Hello, just a quick question: I am starting in a while some customs and I would like to ask for a safe method to strip paint from figures. Mainly old g1s and Mps. My concearn is the plastic not to detoriate. Thanks.
I have not stripped paint from die cast, but for non-transparent plastic parts I use 91% isopropyl alcohol (let the part soak for a while, then use a soft bristle toothbrush to remove the paint that doesn't fall off). Stay away from anything with acetone in it, it will eat the plastic.
Airplane paint remover is great with stripping paint from diacast. If you have rusty rivets or screws… soaking them in vinegar… plain white vinegar for 4-5 days works great. Just use a plastic cup or something of that nature because the vinegar will get gross after a few days. But the screws will almost look brand new when you’re done. I found that out after watching Hot Wheels restoration videos. Works damn good. I can’t speak for this personally because I haven’t tried it yet… but I’ve seen it done & I know a lot of guys that will take interior house paint (enamels)… water them down with window cleaner… & then airbrush it on. It works great on plastic & metal. I don’t know if it’s ‘cheaper,’ but I know that they go that route because they get a better color match when they’re working on something... & it seems to work pretty well. And I chemically… I don’t know what it is… but there is a paint hardener that they use either in the paint layer itself or the clear coast on a Hot Wheels car… but that might be something to look into as well because you know how tough the paint layer on a Hot Wheels can be. I am sure that there are different ways of doing this… but when I want to remove decals from something (Legos, Transformers for example), I use a brand of graffiti cleaner called “Goof Off,” & that works pretty good. I wouldn’t use it on clear parts because it leaves a residue, but I’ve used it on many different things… & there has only been a few things that it hasn’t worked on. I’m sure that there are other things that you could use… but that’s what works for me! I hope that this helps (somewhat)…
And as a side note I wouldn’t use Goof Off. I’ve been using it on other stuff… PET HDPE, used it on Legos (newer pieces which are ABS)… but I was just cleaning of a G1 junker that I just got in the mail… & some of the pieces that I did clean… did react to the cleaning agent. Some parts didn’t do anything/react, but a few small pieces did. This was a vintage figure… so it’s not anything new… but just because it reacted… I wouldn’t recommend Goof Off. Just as a head’s up. 1st time that this happened to me.
I second the 91% alcohol. Anything more could melt the plastic. I personally keep junk figures on hand for testing before committing!
Soaking them full or rubbing them? I am reluctant to use it cause i know the full one reacts bad to plastic...
I've personally never had an issue with bad reactions with plastic, but I've also only really used it on gijoe and tmnt figures, as well as cleaning my old NES/SNES cartridges. In fact, for video game cleaning, I consider 91% iso to be the gold standard. What ive always done on figures is use a liberally soaked paper towel, dab it in the area I wanted to strip, allowed it to set for a second, and then followed behind with slightly dampened paper towel rub. This method takes a few passes, but if you're patient, you'll get good results. as far as a soak goes, shouldn't really hurt it- ABS plastic is used for the bulk of most toys (gijoe, lego and the bulk of the plastic transformer parts )that aren't cheap KOs and dollar store finds, with a few other flavors such as polycarbonate (clear windows, etc) thrown in for accents. ABS is fairly chemical resistant, so as long as you're not soaking them for extended periods or heating the solution, you should be fine. It should be noted that I wouldn't recommend any attempt to remove paint at all from any of the gold plastic parts- these are also ABS, but the process used to manufacture them seriously undermined their chemical stability , and these parts are known to degrade readily enough on their own, let alone applying any sort of chemical. I can't stress enough though- use a junk figure as a test first. Hope that helps!
