Removing paint

[Beverley[TK]]

Hi Troops,

 

I'm just finishing off my AP kit, and I'm not happy with the vocoder. I have gone around the edges off it with a white Humbrol paint, to try and neaten it up, but it dried beige :/

 

I just want to strip it off and start again - what is the best thing to remove Humbrol enamel paint, with out destroying the ABS?

 

Thanks!

[SolderMaster]

I have found that Goo Gone works pretty well and does not harn the armor.

[kecro]

I had a paint mess up on my helmet as well and used a cotton ball with a little finger nail polish remover. I had very lightly dabbed some on at a time and gently rubbed it off. If its shinny abs the clear will come off but i have put wax on my helmet to give it a shine.

If I dont tell people that happened they dont even notice.

[Beverley[TK]]

I have found that Goo Gone works pretty well and does not harn the armor.

 

I'm in Australia, and as far as I can tell by doing a heap of product searches - we don't have it here Is there something similar? Thanks.

[DarkTrooper[TK]]

I wonder if anyone will confess to "messing up" with painting their armor/helmets and say "Darn it, I'll just cover my mistake with some weathering and be a sandtrooper instead"

[jamez1965]

If Humbrol is anything like Testors, paint thinner/brush cleaner from a hobby store should take it right off.

[TK bondservnt[501st]]

you have to be careful with paint thinners that have solvents in them... it can melt the plastic.

 

you can wetsand the paint off slightly with 1200 grit, then polish the area with novus 3 then 2

 

then you can wash with dish soap and water.

 

after dry, paint again by drawing with a pencil until you get the lines the way you want them.

 

use a round modeling brush to finish it off. satin or flat black works best for me.

[Outer Rim Tim]

I wonder if anyone will confess to "messing up" with painting their armor/helmets and say "Darn it, I'll just cover my mistake with some weathering and be a sandtrooper instead"

 

I am a bit disappointed with how my bucket came out, and I am debating this very thing right now.  

[FunkyTrigger[TK]]

Humbrol paint once dried can come off or be edge tidied up like this.

 

Once dried you can rub off smudges or tidy up edge detail with a blunt toothpick. Rubbing the edges or bleeds of paint with wood seems to be enough to remove it.

This is useful round a vocoder edge or on tube stripes.

 

The humbrol brush cleaner can be used to remove larger dried paint areas.

Go lightly and expect to do it a couple of times.

For example, add some brush thinners to a cotton wool ball and wipe over the paint. This will soften, penetrate and remove a layer at a time, then you can go back for the next layer.

 

As Vern mentioned, if you go like an animal at paint removal in one go, or with too much thinners at a time or too much on the Plastic for too long then you can run the risk of softening the plastic and hence causing damage.

 

I have successfully totally removed tube stripes to start again using the above method.

[bigtrev503]

I wonder if anyone will confess to "messing up" with painting their armor/helmets and say "Darn it, I'll just cover my mistake with some weathering and be a sandtrooper instead"

 

 

I often wonder if this is the sole reason anyone goes sandy. "whoops, my blade slipped. Looks like I have to be a sandtrooper now."