[charonjr]

This might fall under the oven cleaner method. I started working on ye ol' USS Enterprise (AMT/ERTL/Polar Lights) and tried brushing some grey acrylic paint on the hatch marks on the inside of the warp pod pylons. It looks awful! And I had to step away for a bit to deal with other stuff.

There seems to be no way to remove this stuff after it has dried! Short of sanding it to death, any one have a tried and true method to remove this stuff?:wink2:

 

[irishtrek]

Try soaking it in Simple Green for a few days. Or you can take a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol and rub away but the down side to that is how many q-tips you'll end up using and how long they last. And the fresher the paint the easier it will come off.

 

[charonjr]

Yikes, the paint is at least six months old, LOL! I will both approaches. Thank you, Irishtrek! Hope Portland isn't boiling you! Heard from another friend there, that it's been hitting 100 degrees!

 

[irishtrek]

100 degree weather?? Not in a few weeks, and this week it's in the 70's with rain moving in for the weekend.

 

[pagni]

Ammonia usually takes it right off

 

[charonjr]

Alcohol didn't work. I will try ammonia. Glad to hear Portland is getting back to normal! Thinking of moving back up there again, someday.

 

[irishtrek]

How 'hard' did you rub the q-tips over the painted areas?? The original Pine-Sol would do the trick also, just check then every day until the paint comes off. Should take more than a few days.
Also housing costs have gone thought the roof here and it does not look to be stopping any time soon.

 

[MartyS]

If it's months old rubbing with a Qtip soaked in alcohol would take forever, either soak it in rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol or wet a paper towel and set it on the paint, wrap saran wrap around it to keep the alcohol from evaporating.

I recover old acrylic paint bottles by soaking in soapy water for a few days, softens it up no matter how old, so it's just a matter of time and if you want the entire thing cleaned of paint.

 

[irishtrek]

If it's months old rubbing with a Qtip soaked in alcohol would take forever, either soak it in rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol or wet a paper towel and set it on the paint, wrap saran wrap around it to keep the alcohol from evaporating.

I recover old acrylic paint bottles by soaking in soapy water for a few days, softens it up no matter how old, so it's just a matter of time and if you want the entire thing cleaned of paint.

Does it matter what kind of soap???

 

[charonjr]

I tried rubbing alcohol 91%, on a paper towel (don't have q-tips, unfortunately and the monthly budget is spent), rubbed with pressure and vigor, dipping in alcohol to re-wet. After an hour, there wasn't even a faint taint of paint on the towel. I didn't think about these other ideas. Soapy water I can do. Just want to be able to airbrush without having these painted areas standing out like a frikkin' beacon. I shouldn't have tried brush painting, hands too weak and shaky.

 

[MartyS]

An hour wetting it with rubbing alcohol didn't do anything?

You are sure it's acrylic?

And the alcohol, sometimes they sell ethyl alcohol in the same looking bottle, that won't work as well as isopropyl.

 

[irishtrek]

A paper towel with alcohol on it didn't work?? Then forget that method and just soak in some pine-sol for a few days.

 

[pagni]

ammonia

 

[charonjr]

The paint was Testors Acrylic bottle paint, grey. I tried 91% Isopropyl alcohol, and vigorously rubbed the part, rewetting as necessary. I don't gave ammonia. I have bleach. I can get some ammonia at Walmart. Probably take 15 bottles to submerge the model in a Walmart plastic storage box. Shouldn't be too expensive though.

 

[irishtrek]

And just how long will the ammonia take to strip the paint, a week, 2 weeks or more or less???

 

[pagni]

ammonia will strip acrylics in minutes

 

[charonjr]

I bought a gallon of Ammonia. Just got to find something big enough to hold the AMT kit....

 

[irishtrek]

Exactly which kit is it, 1/1000, 1/537, 1/2500 or /350 scale??

 

[Frank2056]

I have yet to find an acrylic paint that isn't dissolved or softened by denatured alcohol; it works faster than isopropyl with much less scrubbing.

 

[RetiredMSgt1701]

Hey charonjr, I know I am new to the forum, but I used an engine degreaser called "Super Clean" on a 40 year old AMT TOS Enterprise that had the same number of years paint on it. I filled a paint-roller tray with the degreaser and soaked the parts overnight. Then using a soft tooth brush and some cold running water, I literally washed the old paint down the drain.

It left the styrene very clean and I had no issues with painting later. I got a gallon of it at NAPA autoparts for $12-$15.


I hope this helps.

Steve