A friend has asked me to repaint a locomotive set for him, as the previous owner had hand-painted it with a brush. I do not have much experience with this, having only repainted a couple of other items (using an airbrush), but I agreed to try.
It appears that isopropol alcohol (93%) is not effective in removing the old paint; I suspect he used acrylic paint to hand-paint the plastic model ( because the colors are accurate for the RR he picked); is ther any experience out there in removing acrylic paint from a plastic model?
Believe it or not Dot 5 brake fluid works like a champ. I thought it was a bunch of bull but after trying it I see it’s virtues. You just need to wear rubber gloves and rinse it thoroughly with tap water.Depending on how bad of a paint job it is IE: how think he glopped on the paint you may need to scrub it with an old tooth brush. Alcohol does work too but it’s more expensive and it takes longer.
Alcohol is also toxic hence the reason for wearing rubber gloves as so not to absorb it through the skin also Kato is the only brand that ever has a problem as they seem to use a different material in their castings. This method is nothing new as a matter of fact my friend told me he read about it in MR many years a go.
An air eraser is not a desired method of removing paint as with any abrasive it leaves pock marks in the surface just as a sand blaster does to the metal when you dry strip a car. Although it does work chemical stripping is far less invasive and less time consuming.
I use alcohol sold in the paint thinner section of a hardware store. Eats through most paints pretty quickly. I normally scrub the model with a stiff paint brush or if the paint is really think use very fine steel wool.
I’ve used it, and it’s pretty good. About the only thing it won’t remove is automotive paint. It’s similar to brake fluid though, so you should test it on a junk shell first.
I used to use brake fluid on Athearn BB shells back in the day. It worked for them because they were styrene, but the newer shells seem to be ABS, and ABS does NOT react well to brake fluid…it becomes so brittle that the lightest touch will shatter it.
I use Easy Lift Off all the time. it’s about the same soaking time as 93% isopropol alcohol except that you can brush it on and let it sit a couple of hours or so instead of soaking it in an alcohol bath. I use an old tooth brush to remove the paint once it’s softened the paint up enough for removal…chuck