OK guys, I need some advice.  I have several Alt/BT projects to begin and I need a little help with a few things.

 

1.  What's the best way to strip paint off plastic, without harming the plastic itself?  I'm repainting BTA Sunstreaker and adding a few personal touches and I want to strip the trunk section and start fresh.

 

2.  Related to 1. above, how do I get stripes off?  I'll be removing the stripes from BT Dead End for one of my projects, and I want to get rid of his stripes and some of his Bot-mode paintwork while preserving the plastic and the black paint on his outer shell.  I also want to strip all the crappy logos off Decepticharge. 

 

3.  I know I really should prime the metal parts but will the plastic parts need it as well?  I would assume even if they don't "need' primer the paint job would still benefit from an all-around base coat.  Any suggestions>

 

4.  And finally, what's a really good way to paint stripes on?  I was planning to try to brush them on carefully, marking out their boundaries with a grease pencil.  I'm pretty lousy with masking things off and spraying, at least when it comes to designs.  Parts are pretty easy for me.  Just haven't had much luck with the custom design stuff... 

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated.  Oh, and does anyone know a fairly inexpensive way to get Dodge Viper logos to replace the ones I'm removing/painting over on Sunstreaker?

OK guys, I need some advice.  I have several Alt/BT projects to begin and I need a little help with a few things.

 

1.  What's the best way to strip paint off plastic, without harming the plastic itself?  I'm repainting BTA Sunstreaker and adding a few personal touches and I want to strip the trunk section and start fresh.

 

2.  Related to 1. above, how do I get stripes off?  I'll be removing the stripes from BT Dead End for one of my projects, and I want to get rid of his stripes and some of his Bot-mode paintwork while preserving the plastic and the black paint on his outer shell.  I also want to strip all the crappy logos off Decepticharge. 

 

3.  I know I really should prime the metal parts but will the plastic parts need it as well?  I would assume even if they don't "need' primer the paint job would still benefit from an all-around base coat.  Any suggestions>

 

4.  And finally, what's a really good way to paint stripes on?  I was planning to try to brush them on carefully, marking out their boundaries with a grease pencil.  I'm pretty lousy with masking things off and spraying, at least when it comes to designs.  Parts are pretty easy for me.  Just haven't had much luck with the custom design stuff... 

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated.  Oh, and does anyone know a fairly inexpensive way to get Dodge Viper logos to replace the ones I'm removing/painting over on Sunstreaker?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't think I can answer #1 and #2 for you, but here's my thoughts on the other two:

 

#3) Depending on which kind of paint, you may or may not need to prime plastic parts.  I usually don't.  But if your plan includes some kitbashing, priming helps see uneveness and surface defects before you paint them.

 

#4) Your best bet would really be to mask with tape, and spray the stripes on.(hand brushing would also work too, although not as nice)

First of, read the IGTKB on top of the page. Might help you with some of these points.

 

As for the specific question

 

1) removing paint. Many different options. Some use paint thinner or airbrush cleaner, both work but can have a negative effect on the plastic but they are widely used. There's also talk of oven cleaner and even brake fluid (but there's some catch about this). This question has been asked before in this forum with several answers, including some good advise from Wraithverge.

 

2) These kind of details I alway remove with airbrush cleaner. However, this needs to be done very carefully, since if the surface on which the details are applied on is also painted (most often the roof of the car), you will also remove the paint from this. Applying very carefully and in small doses will work without damaging the original paint.

 

3) ABS plastic is an absolute b*tch to paint. Paint doesn't stick to this very well. This is why a lot of American kitbasher turn to Krylon Fusion because this is a very strong paint that fuses with the plastic resulting in a very strong bond (Polycarbonate is apparently also pretty good). In that case, a primer is absolutely not necessary. With other paints...well, you can do without but often it is better with. It also helps out making everything the same color: if there are two parts you want to paint red and one is white and the other black, then you won't get the same kind of red.

 

4) masking is the easiest solution. Masking tape of scotch tape is easily applied, easily cut to shape and again easily removed without damaging the paint (although I always first apply a layer of pretective cote before doing this just to be sure).

 

Can't help you with the logo's.

Well so far I've tried the steel-wool trick to get rid of DCharge's stupid decals, along with some ultra-fine wet-sanding paper.  New question:  Is there some kind of particular polish I can use to shine up the sanded spots?

1) If you want to get all paint off... I used engine degreaser (liquid not foam) and the paint came off... but don't soak it too long, it degrades the integrity of the plastic after a while... I had a lot of paint to get off, so i soaked it like 3 hours x 2

 

/\ /\  what they said about everything else /\ /\

Well so far I've tried the steel-wool trick to get rid of DCharge's stupid decals, along with some ultra-fine wet-sanding paper.  New question:  Is there some kind of particular polish I can use to shine up the sanded spots?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well, you could try toothpaste. Toothpaste polishes your teeth so you can also use it to polish plastic. Put some on a soft piece of cloth and gently rubb the plastic.

 

Also, I don't know if you have a dremel (or some fake), but with my set came a little polisher. It's a white piece of cotton-like material that looks a bit like a rounded bullet. You can use this to polish things. (I found out about that thanks to my dentist who also used it.)

 

 

NB, don't know if sandpaper and steelwool are the best way to remove decals.