Striping the paint off

[CappyTom]

Hello everyone,

Just looking for some ideas or tricks to remove the paint off the planes before giving it a new look. Normally I just paint over the original paint job. Also if anyone has any thoughts about taking the planes apart before painting. Is it a good idea or not. Thanks for your input. If there's a thread out there just send me to it and sorry for the trouble.

Tom

[Oberst Hajj]

Tom, I've yet to find a reliable way to remove paint from plastic. I would just go with a light coating of primer and paint over the top of it all. Pflanzer removed the top wing to repaint this plane.

[pflanzer]

Tom,
The only WOW plane that I have removed the paint from was a Roland with a pink and green camo pattern. The paint on the wings was very bad almost blistered. I scraped it off with an exacto blade and wiped it down with laquer thinner and repainted with two thin coats of acrylic paint. If I wanted to take one down to bare surface I think I would try Pine Sol I have used it on metal figures and it works well. It will however soften plastics (and some glues) if allowed to soak too long. Caution would be advised. For soak time I would start with 4 or 5 hours and see what happens. The others that I have worked on have been paint overs a little sanding as needed a wipe down with laquer thinner and away you go. I like the laquer thinner as it cleans and seems to give the surface a little "bite" for the finish coats. Taking them apart is something else. The wings on my Albatros came apart with some prying and proding but I didnt feel that there was any serious threat to the plane. Beyond that the glue seems quite strong and resisted my attempts so I resorted to filler. On that plane I used a flat white spray primer after clean up it worked well.
Tony

[krolik]

I've had good results using Motorcycle Chain Cleaner to strip paint on the plastic parts. Carburetor Cleaner or Brake Cleaner would work as well.

[CappyTom]

Thanks for the help. I'll give it a try and add the pictures to my album when I'm done. I have some pics of my flames on there now if you want to see.

Tom

[CappyTom]

Hello Guys and Gals,

Does anyone know where to get decals in the U.S. for the WW1 planes?

Tom

[Oberst Hajj]

You might find some 1/144 scale decals through Squadron mail order. Dom's Decals is also a good place to find decals for your Wings of War planes, but he is out of the UK.

[LazyEyedPsycho]

I bought all of the sets from Doms Decals and they look great! I highly recomend them if you are starting out on re-paints .

[Charlie3]

WARNING!!!!! Speaking from experiance as a model builder for 38 years. If you use Pine Sol, or Brake Fluid, make sure you wash the parts in warm soapy water and use a small brush to scrub out all the nooks and cranies. Then rinse and dry well before you attempt to paint them. The chemicals will get trapped below the surface of your paint or primer and the fume build up will blister the paint or at minimum nerver let it adhere well.

I would avoid Brake Cleaner and Carborator Cleaner as they tend to be very caustic to plastic, and may leave you with a puddle where your plane used to be.

[LazyEyedPsycho]

I've found that using a peice of FINE sand paper on the decals then priming the whole model white works well for re-painting. The first couple re-paints I did I didn't bother with sanding off the decals and they turned out OK.

In the right light you can make out the edges of the decals if you look hard but at normal gaming distance they look fine.

[Oberst Hajj]

I am also working with a guy to offer a line of decals here on the site. The design work is almost done for the RNAS Squadron 9 (four planes). The next set would be 4 planes from Jasta 5 (Albatros DVa's).

No real time frame just yet on when they will be available though

[CappyTom]

I am also working with a guy to offer a line of decals here on the site. The design work is almost done for the RNAS Squadron 9 (four planes). The next set would be 4 planes from Jasta 5 (Albatros DVa's).

No real time frame just yet on when they will be available though

Thanks, please let me know when you get it going. Mostly looking for the Indian head for the french planes.

[Oberst Hajj]

Will do Tom and I'll keep the Indian head in mind for future decals stuff as well.

[Angiolillo]

In the meatime Dom's Decals has both general 1/144 markigs for several nations, and sets to make whole units with WoW models. A Lafayette sheet is among them:



That's the result:



(other decals in the same sheet are for Les Cicognes).

[Colschaeffer]

Try Brake fluid. Won't harm anything. Soad overnight and it should remove close to 98%. Use a tooth brush on small areas. Rinse in water and wipe off with paper towel.

[Oberst Hajj]

I tried Simple Green on the WoW minis lately and it took weeks for it to finally work. I still had to scrape some of the paint and decals off with a toothpick. The plastic did not melt, but it appears to have started to break down a little bit. I've not had time to prime them and see how they look yet.

[CappyTom]

Thank you all again for your input. Been swamped with work no time to work on planes. Hoping things will slow down soon.

Tom

[richard m schwab]

I went through this last year. I was building a Minicraft B-26 it took three painting attempts to get it in all metal and look good. Go to the store and see if they have a spray pump bottle of oven cleaner. This is a safe product do not try it unless they say you can breath it!! You will need a container the parts fit in some latex gloves an old tooth brush and a piece of scotch brite. I sprayed a general wetting coat, let that work. Give it a few minutes another spray and start with the scrubber and remove the most of the paint. The tooth brush will remove the stubborn paint in the panel lines. This might take some soaking be patient. Give it a good bath in some hot water and allow to dry.


Rich

[Kashirigi]

Everyone I know swears by Simple Green to strip the paint off plastic (and metal). Because I'm a contrarian, I use oven cleaner and it worked very well without damaging the plastic. Just soak for 24 hours in a diluted solution and the paint comes right off. If you're worried residual base fouling your paint, soak in some vinegar, then wash with soapy water and you're set.

It's marginally less dangerous than brake fluid and you can pick it up when you buy groceries.

Acetone will work wonders on metal, but will turn your plastic miniature into a pile of slag.

[Khargor]

One of our best painters in the Northern Wasters has put up a step by step tutorial how to strip paint from plastic miniatures easily using nail polish remover (acetone free): http://forum.northernwasters.com/vie...php?f=14&t=283

Hope its of some help

[CappyTom]

I will give those a shot, hopefully soon as work slows down.

Tom

[Burt]

I am also working with a guy to offer a line of decals here on the site. The design work is almost done for the RNAS Squadron 9 (four planes). The next set would be 4 planes from Jasta 5 (Albatros DVa's).

No real time frame just yet on when they will be available though

Any news on the new decals you mentioned last year Col. ?
Don

[Oberst Hajj]

I hope to have the final draft of RNAS Sqdn 9 in my hands this week or next. As long as they check out, it's off to the printer for a first run and then in the post to me. I really hope to have them before the end of July... along with a generic British sheet with roundels and numbers/letters.