Removing paint from body?

[tamiya_df03]

Hey there,

I just got a df03 kit, its my first off road setup and my friend offered to paint it for me claiming he has done some cool "custom" paint jobs before and so i went ahead and trusted him with it. Im more than comfortable painting shells usually but for the most part i deal with single colours or very basic masking off! Anywho, im not a fan of the paint job that he did at all, it looks pretty bad in fact! Im just wondering, is there any way to remove paint from a body once it has dried?

Im assuming im pretty much stuck with what he has done, but i was curious if you guys knew of any way to remove paint without damaging the body itself?

Thanks!

[jimmy]

Depends what paint it is really, with faskolor airbrush paint you can usually soak it in water - but if it's fully cured it won't come off that easily. Bit of wire wool can sort it out I guess.

Other things like brake fluid can take the paint off lexan shells - I've never done it on polycarb but I've had a shall that's been done this way. It can (will) cloud the lexan - so if you are wanting clear windows you are out of luck. any bits of paint left can be sanded / wire wooled, and unless you're using particular types of paint like chrome, it shouldn't show when painted.


You can also use ovencleaner / caustic soda - but I'm not sure how this effects lexan. I think it can cause it to become brittle but if you're careful it might be OK (don't leave it soaked in the stuff in other words)

[Northy]

Nitro fuel can work also.

G

[terry.sc]

NEVER use oven cleaner on lexan - fastest way to turn it into a pile of broken pieces. Brake fluid again will attack the lexan, it goes cloudy because the brake fluid is attacking the lexan and makes it brittle. Okay for something you aren't going to run, but if you race it the first impact it will split easily.

Nitro fuel is the best as it doesn't harm the lexan. Get as high a nitro content as you can, 30% works best.

I've recently been experimenting with De-Solv-It Graffiti Remover as it does a good job of removing paint, even fuelproof ones. it seems okay so far on bodies but I haven't had chance to see if there are any problems over time.

If the body is available new it's a lot easier just to buy a new one.

[telboy]

Yep, I found nitro fuel to work best. But like jimmy said, Find out if it is faskolor as a good soak in water will wash it off eventually.

[bigred5765]

unless he has faskoated it
then its forget it

[HVAC25000]

Originally Posted by terry.sc

Nitro fuel is the best as it doesn't harm the lexan. Get as high a nitro content as you can, 30% works best.

Is 30% as high as they sell in the UK? All my local hobby stores in the U.S. sell up to 60%. Is that too high or does the theory of "get as high a nitro content as you can" still apply?

Thanks
Chris

[terry.sc]

30% is as high as I've ever seen, nowhere local to me sells anything higher. Even higher nitro should help as it seems the more nitro the faster the paint comes off.

[tamiya_df03]

ok thanks for the input guys, i guess i might just suck it up and just run the body i have! ill probably buy a new body once this one gets messed up a bit more!!