Removing Paint from Clear Parts

Mossie · May 13, 2009, 02:37:54 AM

Does anyone have any tips for removing paint from canopies? I masked up a canopy nicely, only for the Maskol to tear in a few parts & leave several dots of paint over the surface.

It was painted using a single layer of Halfords Grey Primer. I've used Fairy Power Spray, but it's not quite removed all of it. Is there anything else available in the UK that might shift the paint but not attack the clear surface?

Thanks!

Simon.

lancer · May 13, 2009, 08:39:17 AM

Halfords primer is the only thing Fairey power spray won't remove. I had to trash a sea Harrier a couple of years ago because of that.

Ed S · May 13, 2009, 08:57:21 AM

The other option (and it isn't any fun) is to lightly sand off the primer and then polish the canopy. I'd start with about 600 or 1000 grit and work up to at leat 5000 grit. Then polish it with plastic polish or toothpaste (the paste kind, not the gel). And finally, brush on some "Future" or "Klear" (same stuff, different names depending on where you get it).

Ed

sequoiaranger · May 13, 2009, 02:01:00 PM

You might try wooden toothpicks to get paint off. It usually is not hard enough to scratch the plastic, but can scrape paint off.

If you have a flat toothpick, carefully, with a razor knife, make a mini "chisel" out of it. It has worked for me!

The Rat · May 13, 2009, 05:17:32 PM

Quote from: Ed S on May 13, 2009, 08:57:21 AMThe other option (and it isn't any fun) is to lightly sand off the primer and then polish the canopy.

Been there, done that. A lot of work but you'll feel right proud of yourself when it's done.

Aircav · May 14, 2009, 12:14:25 AM

You could try Revell's airbrush cleaner, it seems to remove most types of paint and doesn't affect plastic, I've used it quite a lot

NARSES2 · May 14, 2009, 02:08:21 AM

Quote from: sequoiaranger on May 13, 2009, 02:01:00 PM
You might try wooden toothpicks to get paint off. It usually is not hard enough to scratch the plastic, but can scrape paint off.

If you have a flat toothpick, carefully, with a razor knife, make a mini "chisel" out of it. It has worked for me!

This does work if you have coated the canopy in Future/Clear first

Mossie · May 14, 2009, 02:37:13 AM

Thanks guys! I'll try the toothpick approach first, the canopy did have several coats of Klear first, so it might work. If not, I'll see if my LMS stocks Revell Airbrush Cleaner.

I have a few sanding sticks that might help, but probably won't result in a polished finish, it's about time I bought some polishing cloths from Little Cars I think.

I do seem to be very good at messing up canopies. For once, I'd actually masked this up quite nicely. The painted finish only needed to be a general grey, so I thought primer would do. I peeled off the masking & the lines were as good as I've ever got, just the Maskol gave me problems instead!

It does prove what I've been thinking for a while though, that a sprayed coat works much better than a painted one on canopies due to it being much thinner. So it's progress of a kind!

The Rat · May 14, 2009, 04:42:18 AM

I know that automotive brake fluid is a fairly good paint remover but I've never tried it on clear parts. Might be time for an experiment...

Ed S · May 14, 2009, 10:59:43 AM

Quote from: Mossie on May 14, 2009, 02:37:13 AM
Thanks guys! I'll try the toothpick approach first, the canopy did have several coats of Klear first, so it might work. If not, I'll see if my LMS stocks Revell Airbrush Cleaner.

If you have Klear under the paint, you might be able to remove the Klear with "Windex" or other similar ammonia basewindow cleaner. Put some on a "Q-tip" and rub it lightly over the affected area and see if the Klear lifts off with the paint. I'd try that before anything more drastic. If it works, you can just brush on some more Klear.

Ed

Mossie · May 18, 2009, 05:31:40 AM

I've tried the toothpicks, unfortunately it didn't budge it. Over the weekend I couldn't access the forum due to the maintainance & I couldn't remember what had been suggested, so I shrugged my shoulders & covered it with Klear. I'd tinted this yellow so I thought the splodges might not show up as well, it kind of did the trick. I'm going to have to remove it again because I've got it a bit thick in places, so I'll try some of the fixes again!

Cheers all!

Howard of Effingham · August 15, 2009, 01:58:35 AM

mossie! how did you ever get on with this one?

i try to tackle this problem by carefully scraping the paint off with a fresh scapel blade
and then cleaning things up with one of those sanding and polishing blocks.

t.

Mossie · August 15, 2009, 08:36:01 AM

Hi Trev, never did fully resolve it, like I mentioned, just put Klear on the top of it & hoped for the best. It was my F-15 Starscream Eggplane, I had a number of problems with masking the canopy. Part of it was the highly curved shape, strips had to be persuaded to stay flat then were liable to shift. In this pic you can see a few blemishes, those near the frame are down to masking problems, those elsewhere are mostly from the paint with a few dust particles joining the party. Not really obvious from the photo.

The other problem I had was the original tinting. I heard on other photos you could tint Klear with food colouring. Looked great, until it's first day on the shelf. The sunlight faded it completely. I expected it ove time as food colouring is susceptible to sunlight, but not in the first day! Went with Tamiya Clear in the the end, I had to re-mask of course so this exasperated some of the problems.

Barry Krell · August 31, 2009, 07:17:33 AM

Quote from: lancer on May 13, 2009, 08:39:17 AM
Halfords primer is the only thing Fairey power spray won't remove. I had to trash a sea Harrier a couple of years ago because of that.

You're wrong. I stripped a Spiteful last week and it removed everything down to the plastic, Halford's primer as well. Left long enough, it WILL remove Halford's Primer.