good way to strip paint?


P

PARKINGLOT

Canadian Railfan
Anyone know of a good way to strip paint? I've got a switcher that a project I'm starting, and once I get some of the pieces taken off, I need to get the old CN paint scheme off in preparation for the scheme I'm doing. Any ideas?
 
Hey there,

I stripped down my Atlas GP30, and this method worked well for me.

What you have to do, is soak the shell in atleast a 91% isopropyl alcohol - supposedly (this is what I was told) that anything less doesn't work... say for instance 70% rubbing alcohol won't cut it. You can find the 91%+ at Walgreens, CVS, etc.

I just let it soak in a bath of it for about 20 minutes, and take a toothbrush to it. You can get most off in the first try. Anything leftover (my decals were stubborn) and give it another bath, repeat.

This worked real well for me, but other people will chime in I'm sure - and are much more experienced than me!

Kyle
 
Standard Pine-sol will do the trick too, I'd found some factory paints only work with the Pine-sol.
 
kylewoody said:
Hey there,

I stripped down my Atlas GP30, and this method worked well for me.

What you have to do, is soak the shell in atleast a 91% isopropyl alcohol - supposedly (this is what I was told) that anything less doesn't work... say for instance 70% rubbing alcohol won't cut it. You can find the 91%+ at Walgreens, CVS, etc.

I just let it soak in a bath of it for about 20 minutes, and take a toothbrush to it. You can get most off in the first try. Anything leftover (my decals were stubborn) and give it another bath, repeat.

This worked real well for me, but other people will chime in I'm sure - and are much more experienced than me!

Kyle
Click to expand...

I've stripped models with 80%, since Walgreens only had 1 pint of 90% and 1 pint of 70%, so I decided to give it a try, and it worked. From basic chemistry, I know that Isopropyl will always work, it will just take longer based on the concentration of the alcohol. I used 80% and let it soak for a day or two since I was in school anyway and it was a good way to keep myself from going down to the layout during the school week. :p
 
slopes09 said:
I've stripped models with 80%, since Walgreens only had 1 pint of 90% and 1 pint of 70%, so I decided to give it a try, and it worked. From basic chemistry, I know that Isopropyl will always work, it will just take longer based on the concentration of the alcohol. I used 80% and let it soak for a day or two since I was in school anyway and it was a good way to keep myself from going down to the layout during the school week. :p
Click to expand...


Hey, cool - didn't know that! Yeah, I just heard that the "minimum" was 91%+... but obviously others will work too.

Either way, it seems to work well gettin' rid of the paint. I'm working on a MP15 right now in N scale that was undecorated - looking decent so far for my first custom! :) I'll try to get some pics tommorow.

Kyle
 
kylewoody said:
Hey, cool ... but obviously others will work too.

Kyle
Click to expand...

I've used denatured alcohol for many, many years to strip plastic models. It's also know as Shellac Thinner. A gal lasts for years.

There are two models however it will not touch. Kato and old Rivarossi. Some I've had to soak over night to strip, but on Athearn, MDC, P2k... 10-20 minutes.
 
The 91% took the paint right off! Cheap and it works. I like it.
cleanplym.png
 
I use brake fluid with great results. After every use, it gets strained and rebottled. Works great on Athearns, T55, BLI and a few others, although I haven't tried it on Kato.
 
ThoroughBreed said:
I use brake fluid with great results. After every use, it gets strained and rebottled. Works great on Athearns, T55, BLI and a few others, although I haven't tried it on Kato.
Click to expand...

Don't try it!:eek: Brake fluid has chemicals in it to allow rubber/plastic o-rings to "perform" better in most systems by allowing them to swell some.

Kato's plastic mixture, which seems to be different from all the others, apparently has some similar type of plastic in them. (At least this is what a chem. engineer told me. He also said it wasn't the BF itself but the additives, that did this.)

Brake fluid has a very nasty habit of causing the kato plastic to swell, crack, and become brittle, eventually "dissolving" away.

I ruined 4 Kato shells in the 1980's (Do you know how difficult it is to find Kato shells, esp when there was no internet?) on 4 customer's loco's, using BF and haven't used it since. On 2 of them, the damage didn't show until the shells were back at the customer's.

Nothing that I have read or heard of since says that situation has changed.

I have also heard of it damaging Ath and MDC castings in isolated cases.
 
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