Best way to remove paint from a plastic sculpt?

[eczamurai]

Hey guys,

title says it all, I got 2 sculpts that need a repaint, but I don't want to destroy the sculpt by using aceton for example.

Anyone got a fool-proof way of removing paint from plastic?

Cheers, Jeroen

 

[sparkstron73]

Not sure you can without melting the plastic, would'nt it be easier to paint over the orignal paint?

 

[fireball117]

Hey bud I remember seeing a tip on one of the car building shows, they said the best way to remove paint from plastic was by using brake fluid in tub and soaking the part in it, then the paint will simply fall off or peel off, it worked on their plastic parts that had heavy over spray and sprayed parts, might be worth a try by testing first and then trying it on your sculpt, not sure if it will work on resin or other materials used to make casts just plastic. The paint they were removing from the parts was acrylic paint, car paint and such, but the result were really good.

 

[eczamurai]

Not sure you can without melting the plastic, would'nt it be easier to paint over the orignal paint?

the original paint is pretty thick, so I'd probably lose details.

 

[elvis1976]

I always used acetone, never had any problems.

 

[eczamurai]

I always used acetone, never had any problems.

Then you probably got lucky. Aceton MELTS plastic like nobodies business.. Anyway, this is what I'm trying to clear:

The only problem is really the eye-area.. The rest I wouldn't mind, but the eyes would lose alot of sculpted detail if I just painted over it..

 

[Platty]

I'm not sure if you would be able to get hold of this stuff but from my experience of using it the once, it really does work

Though I used it on an old dragon head. It never damaged the plastic on that but who knows what it would do to a different head. But it does work.

 

[robbiethepainter]

Then you probably got lucky. Aceton MELTS plastic like nobodies business.. Anyway, this is what I'm trying to clear:

The only problem is really the eye-area.. The rest I wouldn't mind, but the eyes would lose alot of sculpted detail if I just painted over it..

I personally would trust Elvis, the man knows. Luck has nothing to do with it, its all about skill with him.

Are you sure its plastic and not PVC?

 

[SpaceCrawler]

Then you probably got lucky. Aceton MELTS plastic like nobodies business..

I'm pretty sure acetone only "melts" rigid styrene type plastic (though I'm no expert). For stripping paint from heads (which aren't the rigid styrene type plastic) most people seem to use acetone or a mix of acetone and alcohol. No idea what the effects are with resin heads.

Sean

 

[Cheungkinmen]

Prime it and repaint. Easy.

 

[eczamurai]

I'm pretty sure acetone only "melts" rigid styrene type plastic (though I'm no expert). For stripping paint from heads (which aren't the rigid styrene type plastic) most people seem to use acetone or a mix of acetone and alcohol. No idea what the effects are with resin heads.

Sean

Well, with the Hot Toys and Medicom heads I've used, it was a bad idea. Lost sharpness in sculpting. All original sculpt mind you.

 

[eczamurai]

Thanks for the advice people. I thinned out nail polish remover with some water, took alot of time, but it's done. Primed and ready to go!

 

[wax murderer]

Better late than never. There's a product called easy-Lift-Off that is specifically designed to remove paint or decals from plastics. It's available at most of your better hobby shops. My wife and I have been using it for years, and it's never let us down...PS