How can you strip paint from an old shell

[Adam F]

Anyone know what chemical to use to strip off old paint?

I have a pretty rare lexan shell & wing I want to get back to clear, but have never removed paint before...

[K-Brewer]

Soak it in brake fluid dot 4 an use a tooth brush to scrap it off

[DCM]

Anything you use to get the paint off is going to make the polycarbonate either brittle, cloudy or crack.

[Carlevo5]

I used de solve it graffiti remover
Safe on polycarbonate
Bought from Screwfix
About a fiver for a litre
Not good for metallic paint tho but brill for all others

[Midden]

I use nitrofuel, works great

[Naushad]

Tamiya polycarbonate paint remover but you'll need a few bottles and some elbow grease

[FERRETTI]

Check out this thread where I successfully removed paint from an old RC10 Viper body using nitro fuel with no apparent issues

http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=9862

[Carlevo5]

I find nitro fuel and brake fluid both make polycarbonate go cloudy
Never had better results than this de solve it
Plus it states polycarbonate safe on the bottle
Great stuff

[fakiee]

I've had mixed results with this, some paints have come straight off, while others have been more stubborn.

Repeated and prolonged use with this stuff will eventually lead the lexan to go brittle and break!

Have you checked ebay for TBG shells?

[kjrell]

If you're able to find it in UK you can use this:


Only the green bottle works, not the other one

It does not harm lexan, and does not become milky or brittle

[Karting]

I used white spirt on my 'Phat Bodies' made shell and it came straight off and didnt make the lexan cloudy afterwards either

[turbo scorpion]

Originally Posted by x313

Anyone know what chemical to use to strip off old paint?

I have a pretty rare lexan shell & wing I want to get back to clear, but have never removed paint before...

I used brake fluid, worked well.

[terry.sc]

Been there, done that with plenty of vintage bodies and it's hard to find something guaranteed to take off the paint and not damage the body.

The only stuff I've found that's more or less safe is nitro fuel, but it can still react a little with some bodies and usually isn't that good at removing the paint so take a lot of work.

The one thing I would avoid is brake fluid, I have never known a body I have used it on have no damage. An example, I painted a bike fairing for a 1/5th bike, made a mistake so used brake fluid to strip the area so I could repaint. Wiped on and rubbed, then immediately washed off and cleaned so I could repaint it. Body didn't cloud over, but it was made brittle and cracked in the treated area after a meeting. Shoe gooed together, the rest of the fairing lasted the whole season without cracking.

I have tried 'polycarbonate safe' paint and graffiti removers on various bodies. Any of them will work on some bodies but will also attack others, and there isn't any consistency to it so some will work okay on one body while another will attack it, while they would work the other way round on other bodies. The De-Solv-It remover looked good for just about anything until it attacked a vintage Losi shell.

Delta Activator and Eliminator. Which you use depends on what the paint is, so a bit of trial and error. Bodies can be left soaking in it without any damage.

Many recommend Carson Paint Killer. Lots of people have had good results with it but I've never tried it.

Whatever you choose, with a rare vintage body make sure you test on a small area first.

[isobarik]

Originally Posted by Midden

I use nitrofuel, works great

Wow midden 2 posts you are a really busy guy ....

mvh Isobarik