Into the isopropyl alcohol with you!
So I’ve been sitting on this extra Club Nightbeat for a few years, meaning to eventually kitbash it into Shattered Glass Nightbeat. What’s kept me from doing it for so long is that there was paint removal required, and after removing paint from Obsidian to make Rotorbolt, I felt confident in the procedure.
After all, the most important thing to remove is the tampos, right? Those came right off Obsidian, no probs! Like wiping spilled soup off the table. If the normal paint doesn’t come off, that’s fine, since SG Nightbeat just needs to paint over everything with black. It’s just the flames on the doors that have to go before I can start painting him.
I'll probably dunk the head one more time.
So I throw Nightbeat into a vat of alcohol. It took Obsidian about 24 hours before anything began to fall off of him. But 12 hours later, all of Nightbeat’s paint is wiping off. And, grargh, you guessed it, his flames remained. Well, okay. I took most of Nightbeat out, kept the doors in the alcohol and… it’s been three days, I think, and I’m still trying to get rid of those stupid flames. I have a brush and I have some paper towels, but the only tool that’s making headway is my own fingernail.
It’s quite infuriating.
WHY WON'T YOU PEEL?????
Oh and apparently the alcohol made his translucent knee-roofs brittle and they broke. But that is absolutely fine. Really, it is. As you can imagine with an owner of a Hot Shot Shrine, I have an extra Energon Hot Shot or two. I’ll just repaint and swap out those translucent pieces, no big.
Still. Grrarghghglglgglllghrg.
Have you ever tried using Simple Green to strip paint? That’s always works well for me, but it may not work on every type of paint.
Try oven cleaner. That usually removes most paint/tampo prints and doesn’t damage plastic at all.
A good paint remover is generic Lectric Shave and a Magic Eraser; strips down to the bare plastic without damaging it.
It figures that Nightbeat is much better at holding his booze than Obsidian.
If you have a stubborn paint app, there are products at your local auto parts store for polishing plastic that work wonders. They have just enough grit to remove the paint, but leave the surface smooth and shiny.
To add to recommendations, Tea Tree Oil works wonders (and smells terrible). Just brush it on and give it a bit of time to work its magic. Available at the drug store.
I’ll second the Simple Green trick. I use it for all my hobby painting needs and it always gets the job done. Acrylics, enamels, etc. The plastic always looks pristine afterward.
Some other paint-removal tricks I know. Automotive brake fluid is much prized by plastic modelers. Soak to soften paint. Reportedly works as well as oven cleaner, is much less noxious, and does not harm plastic (polystyrene anyway, you might want to do a test application in an inconspicuous spot on other plastics. And for removing paint on action figure heads, I’ve used nail-polish remover (which is mostly acetone). It evaporates very quickly, so it’s basically wipe (or brush) on and wipe off. Repeat as necessary till the job is done. Hope one of these ideas work out.
My experience with acetone tells me it melts plastic a bit, so be wary of that.
I keep hearing Simple Green/Brake Fluid is good. I don’t use either (Swedish, Simple Green isn’t around here) but I’d take one of those, soak, use old toothbrush and brush paint off. Depending on your paint, you might have to do the soak, brush, soak repeat a few times.
Acetone on ABS plastic like Transformers can make them brittle and fade out. Tried to use it to get a glob of superglue off an Alternators Shockblast and it faded the part and made it brittle. Lucky for me Shockblast was a junker who had fallen off a shelf and broken.
Also tried to use it to remove the on the white “shirt portion of a Lady Deathstrike and it melted the ABS plastic of the torso.
You could also try Goo Gone too to remove tampos.
Back when I was doing transformer customs I always used regular pinesol to remove paint, but that was usually just the diecast pieces.
I use Pinesol for paint app removals on minis, props, pretty much everything. It’ll kill enamels and acrylics equally, and is considerable less volatile than most other methods. The oven cleaner trick works, too, but is much more corrosive. And remember, seal with pledge with future shine. It’ll gloss up the paint and remove small scratches and wear from any exposed clear bits, since it’s actually an acrylic sealer.
Cut your own fingernail off and use it as a pick!
When I’ve done TF customs like that, I just sanded the paint app smooth with a medium grit sanding stick, from the hobby shop. You can get things nice and smooth, so they won’t show under the paint you’ll be putting down over it.
You’re still in Columbus, right? I heartily recommend Hobbyland, in Graceland.
Are you using 91% alcohol? From personal experience I know it’s strong, but some of that stubborn paint requires something stronger like goo gone or the other stuff people have mentioned here.
I’ve had to sand paint off in places like crevices and sharp corners. Sometimes I pick it off using a needle or a pin.
Just stay away from acetone. Acetone+ ABS plastic Transformers = a mess.
The toy doesn’t HATE you, it likes you…as a friend.
Long time plastic model builder. I use Simple Green or brake fluid for paint removal, Easy off oven cleaner also works, but is nasty stuff. When you are done, coat the model with future floor wax, leaves a nice, hard, gloss finish.
To remove those flames go by Ace or Home Depot and pick up some 600 and 800 grit sandpaper. Hell, 1000 if they have it. Gently sand the flames off going from 600—>800—>1000 for a totally smooth finish. Then buff the plastic with a white cotton sock. Works on flat surfaces more than when the tampo is on edges and panels.