Made a body booboo, any tips on how to fix?

[AndyjcClod]

I was carefully painting a polycarbonate\lexan body last night and then disaster struck and I spilt some PS paint on the body!  :/

So now I have two big splats of tamiya red ps2 paint on the inside of what was going to be a nice looking body.

Does anyone have any tips on if this is even possible to remove without wrecking the body even further?

In the past I tried paint thinner on a body and it made the plastic go matt white.

If not I guess this will have to become a bashing body! 

[Static Age]

Works very well. I've never found it for sale in the UK though. 

[WillyChang]

If you want to go buy stuff... buy a bottle of Polycarbonate Body Cleaner, it'll take off PS booboos.

 

You didn't say where you've spilt PS2. 

If it's onto somewhere you're wanting to paint a different colour... just let it dry then sand it off. Use fine sandpaper 240-800grit; don't worry about the scuffs it'll disappear once you paint over it.

if it's over somewhere you want to keep clear, purple bottle is best. Second best is use a MagicSponge and start scrubbing... but it's fair work & proably still scuffs. Either wax it or paint over with clear varnish or PS31. 

[TurnipJF]

Another product worth using is de-solv-it graffiti remover. Spray it on the affected area, leave it for about half an hour, then wipe/rinse it off along with the paint. Thick splats might need repeat applications, but I helped a mate strip an entire shell using the stuff and it worked superbly, leaving no marks and not attacking the Lexan at all.

 

B&Q sell it.

[AndyjcClod]

Superb thanks peeps, I have just ordered some of the polycarbonate body cleaner from "feebay"

I spilt the red on the back of the car (when I was planning on painting white) I think I will need to readust my colour plan on this one!    :/

[mr crispy]

The polycarbonate cleaner needs some patience but gets good results. I've never had the guts to try the sanding method 😬

Of course it could be fate telling you to paint the car red😉

[iluvmud]

52 minutes ago, mr crispy said:

The polycarbonate cleaner needs some patience but gets good results. I've never had the guts to try the sanding method 😬

Of course it could be fate telling you to paint the car red😉

Is one bottle enough to do a whole mini body?? I have a mint M01 mini body that has a horrible paint job on it and I was hoping I could save it..... unless anyone k ones where to score a nib one.

[67CamaroSS]

Nitro fuel will also work.  Just soak a cloth or paper towel with it and keep rubbing.  It will take the paint off and wont haze the body. . Then just go over that area with a de-greaser and you can paint.  I do it a lot when I get overspray or too much bleeding.  I dont run nitro anymore but  have a bottle of fuel that has to be 10 years old and still works fine to remove paint.  I also use it to clean my brushes when I use PC paint.

 

I once did a whole 969 Body with this method, you can see results here

http://tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=1193&id=135

 

 

[mr crispy]

17 hours ago, iluvmud said:

Is one bottle enough to do a whole mini body?? I have a mint M01 mini body that has a horrible paint job on it and I was hoping I could save it..... unless anyone k ones where to score a nib one.

I guess it depends how much paint is on it. I've never used it to clean a whole bodyshell. 

[M 800STD]

I also need to remove paint from pretty much the whole shell.  Have seen on Tube people using brake cleaner.

So has anyone tried this or could comment on this method?

Just looking for a method that would yield the best results.

[67CamaroSS]

While I can only attest to Nitro Fuel, this guy makes the brake fluid method seem easy.

 

 

[M 800STD]

After watching that, I saw a few more and it would appear that high nitro content fuel works best.  The only other comment is that they all turn the polycarbonate translucent.

Does the Tamiya solution have the same clouding effect?

[67CamaroSS]

I used 20% nitro and it left no haze.

[WillyChang]

Caustic salts & brakefluid that make lexan cloudy is no good... because afterwards the lexan becomes very brittle.

Never bothered trying nitro fuel because none of my nitro shells have lost their paint  they're mostly PS.

Purple bottle leaves the lexan pretty clear, clear enough for "windows". Here, see for yourself - this canopy came painted black:-

Start scrubbing...

much later...

 

Dont be expecting you wipe it on & the paint just falls off, noooooo.... it's many many long hours of scrubbing like polishing it off. (Sanding would've been quicker, if it weren't need to keep lexan crystal clear)

Use a soft cloth moistened with the fluid, that's best way. Have tried soaking painted surface in fluid, scrubbing with toothbrush etc... nup, doesn't clean faster. 

Once you know what you're doing 1 bottle & 2 tshirts should do that whole shell (buggy/openwheeler). Touring car probably need 2. 

I'd run out of patience long before that though 

[TurnipJF]

The Tamiya polycarbonate cleaner sounds like it is designed for the gentle precision removal of small areas of paint, rather than the rapid stripping of a whole shell. Although of course you can use it in this manner if you have the time and patience.

 

The de-solv-it graffiti remover on the other hand seems a better bet if large areas need to be stripped quickly and easily without marking or weakening the polycarbonate.

 

[WillyChang]

56 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

The Tamiya polycarbonate cleaner sounds like it is designed for the gentle precision removal of small areas of paint, rather than the rapid stripping of a whole shell. Although of course you can use it in this manner if you have the time and patience.

Supposedly, at the time it was intro'd, the jap blurb said its meant for removing PS overspray (on outside of bodies with no film) and also prepaint prep degreasing the inside.

Possibly that's why it's sold in such tiny bottles for ridiculous high price  instead of great big jerrycan. Costs more per dram than a good singlemalt...

There was another product in the past "E.L.O" by Humbrol? Testors? Haven't seen it for a while though, dunno if it's still made.

We've lost access to a lot of modelling tools due to OH&S and VOC regulations; also declining retail purchase volumes. Before Xmas I tried going LHSes looking for motorspray... dammit they don't sell it anymore, the kiddies behind counter barely knew what it was.  Huh?!

[M 800STD]

, I know I don't have the patience for T Body Cleaner.

[WillyChang]

23 minutes ago, M 800STD said:

, I know I don't have the patience for T Body Cleaner.

It's like, this one time, when I decided to polish this panel of brushed aluminium until it had a mirror shine! By hand, no power tools  did it once, never again

Was worth expending elbow grease on that original Avante shell though... love the "Spacetech Engineering" 

[Fuijo]

19 hours ago, WillyChang said:

Costs more per dram than a good singlemalt...

That's not really comparing like with like though is it? Unless Polycarbonate Body Cleaner is what you Aussies call a decent drink down there.

After getting used to using it I wouldn't even consider beginning work on a PC bodyshell without having some on standby.

I'm not sure I'd have the patience to strip a whole shell with it though, unless it was very rare and expensive.

[WillyChang]

2 minutes ago, Fuijo said:

That's not really comparing like with like though is it? Unless Polycarbonate Body Cleaner is what you Aussies call a decent drink down there.

Wouldn't know  nothing interesting found at bottleshop these days, everything that I did like before has since been discontinued or reformulated. 

Homer S might use it as a mixer 

[iluvmud]

Not sure if anyone has seen this stuff yet......... but this is what I'll be using to do my original Mini cooper body and the over spray of my stadium blitzer body too!

which apparently is the US version of

I hope.........

[M 800STD]

@iluvmud

Hi, any chance you can post pic of the solution ingredients please?

@WillyChang

Hi, can you do the same please?

[WillyChang]

9 hours ago, iluvmud said:

Not sure if anyone has seen this stuff yet......... but this is what I'll be using to do my original Mini cooper body and the over spray of my stadium blitzer body too!

which apparently is the US version of

I hope.........

Nah afaik the Paint Remover is for cleaning your airbrush.

X20A is Thinner for Acrylic Paints of the X/XF range, is been around for 30odd years. X paint can be cleaned up with water so the Thinner is barely stronger than a vodka & soda 

Go back thru the archives & you'll find we all scratched our pates for decades how to remove PS paint, various solvents tried were either too weak & did nothing or too strong & destroyed lexan - until T released their miraculous little purple bottle.

[WillyChang]

8 hours ago, M 800STD said:

@iluvmud

Hi, any chance you can post pic of the solution ingredients please?

@WillyChang

Hi, can you do the same please?

Have never seen MSDS from T.

(not that I've actively looked. But hey )

 

[Dojo Dave]

X20 won't do you much good on poly paint there mud sorry.