Paint stripper

[panzergator]

Paint stripping is a subject that has come up from time to time on this forum. I have used acetone, yellow Pinesol, Simple Green, several paintstrippers sold in the paint section at Home Depot. I was hoping to find something less hazardous than acetone, which is flammable and needs good ventilation. Some of the other stuff I tried was flammable or toxic, as well. NOTHING has come close to LA' Totally Awesome Cleaner, Degreaser, etc to removing the paint on my minis. It has been mentioned by someone previously, and I searched high and low in all the Dollar Stores and similar in the area, with no luck.

I found it in the cleaning supply section of HOME DEPOT.

My current stripping batch has soaked in Simple Green and yellow Pinesol. They were still going to require a wire brush. After soaking for a week in LA's Totally Awesome, they are clean as a whistle. I just have to rinse and dry them off and they will be ready for the paint shop. Very impressive. No wire brush required. I don't know what paint was used, as this group was acquired second hand from several sources through Chris Stockton, but there was some variety.

If you have paint stripping to do, this seems to be the stuff.

[Hoth_902]

panzer,

To be clear, because I have a few vehicles I want to strip and repaint, its called "LA' Totally Awesome Cleaner, Degreaser"?

[Hoth_902]

scratch that, I looked it up on the internet and found it using those words. I will go out and get some for a test. Thanks for the review.

[ww2navyguy]

Quick questions using LA's Totally Awesome Cleaner. 1. Do you have to let it sit for a week to remove acrylic paints? 2. Did you use the full concentrated product (label says to dilute it)? 3. Do you have to use glass container or is plastic container OK? 4. Did you just rinse with water and let the GHQ model airdry...or did you have to clean it with soap before repainting the model? 5. How do you dispose of the cleaner product after use? Is it OK to pour it down the drain?

I've never stripped paint off of my models, so this would be a first for me. Thanks for any help.

Great post!

[panzergator]

I used a stainless steel baking tray de enough that the units were covered. I let mine sit for at least a week. I rinsed the stuff. I put some more in and let it sit for another week. Rinsed again. Still have to use a brush on a lot of it.

BUT! I bought the units used, so I don't know what kind of paint it was. On some enameled units that I painted, the paint came right off.

I did not dilute it. It shoukd be ok to pour it down the drain, particlarly if you dilute it. It is intended fir that kind of use. I, however, have an AEROBIC septic tank, so I don't dump anything like that, or Clorox, or anything with bleach, down the drain, or I will kill the little critters that gobbke the solids up in the tank.

Everything seems pretty unpredictable.

I think acetone is about the only thing that works well, but it has hazards of its own.

I'm still looking.

Chris uses brake cleaner.

[BurtWolf]

Good stuff, thanks Panzer!
I’ve always used simple green and had pretty good luck with it. But I’m at the point where I want to repaint some of my original minis so I may try this out.
Good post again thanks.

[panzergator]

I wish I had a good solution, Folks. I've used yellow Pinesol, the LA stuff, acetone, stripper, and Simple Green. NOTHING seems to melt it off easily. Maybe we need a good micro sandblaster. See if the replicator has one on file.

I have let my stuff sit in each method until the liquid EVAPORATED, rinsed it off, and it still needed lotsa work.

Good luck.

[chrisswim]

I use carburetor cleaner with a basket in the canister.

[Hoth_902]

I've used simply green with great success. I soak for 3 to 5 days. The paint seems to rub off. Now for any that remained, I use a toothbrush. For any remaining, soak again for a day or more, then repeat. I had a stryker mortar carrier that had some stuff in the cracks. Just took a needle or a point of an exacto knife to pick that out. The longer you leave it in, the more likely that glued pits will come off. I have had the pewter turn a dark grey a few times. Still painted up nice.

[STS]

I've bought an ultrasonic cleaner a while ago, and so far that's been the best solution for me. After a 15-20 minutes in the bath, 90% of the paint is gone, the rest usually falls off when rinsing it with water. The only thing that has resisted so far were models with really heavy layers of varnish.

It's definately an expensive option, but since I can use it for most of my other hobbies as well (classic car, motorcycle, slotcars), it's been worth it.

[redleg]

I tried my wife's jewelry cleaner once - the ultrasonic bath like STS mentioned - but she found my tanks siting in it in some nasty green-tinged water and I got a pretty severe beating.

[nashorn88]

I tried my wife's jewelry cleaner once - the ultrasonic bath like STS mentioned - but she found my tanks siting in it in some nasty green-tinged water and I got a pretty severe beating.

[panzergator]

At least it isn't about stripping painters...