How do you get paint off a hull moulded in ABS?
Well, you can't use Nitromors for a start. That's a good way to make holoes. And while I do own some paint stripper that is safe for use on plastic, not nearly enough to attack a boat this size.
With the hull on the garage workbench, I tried a Scotchbright pad in the sander. Nothing. Hardly scratched it. Could I replace this with something more abrasive? Probably not, stopping at that point between removing the paint and going through the plastic wasn't likely to happen.
In desperation, I cast around for other chemicals I could try. By this point I'd decided that if I couldn't have a smooth hull for painting, at least I could extract the working parts for another boat.
Meths seemed to do a little, but not much. Cellulose thinners though, now that shifted the paint, especially when followed with a metal, kitchen scouring pad.
Trouble is, the cellulose turned the paint into a slurry that had to be scraped off. Washing with meths seemed to help move it a bit, but the slurry hardened too quickly for easy removal.
Still, there is progress, but I need to go and buy a lot more thinners!
Oh, and it stinks. Future paint stripping will be carried out outdoors.
7 comments:
Have you tried Dettol?
Have you tried Dettol?
Never had any luck with Dettol. From what I've read you need an old formulation, not the newer stuff.
Another vote for dettol, and the new stuff works just fine. I've used it to strip the paint off plastic parts RTR locomotives (the cab from a Bachmann OO9 Skarloey for example).
As for your slurry issue, I get this when stripping with dettol or white spirit for metal parts. It only seems to happen if you try washing off the loose paint with water. I've found a quick rinse in IPA (or more dettol/white spirit) is better and then a final wash with water to remove any remaining nasty chemical. I'm guessing the water reacts with the loose paint causing it to gunk up, but no idea why.
Hello Phill,
Believe it or not but Mr Muscle oven cleaner does a great job on most paints. Used it on several of my projects like this one https://woodysmodelingdiary.blogspot.com/2022/01/mr-muscle.html Best to seal the item being stripped in a container or similar so the vapours can also do their job but it does work although there is a pong! Hope this is of use?
Woody
Looks like a trip to the supermarket is called for. Thanks for all the suggestions.
I thought this would be a post about you trying out different recreational drugs. I'm not sure whether I'm relieved or dissappointed...
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