need a lil help removing paint after 3 things didnt do it

I'm trying to remove some paint made by Kustom Kolors but havent been able to get it off. I honestly have no clue what kind of paint this is but a fellow member wrote, on a previous thread I made, that it's an enamel paint. The color is a candy color and was sprayed over a metallic silver base. So far i've rubbed on some testors paint thinner on a small area but did nothing to the paint. Afterwards, I tried Easy Off oven cleaner but had the same results as the paint thinner. Over the weekend I went out to buy some Purple Power degreaser which to my understanding is pretty much the same as Castrol Super Clean. I tried this on two model cars I have and it worked on the second car; however, the model painted with Kustom Kolor is still untouched. By the way, the second car was painted with Model Master's Light Ivory #2900 (enamel).

Does anyone know what kind of paint Kustom Kolor is?
And does anyone know what will remove the paint?

As always, thanks for taking some time to read my thread and replying to it.:)

Did you ever tried DOT3 brake fluid...? :frown:

that apart, maybe sulfuric acid ?? :evillol:

Sorry, seriously I don't know what kind of paint this is, and what would work if brake fluid don't.


Phil

Your paint is probably a lacquer (or an acrylic enamel), it resists easy-off oven cleaner, alcohol, mineral spirits (testors thinner). One thing you did not mention, did you apply a primer first? If you did not, there is a good chance that the basecoat has etched into the plastic, and chances to remove the paint are very thin. Usually Castrol super clean or brake fluid get rid of the paint by seeping under the base coat, dissolving the primer, and finally lifting the paint layer in whole chunks.

You can try nail polish remover, the kind WITHOUT ACETONE (or else it will dissolve the plastic right away!); rub it on using a tooth brush for a few minutes and check if it starts dissolving by wiping the paint. Do not let the body sit in the remover overnight, it might soften the plastic after a few hours (some plastics are more sensitive than others)

This is part of why I never paint a model with a product in which the words 'custom' or 'colour' are spelled with a 'K'. :disappoin If they can't even spell, god only knows what they're putting in their paint! :uhoh:

The next step to try is alcohol. Get yourself some 99% isopropyl (from the grocery store) or denatured (from the local hardware store paint section).

CSC/Purple Power is terrific for acrylics and enamels, but it doesn't do much on laquers. Enamel thinner will also attack enamels (and styrene! :uhoh:), but generally doesn't effect laquers. Alcohol works very well on laquers.

Polly S "Easy Lift Off" is what you need. It can be found in well stocked hobby shops or online.

HA! MPWR, I've seen you type that before on some other thread, and im sorta with you on that. But now-a-days everyone's trying to be creative with their words. How many products have we seen written as "xtreme" instead of "extreme", or flipping their R's around. Everyone's trying to get creative with their products names to catch our attention.

Anyway, I was trying to avoid Dot 3 because of the higher risk i've read of damaging the model, but it looks like im going to have to give it a shot. Now you apply and rub with a brush. Is that correct? Im going to have to go back and search how to do this with brake fluid to avoid damaging the car. By the way, do brake fluids and alcohol damage putty cause my chassis has more than plenty of it.

I did apply a primer. I went about painting this model according to the recommendations "C"ustom "C"olor suggests we do to get the best results. I applied their silver primer followed by the kandy lime gold base coat paint. The silver primer looked like clear coat mixed with tiny silver flakes. It only started looking like silver after about the third or fourth coat.

If Dot 3 doesnt work I have a feeling alcohol wont either but ill still give it a shot. If that doesnt work I'm affraid i AM going to have to try some acid.

Anyway, I was trying to avoid Dot 3 because of the higher risk i've read of damaging the model, but it looks like im going to have to give it a shot. Now you apply and rub with a brush. Is that correct? Im going to have to go back and search how to do this with brake fluid to avoid damaging the car. By the way, do brake fluids and alcohol damage putty cause my chassis has more than plenty of it.

If Dot 3 doesnt work I have a feeling alcohol wont either but ill still give it a shot. If that doesnt work I'm affraid i AM going to have to try some acid.

Soak for a few hours then scrub, if it doesn't smear off then you need more time. I normally leave it alone for at least 4 hours before I touch it. The tooth brush is mainly for getting into panel lines and hard to reach places. If you're worried about harming the plastic then just soak some sprue or what-ever to test... I normally let it 'test soak' for at least 24 hours.
Brake fluid will for SURE take off your putty. Alcohol may or may not.. may 10% may not 90%.

I would go alcohol first before brake fluid in your case since you have a lot of putty work.

HTH,
Steve

This is part of why I never paint a model with a product in which the words 'custom' or 'colour' are spelled with a 'K'. :disappoin If they can't even spell, god only knows what they're putting in their paint! :uhoh:
:rofl:

You tried Klutz Kustom Karpets though ;)

Anyway, I was trying to avoid Dot 3 because of the higher risk i've read of damaging the model, but it looks like im going to have to give it a shot. Now you apply and rub with a brush. Is that correct? Im going to have to go back and search how to do this with brake fluid to avoid damaging the car. By the way, do brake fluids and alcohol damage putty cause my chassis has more than plenty of it.
Try the alcohol first- it's safer and will likely do the trick. But you will likely need to soak it in a covered container, possibly for a couple of hours (or even days). Incidentally, this is also the way to use CSC- just rubbing it on and scrubbing it off doesn't work except with acrylics. And you will definately want a closable container. I use reusable/disposable type food containers from the grocery store. Get as small stack of them- they're also great for safe storage of painted bodies.

http://www.glad.com/cms_images/lifestyleshot_containers.jpg Don't use them for strawberries after you strip paint, though. :grinno:


You tried Klutz Kustom Karpets though :wink:
True, but you haven't seen me cover a car body with it, now have you? :sly:

Update: I bought some 91% isopropyl alcohol and the parts have been sitting in it for about six and a half hours now. I just checked on it and the paint is still on. I rubbed it with my fingernail and a small amount of paint came off. However, I had to rub pretty hard to get the paint off the hood. I forgot I cut my finger somewhere yesterday and dipped it in the alcohol to get the parts. Bad move:crying:

99% would have been more effective....

But it sounds like the 91% is working on the paint. Give it a day or so and you may have to do some scrubbing, but it should come clean.

i went to a few places before I bought the bottle of alcohol. The highest percentage I was able to find was 91%. After that, the highest was 70%. Where could you get something higher than 91%?

It's been sitting for about a day and a half now and its still a bit hard to scrub off, but it will come off. Right now I'm thinking about what I could use to scrub the paint off without doing damage to the model cause I think its only going to loosen it up enough for me to scrub the paint off.

I use an old toothbrush for this.

Ya, the one I have is a bit too soft. I need to find something with harder bristles but that wont do much, if any, damage to the plastic.

i went to a few places before I bought the bottle of alcohol. The highest percentage I was able to find was 91%. After that, the highest was 70%. Where could you get something higher than 91%?
Drug stores should sell 'medical use' alcohol, I'm not sure how it's named outside of Taiwan, so all I can do is translate... the medical grade is 95%..
For me, finding 95%+ was a hassle but I found 99% in a chemistry supply store.. It's often used in fragrance oil and cosmetics. Strange thing though, the rubbing pads (sterilising pads?) that have 70% IPA work faster than the 99% IPA that I bought.

Ya, the one I have is a bit too soft. I need to find something with harder bristles but that wont do much, if any, damage to the plastic.
I use a stiff new toothbrush (eh.. cheap one that I took from a motel:evillol: ), the scratches that are left get smoothed out when the new coat of primer goes on.

Here's what happened so far:

I pulled the chassis part of the model out of the alcohol and started scrubbing with a hard bristled brush (seen behind the model.) It sort of worked but as I scrubbed I noticed the putty was peeling off. Some of it did come out, some peeled off and remained loose, and some stayed onto the model. Im not sure if it was the brush or me leaving the model soaking in the alcohol for too long a time. The red circled areas were where the putty either came off or got loose. Im going to have to do it over again. What the h*ll, I dont care anymore. I just want to get back to painting this model as soon as possible. Here's a picture of the chassis painted and after I scrubbed on it with the brush.

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/353039chassis.jpg
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/353039media1-med.jpg

I ended up rubbing this piece of metal against the chassis and a lot of the paint came off without damaging the plastic one bit. Im going to keep using it.

The color is nice but this was what I was actually going for:
http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/502/353039Kandy_Lime_Gold_sample-med.jpg

Pardon the poor quality of the pictures. They were taken with the only camera I own, my cellphone.

If its the big brush behind your model in the second pic, I was say the bristles are too stiff. Another possibility is that you are scrubbing too hard. I noticed that in the same pic, the putty is falling off on the corners. This could be due to 3 factors: 1. The putty's hold was desolved by the alcohol. 2.The putty didn't bite into the styrene enough. 3.You were using too stiff a brush or you were scrubbing too hard.

Could you post a pic showing the peice of metal?

I think it's your first and third theory's cyberkid. I left the model in the alcohol for almost 2 days straight, and the trunk and hood are still in the alcohol right this moment. Then the stiff bristles pulled the putty off.