removing enamel paint in Australia

[Allan]

what do you use to remove enamel paint from a model in Australia?...I've bought some Mr Muscle oven cleaner, but it's not cutting the mustard as it looks like fluffy whipped cream and has no odour at all...doesn't shift the paint one iota...and I've had my plane bathing in a mixture of brake fluid and water for days and that's not coming to the party either...so whatta you use?...something from Woolies or Bunnings?
Allan

[loupgarou]

Hi Allan,
I am from the other side of the world, so brand names woldn't be helpful.
When I was using brake fluid to remove paint, I used it straight, not diluted with water. I stopped using it as it did fragilize some plastics.
Besides oven cleaners, try also the products used for freeing clogged up drains. Check the label, the higher the content in sodium hydroxide, the better.
Pure sodium hydroxide used to be sold freely, but I am afraid no more.

[Dizzyfugu]

Oven cleaner foam works, but needs time to creep into and under the pigments. It does not work in one or two hours, you have to give the stuff time. I usually place the part I want to clean in a shallow glass bowl onto a foam bed and then cover the parts with another layer. Then I put the bowl ina place with no wind gusts and let the foam do its work for several days, normally a week, before I clean and check the parts, rinsing them under water and with a brass brush. I usually get rid of 80-90% of the old paint, sometimes another turn in the foam is necessary, you never get the parts 100% clean. But I am amazed how good the oven cleaner works, and it does not dry out the styrene like brake fluid. The latter is more effective and aggressive, but that also takes several days, and it is messy. And it makes typical model styrene brittle, recommended only for really tough or desperate cases.

[zenrat]

I use neat brake fluid (Repco will sell it to you in 4litre containers) but as others point out above over time it will leach out the plasticisers and leave the styrene brittle.

Try a good strong solution of caustic soda.  You can get Caustic Soda crystals at Bunnings in the cleaning aisle.
You will also need some chemical resistant gloves and (if you are feeling safety conscious) goggles.
When scrubbing wear an apron and clothes you don't mind getting pin holes in.
Mix your solution in something like a plastic ice cream tub or tupperware.  Do not use a metal container.
Put crystals into the water not the other way round.  You might want to read the instructions on the caustic container regarding ratios but I ignore these and put about 125g into a litre of water.
Stir it with a stick and do not put any plastic parts into it until it has cooled.  Cooled?  Yes cooled - the dissolving is an exothermic reaction and the solution can get hot enough to warp plastic.  Don't ask me how I know this.
Scrape come of the paint off to give the solution a start and then place you parts into the container.
Come back to it occasionally and poke it with the stirring stick and then when the paint starts to come off you can scrub at it with a toothbrush.  This is the bit where it sprays over your clothes and put pinholes in them.
When you've finished with the solution pour it through a sieve (best not to use the one from the kitchen though) and keep the cleaned liquid as it can be used again and again.
If you build model cars it is particularly efficient at stripping plated parts (although you have to leave them in for a while after the shiny metal look vanishes in order to remove the lacquer undercoat).

[McColm]

Soda crystals are good for stripping chrome parts as well.

[Dizzyfugu]

AFAIK, the oven cleaner foam is soda-based, too, but rather mild. Here in Germany the cans also carry the warning "Not to use on painted/lacquered surfaces". Rightly.

[zenrat]

I like to get the solution so strong that crystals have been known to start forming on parts.
Oven cleaner has noting in comparison.
I once soaked a bird skull to remove any lingering residue from the bone so I could include it in a build.  I left it too long and it dissolved.

[Allan]

that caustic soda method sounds positively frightful even if it is successful, so timid ol' Allan will once more reach for the Mr Muscle oven cleaner, fill a container of some sort generously with the cleaner, place my 109 on top and then slather some more of the white stuff over it, then sit back for a few days to see what happens...will report back

[zenrat]

that caustic soda method sounds positively frightful even if it is successful, so timid ol' Allan will once more reach for the Mr Muscle oven cleaner, fill a container of some sort generously with the cleaner, place my 109 on top and then slather some more of the white stuff over it, then sit back for a few days to see what happens...will report back

Wuss.   

Sanding or scraping paint off in a few areas to give the oven cleaner a start will help.

[Allan]

Wuss??!!!!!
Guilty, m'lud!
Allan