Paint Strippers - What to Use?

[426hemiman]

I've let it soak out in the sun and it seams to work better. heat works the best.

[Bonekrosha]

As soon as I started sraying the first coat on my General Lee project, the paint immediately crazed

I got some of this stuff and it's amazing how well it works!

It stripped all the paint off, even the primer, after a total of about 24 hourS.

I let the body & hood soak for about 12 huours upside down, got a tooth brush, and lightly scrubbed off the paint & primer.

Super Easy!

I flipped the body over and repeated the process.

Again, this stuff worked great for me.

Additionally, the line where the stuff came up to the body line was very sharp, like it was masked off, kinda interesting that it doesn't bleed "up".

[SuperStockAndy]

I had to strip Tamiya lacquer off my Tamiya McLaren M8A, paint was only a few minutes old, yet it still took forever.To cut a long story short I just ended up using my trusted mineral spirits.

[charlie8575]

So, it appears to work well on chrome, most solvent enamels, and selectively on lacquers.

The chrome stripping is quite good, I must agree there. For the price, you won't go wrong at least trying it.

Oh...and their stain remover for the laundry is very good, too.

Charlie Larkin

[Foxer]

Here's some before and after photos of an old AMT '65 GTO wheel. I took the worst looking one I could find that I knew would have a lot of clear under it. I took photos of it in chrome,but they all came out blurry and I had already put the part in the LA's Totally Awesome. In the time it took me to upload the photos onto my computer, see they were all bad and delete them,the wheel looked like this.

As you can see, the clear coat is really gooped on on this wheel. So much that it has turned brown in most places.

After a couple of days,this is what it now looks like. Nice and clean! If the clear coat isn't this thick,it's gone in a few hours to a day at the most.

Thanks for that! The chrome lacquer is the toughest for me to remove .. I've tried them all .. Will be trying some Totally Awesome. ))

[vintagestang]

I had to strip some paint off a Charger seat the other day and mixed up an amazing stripper. Mix brake fluid, 91% alcohol, and degreaser. The paint will wrinkle up and you can peel it off.

[Chillyb1]

How's it work on lacquer? Same result?

[george 53]

Can you imagine how volitile that combination would be? if you DO do this, I hope your doin it OUTSIDE!!! And who's degreaser are ya useing? sounds like it MIGHT be good for Die Cast bodies. That paint is a KILLER to take off!!

[vintagestang]

Yep same result on lacquer. It was Dupli-Color degreaser and O'reilly brand brake fluid.

[charlie8575]

What ratios of these items are you using?

Charlie Larkin

[charlie8575]

The mention of Bleche-Wite brings up a question...

Has anyone used this stuff as a pre-cleaner for resin parts?

Charlie Larkin

[vintagestang]

It was mostly brake fluid. I tried stripping with a Zyrtec bottle half full and dumped that in with the other mixture I already had.

[pete3522]

Never tried it on paint.But i have used it to take the black streaks off my camping trailer it works great for that,I didnt wear gloves didnt hurt my skin.As far as paint stripper for models I use oven cleaner .I take old milk jugs cut them in half put the body ,parts n bottom half .Spray the oven cleaner on well.Then take the top and cover the bottom half leave sit for a day or 2.Some paints come right off The more stubborn stuff i use green scouring pad .Works well for me

Edited May 8, 2012 by pete3522

[Art Anderson]

If that stuff works as well as you say (and it's that cheap!), I'm sure plenty of people will want to give it a try.

Actually, Lewis Red Devil Lye is the cheapest, and when mixed up sufficiently strong, it strips the plating AND the underlying lacquer gloss coat in mere minutes! Lye is "Sodium Hydroxide" which is caustic, the same stuff as Drano (Once a week, Drano in every drain!), and as such, it destroys aluminum in a heartbeat, which is what vacuum plating is, aluminum. It also softens lacquers and varnishes (the two principal gloss coatings used in vacuum metalizing. Yes, PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is HIGHLY advised, as lye in strong concentrations can burn your skin (it dissolves human tissure--but Nitrile gloves prevent that, and with proper eye protection, your eyesight is safe as well. Best of all though is that Lye is biodegradable, so pouring it down your sink drain works quite well. A can of Lewis Lye crystals is still only about $2 at your favorite supermarket--look in the cleaning supplies section!

Art

[Harry P.]

The mention of Bleche-Wite brings up a question...

Has anyone used this stuff as a pre-cleaner for resin parts?

Charlie Larkin

A friend of mine who knows resin very well says that Bleche-White is the perfect resin parts cleaner.

[Fat Brian]

After reading this thread I made a quick trip to Dollar Tree to check this stuff out. For anyone wanting to try it they carry it in two forms, a ready to use variety that comes in a spray bottle and a concentrated kind that just has a cap on the bottle, I got the concentrate since I have bought the spray kind to use as household cleaner and was not impressed. I have to say after playing with it for a week or so that for soft paints like hobby enamels this stuff is great. However, it won't touch laquers even after a few days in the tank. It's not ideal for stripping chrome, the plating comes off easily but the under coating doesn't seem to be affected. What I do like is that it doesn't damage the plastic, unlike my previous oven cleaner method which always left the plastic rough and brittle. If you paint primarily with Testors enamel paint this will be a huge help for you. If, however, you use Testors one coat laquers, Tamiya laquers, or auto touchup paint you should stick with brake fluid or your preferred method.

Here is a pic of a body that was painted with Testors black metalflake, after two days in the LAs Totally Awesome and some gentle brushing it came completely clean. I have never got such a complete stripping from oven cleaner and the plastic is always damaged and stained.

[Fat Brian]

Did you not see the two photos of the chrome wheel I posted? That's clear proof that it does in fact remove the clear coat under the chrome.

I had some new AMT semi wheels in it for three days and it didn't make a dent in the under coat for me. The plating was gone in a few hours but after three days the undercoat was still there so I rinsed them off and tossed them in some brake fluid. I did see what you had posted and was hoping for the same results since my wheels had runs in the clear under the chrome but that wasn't my experience. How old was the wheel you tested, maybe they changed the undercoat formula.

[martinfan5]

I will stick with what I know works, plain bleach, and fresh purple cleaner

[Fat Brian]

The wheels I tried to strip were from the current issue of the Freightliner Dual Drive kit so they were plated with pretty current techniques. Sometime in the 2000's AMT changed their plating process because their plated parts went completely to junk and still aren't as good as they used to be. The undercoat is always too think and has runs in it now. Something is definitely different with the undercoating now, today I needed to strip a valve cover that is at least twenty years old and I got it almost completely clean to the bare plastic with hand sanitizer. Like you had said the chrome was gone in minutes and the undercoat came off after an hour or so. I don't know, more research is required.

Edited May 9, 2012 by Fat Brian

[ARTEMIS1759]

Yeah my wheel I am sure is a 70s issue of some type. Purple power did nothing for paint on my stuff.

[wraith]

_{I finally bought some of this stuff the other day to give it a try. I personally like Purple Power better. I have had better results with it.}

[Hedgehog]

I just wanna share something with all the styrene addicts out there. Today I went to 99 cents store and found these two products which I'm gonna test on some chromed parts to see how they both together striping the chrome. I'll post the outcome... hopefully they wont melt my parts LOL.

[Ryan S.]

I'd test some cbromed sprue before trying real parts, but curious to see how it works.

[martinfan5]

I use bleach, and I kid you not, I have watched it strip the chrome right before my eyes, in about two minutes the chrome was gone, and I had a nice white base to work with, try it.

[Hedgehog]

Oh this mixture works fantastic. No kidding I put some parts in it and it only took 15 seconds to remove the chrome coat . Pow right there instantly.

Let's wait till tomorrow morning...