Stripping tamiya paint off resin body?

[grt222]

What is the best thing for stripping tamiya paint off a resin body that won't harm the resin? Thanks for any help.

[stitchdup]

ipa alcohol or la's totaly awesome cleaner if you want to just sit it in stripper like we do with styrene bodies. The totaly awesome cleaner will even take off matt black but it can be pretty slow. I had a resin body sitting in it for over a year with no problems. DO NOT USE BRAKE FLUID, IT WILL DESTROY THE RESIN AND THERE IS NO FIXING IT

 

and a quick tip if you use tamiya paints but dont want to use different strippers than usual on styrene is to use automotive primers under the tamiya paints. then you can still use your normal strippers if you sand a small area to be open to the primer. the stripper gets between the paint layers and will strip the primer from under the tamiya paints

Edited January 25 by stitchdup
added a tip

[ColonelKrypton]

Tamiya paint remover should work quite well.  Formulated to work with Tamiya products and reusable - let any sludge and bits settle after use, filter, then store in original bottle. Works great for removing "chrome" plating AND the underlying lacquer/enamel from model "chromed" plated parts.  I have a bottle I have been using for about a year that has seen a lot of use.

Mostly isopropyl alcohol but it is the other  glycol components which help the alcohol better cling to the surface helping to break down the paint and it's bond to the painted surface making it more effective than isopropyl alcohol alone. 

I have to laugh a bit whenever someone suggests using India Pail Ale  ( i.e. IPA ) for removing paint

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_pale_ale

 

cheers, Graham

 

 

[Mark]

The paint stripping "IPA" is isopropyl alcohol.  Never waste beer trying to remove paint!

[peteski]

1 hour ago, ColonelKrypton said:

I have to laugh a bit whenever someone suggests using India Pail Ale  ( i.e. IPA ) for removing paint

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_pale_ale

I like Pail even better!

While I have never had to strip paint from resin body, I would think that glycols (which are ingredients of brake fluid, and some paint strippers like ELO and Tamiya), would attack resin.  Also keep in mind that not all resins are the same. There are different brands and formulations used by different resin casters.  Some might be unaffected by certain strippers, while other might get damaged. It would be wise to be careful while stripping any sort of resin item (and not fully depend on anecdotal information provided by well-intentioned forum members).  Over the years I read many horror stories about resin bodies getting damaged by various strippers.

[Mark]

I wouldn't soak resin in anything to remove paint.  Instead, use the 91% rubbing alcohol and wipe it on instead if soaking.  If you intend to repaint with Tamiya spray, AND a color change isn't involved, AND it isn't cleared over yet, I'd sand out whatever problems exist in the current paint job, give the rest a slight scuff, and respray.

[ColonelKrypton]

58 minutes ago, peteski said:

I like Pail even better!

I have never heard of Pail before so I did a quick search. Found a number of alcoholic beverages using that name but it seems that Pail ale and Pale ale are pretty much the same thing just with different spellings to different I suppose.  India Pale Ale is just a variety of Pale or Pail Ales. 

Good advise on being careful stripping paint from resin. Always test, test, and test some more before committing especially if trying new or different.

cheers, Graham

 

[ColonelKrypton]

2 hours ago, ColonelKrypton said:

Mostly isopropyl alcohol

Upon re-reading my earlier post I realized I may have misspoken so I went to check on the material safety data sheets to verify. 

In fact I had misspoken, it is Tamiya Lacquer thinner ( yellow cap - not the orange cap Lacquer thinner retarder type ) that is mostly isopropyl alcohol.

For full disclosure, form the Tamiya Paint Remover safety data sheet: 

Quote

Product identifier 87183 TAMIYA Paint Remover 250 ml  ( sds dated 2017-06-26 )
  
Benzyl alcohol   CAS-Nr. 100-51-6   70 - 80%
Diethylene glycol butyl ether CAS-Nr. 112-34-5  10 - 15%
Dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether  CAS-Nr. 34590-94-8   5 - 10%

Furthermore, the Tamiya Lacquer thinner (yellow cap) from the Tamiya products safety data sheets - Note there are in fact two slightly different formulations from two different safety data sheets that I have found. I found the second more recent sds this morning.

Quote

Product identifier 87077 TAMIYA LACQUER Thinner 250 ml   ( sds dated 2018-06-29 )
 
Isopropyl alcohol 67-63-0 60 ％
Butyl acetate 123-86-4 30 ％
Ethyleneglycol monobutyl ether 111-76-2 10 ％

Product identifier 87077 TAMIYA LACQUER Thinner 250 ml  ( sds dated 2019-04-18 )
 
Isopropyl alcohol CAS no. 67-63-0 > 50%
Isobutyl Methyl Ketone CAS no. 108-10-1  25 - <30%
2-butoxyethanol CAS no. 111-76-2  5 - <10%

Which brings me to add that Tamiya Lacquer Thinner ( yellow cap ) product 87077 also works quite well as a paint remover as well as for removing "chrome" plating from plastic model parts. In fact, I find a 50:50 mix of Tamiya Lacquer Thinner and Tamiya Paint Remover works a bit better than either alone.

Neither of these products will attack polystyrene. I have left parts in these products for many days with no ill effects. 

In the art conservation world, cleaning old objects and paintings is a never ending task. Conservators always start with the mildest solvent and work they way through harsher solvents as needed to remove whatever contaminants they are faced with.  In a similar vein as to what @Mark suggested, they never "soak" and item instead use cotton buds or similar to "wipe on and wipe off".  

As commented by  @peteski and @Mark tread lightly, don't soak for long periods if it can be helped, tread lightly when trying anything new or different and test, test, and test some more before committing.

My apologizes for mis-speaking and for being a bit long winded.

cheers, Graham 

[stitchdup]

fyi, when pail is spelled in this way it means a bucket

[ColonelKrypton]

2 minutes ago, stitchdup said:

fyi, when pail is spelled in this way it means a bucket

You are absolutely correct.

However, my quick search returned some interesting links to products which are being spelt as "Pail Ale" presumably make their product stand out a bit more in the crowd. Also, Pail, alphabetically comes before Pale.  It's all about marketing

https://kamiljuices.com/products/brewing-class-recipe-1-the-pail-ale

https://untappd.com/b/shiny-brewery-pail/960049

among others.

cheers, Graham 

[grt222]

Thanks for the help so far. I didn't actually have a problem with the paint itself. I used tamiya ts paint and ts clear. I think my problem was I did not prep and clean the resin good before primer and whatever it is it keeps popping through the paint, that's why I figured it would be better to strip it and start over.

[peteski]

4 hours ago, stitchdup said:

fyi, when pail is spelled in this way it means a bucket

Exactly. I was simply amused by the phrase Indie Pail (as in "bucket")  Ale. I had no idea that there are beverages called "pail ale".

[stitchdup]

7 minutes ago, peteski said:

Exactly. I was simply amused by the phrase Indie Pail (as in "bucket")  Ale. I had no idea that there are beverages called "pail ale".

i bet its the same folk that serve meals on shovels or also known as hipsters/trying too hard to be quirky. i know i'm not going to buy beer from a bucket (even if i eat like a horse)

[Mark]

If paint adhesion is part of the problem, then stripping the bad paint shouldn't take as much effort as normal.

[av405]

On 1/25/2024 at 7:49 AM, Mark said:

I wouldn't soak resin in anything to remove paint.  Instead, use the 91% rubbing alcohol and wipe it on instead if soaking.  If you intend to repaint with Tamiya spray, AND a color change isn't involved, AND it isn't cleared over yet, I'd sand out whatever problems exist in the current paint job, give the rest a slight scuff, and respray.

I've soaked resin in 91% rubbing alcohol and it hasn't been an issue. I just kept an extra eye on it and made sure that it didn't soak too long. Every once in a while I would remove the piece, give it a clean with a brush to assist in the removal of the paint, and put it back in. That way I wasn't prolonging the amount of time the piece had to soak. As for your second point, I agree 100%.

[Skip]

I have used the good old Purple Pond (Castrol Superclean/Simple Green) method once or twice to remove paint from resin with little or no effect. I watch it and when it the paint is starting to lift then I use a popsicle stick to very lightly scrape the major layers off the part, then switch to a toothbrush until the coating has been removed completely.  I also use Simple Green and Superclean to soak the resin in to remove the mold release, so it's a pretty safe method in my book.

I believe the real key here is not to soak the resin parts in anything too long, or long enough to experience any adverse effects of the material you are using to release the paint from the surface of the part.