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junkmunki

Best paint striper for hard shells in the UK

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I know this subject has been touched on many times in the past, but most of the products sugested, aren't available in the UK. I have used the brake fluid method on lexan shells, and i also have some Expo modellers paint remover which is great, but i am tackling a really poor paint job on a recently aquired countach, and it just wont touch it.

It has been hand painted ( with a knife and fork i think...), but not knowing what the paint is, its proving a real problem. Are there any products available in the UK that might do the job? I would like to get the paint off without too much if any damage to the surface of the shell itself, as i will be spraying it and want a perfectly smooth finish.

I have heard nail varnish remover mentioned, any thoughts on the best hard shell stripers?

J

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De solv it graffiti remover. Quicker and easier than any other method. Safe on hard bodies and lexan.

Ive stripped a fair few bodies with one can. Takes about 10 mins rather than the hours that oven cleaner, nitro fuel or brake fluid take.

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watch this video from a chappy from the north of the uk and he messes up his truck cab and at around 3.20 you will see what he uses. this is not the first time he has used this on his cabs.

 

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Thats great, id never heard of this stuff before.

I just checked and my local B&Q store has it in stock.

Thanks for the info guys.

J

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B&Q do DeSolvit on line as a click and collect. Generally dont stock it in store. Failing that try Revell paint remover from hobby craft. Just be careful what you use as you dont want to melt the body. Nail varnish remover is acetone so be careful with it:unsure:

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A couple of years back i was removing the decals from an unpainted vintage shell that i was restoring, and was using Mr Sticky's acrylic thinners for Tamiya paint, to clean off the glue that was left behind. It was working ok, but there were a couple of bits that just would not shift, so i switched to Mr Sticky's brush enamel thinners. The glue came straight off..... unfortunatly so did the surface of the plastic shell! I literally wiped the cloth over the surface, and the thinners melted the plastic.

Big lesson learned there about the effects of chemical based solvents on plastic shells.

J

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13 minutes ago, topforcein said:

watch this video from a chappy from the north of the uk and he messes up his truck cab and at around 3.20 you will see what he uses. this is not the first time he has used this on his cabs.

 

That is the same stuff the other guys have mentioned, just in liquid for, not a spray can. Id never seen it before, but i have just reserved some for collection from my local store tomorrow.

Thanks guys.

J

J

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13 minutes ago, Problemchild said:

I’ve been recommended this stuff for cleaning bbqs

https://www.diy.com/departments/hg-bbq-grill-oven-cleaner-0-5l/136831_BQ.prd?ds_rl=1272379&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoKW0v_HT5gIVTLDtCh2o3QlHEAQYASABEgKH9fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

not got round to trying it but my mate who tried it did so on his vintage blazing blazer shell 

 

JJ

Ive used oven cleaners in the past, they do work.

De solv it though is purely designed to remove paint and designed not to harm plastic. It even says polycarbonate safe on the front of the can.

Its probably no better than oven cleaner at removing paint, bit its a fair bit quicker and less nasty.

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De solv it graffi remover (you can get it from B&Q) the stuff works so well. I am actually doing it to my King Hauler this week.

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7 hours ago, graemevw said:

Its probably no better than oven cleaner at removing paint, bit its a fair bit quicker and less nasty.

Caustic over cleaner spray makes lexan go brittle.

Brakefluid usually makes lexan go cloudy. 

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1 minute ago, WillyChang said:

Caustic over cleaner spray makes lexan go brittle.

Brakefluid usually makes lexan go cloudy. 

Yep, found that out the hard way years ago! I used to use nitro fuel on lexan, but de solv it works wonders!

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I usually get on fine with de-solv-it but I've had a couple of instances of a cloudy layer being left behind which is very difficult to remove.

In both cases, I think it may have been down to the paint. In one instance on a hard body, it was definitely gold plastikote that some fool had put on there and when I rinsed it off, a white residue was left. You could even see marks it had left on the underside as it drained out of holes in the truck bed, I hadn't applied any on the underside so it had been deposited there by the solution of de-solv-it/paint/water as it running out of the holes where the roll bar would have been.

Another instance was with a lexan shell and it definitely didn't seem to be suitable paint because it was brittle and cracked. This shell was also left with a white coating afterwards.

It's frustrating because the coating is just firm enough that it won't rub or polish off. It will scratch off with your fingernails but that would take forever of course. It also will not clean off with a further application of de-solv-it. 

It's definitely not the material itself clouding because like I say, it will rub off with some effort and also, an opaque black hard body would not go cloudy/hazy

I wonder if perhaps it's some kind of adhesive additive in some paints that the graffiti cleaner cannot break down but it dissolves all the other ingredients around it leaving it free to re-bond to the shell.

On the other hand, I've had mostly fantastic results from it! Quick and effective and leaves the lexan supple and crystal clear.

The only other thing I've observed is that some hard bodies seem to go a little soft and scratch prone just after treatment but seem to go back to normal after a couple of days. I can't say I've observed any ill effect from painting straight onto a softened body, though.

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Ive had similar white residue when using de solv it, but i think in my case it was just due to how i cleaned it off. If i rinse it off it may dry white (and cloudy if its lexan), but if once rinsed i immediately washed it with washing up liquid it dried clean. The residue which had been left was stubborn to get off, but another go with de solv it disolved it (😉) again. 

In my case it was just down to letting residue dry on the shell.

My terra scorcher shell did it as i thought just a rinse under water was enough to clean it all off. I panicked as i thought it had clouded the lexan and it wouldnt come off, but a little more desolvit and it went clear again.

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A big thanks to all who suggested the De-solv-it paint remover. I picked up a couple of cans and set to work with it.

It turns out that the shell had been painted blue before it had been painted red, so it took a few applications to get it all off, but im really happy with the result.

The results can be seen below. The first pic is with the modelling paint stripper which really didn't do a lot. The second is with the De-solv-it.

Cheers guys....

J

DSC_5622.JPG

DSC_5623.JPG

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On 12/27/2019 at 8:17 AM, graemevw said:

Ive had similar white residue when using de solv it, but i think in my case it was just due to how i cleaned it off. If i rinse it off it may dry white (and cloudy if its lexan), but if once rinsed i immediately washed it with washing up liquid it dried clean. The residue which had been left was stubborn to get off, but another go with de solv it disolved it (😉) again. 

In my case it was just down to letting residue dry on the shell.

My terra scorcher shell did it as i thought just a rinse under water was enough to clean it all off. I panicked as i thought it had clouded the lexan and it wouldnt come off, but a little more desolvit and it went clear again.

I think it's the same basic stuff, just that it doesn't always come off properly.

I was working on a shell earlier today, sprayed some de-solv-it on and fillowing someone else's advice, decided to be quite sparing, just rubbed it into the paint with a cotton pad, left it to do it's thing and the paint started coming off in big rubbery strips nice and easy. I managed to peel/rub 99% of it off easily with almost no effort and little residue. so far, So good! 

But then before I even rinsed it, I noticed some chalky white areas forming. I rinsed with soapy water and it was the same. I put some more de-solv-it on, left it again and rinsed and it was still there. I tried a cotton pad with de-solv-it on and rubbed in a circular motion which definitely helped and got rid of all the bright white parts but there is still clouding there. I dont think it will show up by the time it has been painted but you can definitely see that some parts are crystal clear and other parts not so much.

I've also noticed what looks like hundreds of micro fractures in the lexan in certain places when viewed at the right angle. I don't know if this is down to the de-solv-it it or the original paint etching into the surface slightly? 

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I found that desolvit can make lexan brittle. Best stuff for removing though. 

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I seem to get a different result every time I use it lol. I'm sure the paint used plays a big role as well as the material.

Sometimes it goes perfectly, my Tamiya Farm king was a good example. That shell came out crystal clear despite multiple treatments.

Some stuff is in between, I did a kyosho hi rider Corvette shell and it had different colours and I assume different types of paint and the quality of the end result varied across the sections with different paints.

It still remains the most effective stuff I've used overall though.

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1 hour ago, svenb said:

 

I found that desolvit can make lexan brittle. Best stuff for removing though.

 

Interesting @svenb - how long did you leave it on for ?

The only time that happened to me was after I didn’t rinse DeSolvIt quickly enough + the lexan clouded first 

1 hour ago, nowinaminute said:

I'm sure the paint used plays a big role as well as the material.

Absolutely @nowinaminute 

As does the original prep (a cracked, filled and scarred shell will hold v hard / micro dried paint in the troughs / composite) and layering (7 coats of modern primers through to lacquers is oddly way easier to lift than 3 cack handed passes turning 1980s rattle cans into sludge) 

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Ive left desolvit on lexan for hours and its never made it brittle. Ive had brake fluid make it brittle but thats another story.

 

It even says polycarbonate safe on the desolvit can.

 

I think ive done maybe 3 lexan bodies and a couple of hard bodies with desolvit with perfect results every time. 

I think there is maybe something in the thought that it may depend on the original paint to some extent.

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