stripping paint

[gtidude]

ok i know we use brake fluid to strip paint,

question 1:
how long do you leave it in the brake fluid?

question 2:
is oven cleaner a better alternative to brake fluid?

my experience:
i left some parts in the fluid for about a day, once removed, the revell parts was ok, and cleaned
but the tamiya wheels was all brittle and broke in my hand.

advice please guys

thanx

[jano11]

Use high grade Isopropyl Alcohol (also known as Isopropanol or IPA), you can leave the parts in it for weeks if you wish as it doesn't attack plastic, but a couple of days should be enough.

[tonioseven]

I agree. Alcohol won't cause the brittleness that brake fluid can cause.

[gtidude]

will alcohol affect clear parts?
can i strip paint off resin parts with alcohol?

[jano11]

Originally Posted by gtidude

will alcohol affect clear parts?

No.

Originally Posted by gtidude

can i strip paint off resin parts with alcohol?

I never tried, I suppose you can.
I will throw a resin part into my alcohol bath and see what happens by next week.

[griffin-gt40]

I recommend Castro Super Clean. I've used it on any model I've stripped and never had it damage plastic or resin. I cant comment its effects on clear plastic as I've not had to use it on clear yet. It is also great for stripping chrome plating off of plastic too. Here's a shot of my Panoz LMP that spent about a week in CSC. The paint on it had been on there for about 5yrs.



The resin looks abit "dirty" cause my batch of CSC is pretty old and it took abit longer then normal to strip the paint. Otherwise no adverse effects what so ever.

David

[MPWR]

Originally Posted by gtidude

ok i know we use brake fluid to strip paint,

I wonder why it is that people think that brake fluid is a particularly good paint stripper. You can also use gasoline, or lacquer thinner- or even fire.

But if reusing the plastic part is a priority, you might consider something that is actually safe to use on plastic. Isopropyl alcohol or CSC (or Simple Green or similar) are excellent options.

[gtidude]

Jano11 thanx, i'll await your testing.

griffin-gt40: wow thanx im gonna try it. even thou you resin looks abit dirty, its pretty clean of paint. nice one.

MPWR: im gonna give the fire option a try, lol

[Jordypop]

MICROWAVE lol jk don't do it kids~~

[MPWR]

Originally Posted by gtidude

MPWR: im gonna give the fire option a try, lol

It might just be safe for diecasts.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Brake fluid...it will work, but it's something that should be wiped onto the model sparingly...it doesn't take much. Wipe it on, make sure it's covering the paint...do not immerse parts in it, and put it into a closed container (plastic container or ziplock bag). Same goes for Polly S Easy Lift Off (which seems much like brake fluid...)

[drunken monkey]

Originally Posted by MPWR

I wonder why it is that people think that brake fluid is a particularly good paint stripper.

I was always under the impression that brake fluid cleaner is a good (safe) paint stripper, not brake fluid itself.

[ales]

Originally Posted by drunken monkey

I was always under the impression that brake fluid cleaner is a good (safe) paint stripper, not brake fluid itself.

Actually brake cleaner should nicely and cleanly destroy the parts

Seriously, it will

As for why brake fluid is used so often, Andy, it's because in some parts of the world we really cannot get our hands on better yet inexpensive alternatives. Castrol Super Clean is not available for me, and for medical alcohol you need a prescription from the doctor... So as far as I'm concerned it's either brake fluid or oven cleaner and believe it or not brake fluid is easier and cleaner for me to use.

Yes, it's not environmentally friendly but I can use the same batch for many many months. It also can make certain plastic brittle yet the only time I had real problems with it was when I stripped the car body something like 7 times. At that point it just fell into 5 pieces in my hands, but that's still an extreme example.

[drunken monkey]

Originally Posted by ales

Actually brake cleaner should nicely and cleanly destroy the parts

oops.
I should add though that I've never had the urge to strip lacquers off a body and when I do remove regular , from the bottle (X, XF) acrylic from parts, I use spray on kitchen cleaner
i.e Cilit Bang.

[Jordypop]

So i was curios myself on how to safely strip plastic parts, and as i am on a very tight budget brake fluid and Castrol are a little out of my price range, but i had a left over bottle of 70% Isa-propyl alcohol so i tried that. Worked Great for the first two layers i had on the body(only soaked for about 30mins and the paint came right off) but the last layer on the body (about 2 yrs old) needed a little more time so i actually went out and bought 99% alcohol and my parts have been sitting in there for about 24 hours now and i have about 95% of the paint stripped. The bonus is (and im unsure about the other methods) The alcohol doesn't touch the glue joints so i don't have to worry about the engine block coming apart on me

Lucky where i live you can readily buy 99% alcohol from the local dollar store.... BONUS lol
2 500ml bottle = $2.15
Reused an Old Oral-B Electric toothbrush(the orbiting head makes the striping a little easier IMO)

I still haven't tried it on clear parts yet though

Now my question is does anyone know a safe way to strip Glue off?!