Removing acrylic paint from resin

[mikec55]

Hello boys,

As you may have guessed from the title, I was wondering how one removes acrylic paint from an unprimed resin figure? I'm sure this question has been asked & answered at least once already, but til now, I wasn't interested in the answer. I thought that I once read that it's not necessary to prime resin figures, so I didn't but unfortunately, the zouave I started painting w/o primer is starting to resemble Emmet Kelly. I should probably start over. Thanks in advance.

Mike

 

[Jim Patrick]

You can do it one of two ways. You can use and old toothbrush and scrub it under warm/hot running water (throw some dish soap on the brush) or you can let it set for a while in rubbing alcohol then use the toothbrush.
It works for me anyway.

HTH, Jim

 

[KeithP]

Well, I have alot of experience stripping paint from my figs

So a couple of suggestions to add:

TSP - Industrial powdered detergent. A couple of tablespoons in water and let it soak for a while then hit with a toothbrush to remove.

Any "hot" type petroleum based thinner - Works really well. Scrub with toothbrush as before. Comes off fast.

Keith

 

[Anders Heintz]

I have always used paint strippers that you can buy at like Wal Mart or Home Depot. Just get the 'gentle' kind, although you will have to be careful as some resins are more sensitive then others, the only time I have had problems is with a Kirin figure that I let soak in the stuff over night...was a rubbery mess after done lol.

Also heard that Oven Off Cleaner or something like that works good, even on plastic figures but I have never tried it.

 

[jitch0t]

i tried that oven cleaner with a Toyota Celica from Tamiya and it worked really fine, i guess it would work fine too on a resin fig.

 

[quang]

Hello Mike,

Like Daniel, I think that the safest way to strip paint (acrylic or oils) off a resin model is with an oven cleaner (white foam from a spray can).

My method is the following:

1 – Put the figure in a zip-lock plastic bag.
2 – Spray the oven cleaner inside the bag until the foam completely covers the figure.
3 – Zip close the bag.
4 – Leave overnight.
5 – The next day, open the bag in the kitchen sink.
6 – Wash off the foam with tap water.
7 – The paint should go away with the foam. 'Difficult' spots can be scrubbed clean with a toothbrush.

Be careful to wear plastic gloves during steps 5 -7. Also make sure that your sink is NOT aluminium (oven cleaners are harmful to metal).

Good luck

Quang

 

[y_wong]

Dear Mike,

For me I use industrial paint thinner similarly to what Anders is using. I used an old brush to paint the figure over repeatedly with the industrial thinner till all the paint is removed. Do drip leave the figure in thinner over extended period of time as this may melt or deform your figure.

Hope that this help.

regards

 

[mikec55]

Dear everyone,

Thanks for the advice. It sounds like y'all have a tried & true method.

Mike

 

[poetwarrior]

Hi Mike!

Now this is a topic I know a lot about. Pretty much every figure I've worked on has at one time visited the paint removal vat in my hobby room. I have found that Thompson's Acrylic Floor Cleaner works great for removing acrylic paints from resin. Also, I have found that Citristrip, a citrus based paint stripper, works great when removing oils or acrylics from white metal figures. If you set the piece you want to strip, resin or metal, in an old glass Pyrex dish and pour either the Thompson's or Citristrip over the piece, emersing it in the stripper and letting it sit for a few hours or overnight for resin, the paint will drip off with a minimum of scrubbing with an old toothbrush. If at first all the paint is not removed, resoak. Both of the stippers do not harm detail and with the use of a medium bristol brush the paint should come clean. Also, both of the strippers don't have an unpleasent odor, in case the wife starts yelling at you for using some smelly stripper on your little men. Wait, that doesn't sound right! Anyway, you get the idea, right?

Goodluck!

Dave Neary

 

[mikec55]

Thanks Dave. I'm off to the hardware.

Mike