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Looking for some advice on paint removal.
I have what is a very obviously repainted large-scale roller, which I bought solely because of the patch of original-green paint showing through behind the rear wheel (see photographs). Whilst I think the unusually light-green colour of the original paint is probably an optical illusion caused by the surrounding dark-green, I would like to investigate further and strip the model of its later coating.
I have tried nail polish remover (acetone judging by the smell) on one of the rear wheels (which look to have always been bare metal). although some of the dark green comes off, the majority stays put and simply becomes slightly tacky.
So, the question is, how can I strip the (majority) of the bark-green overcoat, whilst leaving as much as possible of the remaining factory paint finish intact?

Try soaking it in brake fluid. It's always iffy to find the right medium that will remove one without taking off the other.

Yes, I was reading up about brake fluid (amongst other things).
There seems to be a significant difference in the stripping power of old-style fluid (such as DOT3) and the more modern silicone-based fluids (such as DOT5). Do you have any personal experience of this?
Two related questions:
- What do you wash the brake fluid off with (and does DOT5 needs something different from DOT3), and
- Does it attack all paint layers simultaneously, or does it need time to penetrate the different coatings, i.e. could i preferentially strip the top coat by reducing the immersion time?

Old lead based paint (it's very likely the original paint is lead based) will be more difficult to remove then newer paint. I go with the old formula brake fluid which is usually the cheapest too. Denatured alcohol is good for removing some acrylic paints but you have to soak it around 24 - 48 hours for best results. What is comes down to is a lot of guess work (i.e. trial & error) since the repaint is of an unknown formula/composition.

Tinman wrote:Old lead based paint (it's very likely the original paint is lead based) will be more difficult to remove then newer paint.

Working on the above basis, I have been trying various solvents. Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) appears to work extremely well (especially since I can easily drive off any residual solvent by leaving the model on top of the Aga). However, since some of the new paintwork appears to have been applied with a trowel, it might be a few days before I have anything worth photographing.

Cheap paint stripper ain't bad (Nitromors is useless) but is expensive.
Brake Fluid used to be good but these days not so much.
Brown Dettol disinfectant is good as well.
However, I now use caustic soda dissolved in water ... it strips paint from metal in seconds.
It also strips fingerprints so use tongs and transfer to a rinsing tray before handling.

Hi AJR.....Sorry to jump on this but I love stripping stuff...I once spent a week stripping an Escort van at college right back to the bare shell and loved every minuet .

When I was at B&Q I found out Nitromors had changed there recipe so it was a little less toxic...
B&Qs own cheap lye based stripper is good and if you look up my Airfix Rolls Royce strip you can make up your own mind how it works on plastic but needs leaving to do its job for a few days on 60 year old metal .I have the time to wait but others may be a little less patient.
Soda needs constant watching as like I said before it ate both sills off a Dinky Austin I was doing years ago.
Brake fluid I used with success on my Pocher Rolls Royce and some Triang coach's years back..Needs a good deep clean after....
Dettol has gone a bit scarce round these parts since the virus...Not tried that one though.


Heres my Airfix stripped a few years back...Its still intact so no damage there..viewtopic.php?f=29&t=6528&start=40

misterpop wrote:Hi AJR.....Sorry to jump on this but I love stripping stuff...

Is that how you ended up on the "Me Too" movement's list?

Its all coming back to me...

I haven,t stripped anything for a long time,but i seem to remember using mr muscle oven cleaner,perhaps you could buy a tin, spray some on a another surface like a plate, then dip and use a cotton bud tip to try to ease the top paint off,if it fails you still can use it on your oven!
dave