"removing paint from metal ships" Topic

What's your best method? I have some that need a scrub down to bare metal and complete repaint

Was there some mention of an oven cleaner product?

What kind of paint is on it?

I find that Simple Green or Pine Sol cleaners are both the best paint remover, and the SAFEST to work with.
A lot of Danger Men like to use Easy-Off Oven Cleaner(caustic lye) and Acetone.
You don't have to worry about skin burns or setting the kitchen on fire with Simple Green or Pine Sol. Just shriveled de-fatted skin cells, so wear rubber gloves.

Pinesol does indeed work great but the smell gets to me over time. Even when you wash the mini the piney scent hangs around for quite a bit. I am not sure if Simple Green has the same issue. I still use Pinesol and just deal with it.

hmm, I've tried Pinesol and I find it doesn't remove acrylic paint.

What is Simple Green?

Easy-Off and Acetone? A mixture of the two or either one or the other?

Simple Green is a "Green", bio-degradable cleaner. I got it in both Wal;Mart (raely) and at Lowe's.

I would NOT mix Easy-Off and acetone, unles you know your Organic Chemistry. I would not mix Easy-Off with anything.

Thanks. I didn't expect to mix them, but wanted to be sure that's what you were saying.

Man I soaked those figures in Pinesol for a week and the paint wouldn't come out of the crevices

Since I didn't find Pinesol effective can you tell me how Simple Green works?

Simple Green is a simple soak, better than Pine Sol.
Let it soak for a day or two, and then blast the figures with a spray, and brush with a soft toothbrush, wearing gloves.

Brake fluid is the next step up (or dwon), but I never got the hang of it.

I've heard of the brake fluid, but never used it.

I have some modifications done with plastic card, do you think the Simple Green will warp/melt the plastic?

Thanks for the info

It shouldn't affect the plastic card if the exposure isn't prolonged, but will definitely loosen any glue bonds, whether epoxt, cyaoacrylate or white glue.

I don't mind it loosening the glue bonds… except the last time my wife helpfully 'moved' some toys. Never found the fiddly bits again

So tomorrow I go to Lowes and look for Simple Green. Where is it located, what section?

Thanks again for the help

I cleaned off a large number of 1/6000 ships using Simple Green a few months ago with fine results. A 24 hour soaking followed by a quick scrub with an old toothbrush and a rinse in soapy water and they were in pristine condition.

Lowe's has whole aisle of cleaning supplies.

"tried Pinesol and I find it doesn't remove acrylic paint."

Wha? You have some bad Pinesol then.

I use Lacquer Thinner. Works like a charm, but only on metal as it eats plastic.

Sorry Cloudcaptain I used a lot of Pinesol and soaked it for days and it didn't remove all the paint, especially from the crevices. I suppose I could have used a pick or knife to remove the paint in there but…

I suppose I could have used a pick or knife to remove the paint in there but…

Sorry, but you have to do that with the remains of ALL paint striping regimes.
Sometimes, it;s just easier to buy new figures, or pretend that the paint job you want to strip is good enough.

I got some Simple Green today. It's much better than Pinesol. But I evidently have the most resilient paint in the hobby universe. 15 minutes? BAH! Scrubbing away with my toothbrush got me nowhere. After another half hour some of it came off. They've been in the bath for hours now, out for some scrubbing, back in for some more soaking. Some of the paint just won't come off, and I don't mean in crevices. Oh well, if enough goes away then I can reprime them and hope that I don't cover too much detail.

Thanks for all the help.

Oh and it didn't desolve the superglue bonds nor did it warp the plastic. Epoxy putty seems to withstand it and so does bondo. Plus the fumes are much more liveable than the Pinesol.