Two-tone paint removal "When 2 become 1"

[RostokMcSpoons]

8 minutes ago, Skullchewer said:

Came in to give advice as someone whgo works with paint a lot, but good advice had been given, and then... ANARCHY I TELL YOU!

 

Your experience could still be very useful, as @Rogerborg's question is still open - what's good to remove paint from the plastic parts of a gnu, without melting it?

[Skullchewer]

Oh I missed that.
You could try acetone, like a cheap bottle of nail polish remover. If that doesn't work rubbing alcohol.

Do it with warm water and a scaper or a rough sponge if you're concerned about scratching.

[hitmanNo2]

I've had good results leaving painted plastic parts in a Dettol bath for 24/48 hours.

[ghostwalker]

I come from a miniature painting background and when stripping paint from plastic miniatures acetone works, or you can get something called biostrip. Failing that my old Faithfull is brown dettol. You soak the plastic part in the detail for a few hours, removed and scrub with a tooth brush. If it hasn't worked soak it some more. 

With plastic miniatures I have had stuff sat in the dettol for weeks kn end without any lasting damage.

[Cannonfodder]

On 05/04/2023 at 11:41, Skullchewer said:

Came in to give advice as someone whgo works with paint a lot, but good advice had been given, and then... ANARCHY I TELL YOU!

Did you expect anything else?

[Daveoc33]

On 05/04/2023 at 12:01, Skullchewer said:

Oh I missed that.
You could try acetone, like a cheap bottle of nail polish remover. If that doesn't work rubbing alcohol.

Do it with warm water and a scaper or a rough sponge if you're concerned about scratching.

Acetone did not work nicely with a cyma m14 stock I had - thankfully I was testing on a non visible bit of the stock. Worked fine on other plastic things though. I suppose it depends on the solvent in the paint used and the specific type of plastic. 

[Unreal Warfare]

On 03/04/2023 at 15:00, Rogerborg said:

 

It was, until a certain trading block made us remove dichloromethane / methylene chloride from domestic paint strippers in 2016.  You could then buy the stuff neat on eBay, but that's been nixxed now too. Some industrial sellers are still flogging it, but only in bulk, or with postage that far exceeds the cost of the product.

 

If the brake fluid doesn't get it all, then acetone or isopropanol might work, depending on what's in the paint. I'd do an isopropanol clean before re-painting anyway.

I recently took up model painting and came across Biostrip which you can freely get from Element Games for around £10-£18 (tub size dependant). I haven't tested it on anything other than plastic models and Acrylic paints but it doesnt damage the models, works prety fast and is really easy to use.

 

Worth a punt maybe as it's relatively harmless to use compared to some other stuff people may suggest.

[Rogerborg]

3 hours ago, Unreal Warfare said:

relatively harmless

 

Mostly harmless? 🤔

[Skullchewer]

Alright, Arthur,  calm down. 

[Rogerborg]

2 hours ago, Skullchewer said:

Alright, Arthur,  calm down. 

 

Don't tell me to calm down or I'll Agrajag you right in your petunias.