush cleaner.

Edited by Stuck
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Don't get it in any cuts!

Don't ask.......

Rick.

Don't get it in any cuts!

Don't ask.......

Rick.

Heh, now you've got my intrigued! :P

Gonna wear gloves when I use it :)

Lidle kitchen degreaser in a spray bottle, also use it as an airbrush cleaner.

That sounds interesting. Thanks! :)

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