Paint Stripper

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terryg

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I need to remove the paint off an old BSD plastic nose cone in order to use it for night launches. I could sand it but I would like an easier way if possible. Any recommendation for a chemical approach? It will not be painted again but I do not want to damage the plastic.
 
Ditto On the chemicals! NO! Will definitely soften the plastic Nose Cone!
Tried all of them including the orange stuff.
Bit the bullet and now just use my dremel sander, even on the 5" nc!
 
Well actually, plastic modelers often use easy-off oven cleaner to strip enamel paints. Test and verify, google and all that.
 
I've had luck with rubbing alcohol on stripping some of my old nosecones. It couldn't hoit
 
I just got done trying to get tape adhesive off paint so I could repaint. I used Acetone to dissolve the glue. It took the paint off too. With a little more rubbing, the primer went also. This was on a fiberglassed tube. I don't know what it would do to a plastic nose cones.

I put the Acetone on a rag and would rub until it evaporated than added more. It was amazing how cold that rag got! Didn't hurt the vinyl gloves I was wearing.
 
I bit the bullet and sanded it with my Black and Decker sander. It's amazing how much work it is to get the paint off that you normally have a hard time getting to stick in the first place. The end result was a dirty rough surface that was too ugly for the Nitebow to illuminate. I proceeded to hand sand it with finer and finer sand paper to get a smoother surface which helped the appearance a lot. I then clear coated it and this gave the effect that I was looking for. If you have any old BSD kits that have a nose cones marked with R.W.W. DIST. they can be salvaged for night launch duty with a bit of work.
 
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I've used spray-on oven cleaner to strip the paint from styrene plastic model kits. Works like a charm and doesn't harm the plastic in any way that I noticed. I forget how long to let it sit after spraying on (should be something on the web), but you just scrub off the softened paint with dishwashing detergent in water and an old tooth brush. It even gets the paint out of the grooves and detail - might need a second application for old or stubborn paint.
 
For enamel it's probably easy but for lacquer, you will have to use acetone or lacquer thinner. However it would also eat polystyrene based plastics as well (pretty much all plastic nosecones are made from this. Estes and others, why can't you use HDPE as nosecone material??). If you have a belt sander, it should be easy to sand it off with a 60 grit paper. The fin cans would be the hard part, however since they are usually not polystyrene, if it's phenolic/fiberglass you could just use "Aircraft Remover". That stuff will even dissolve 2k paint and even polyesters/gel coat (just make sure the fiberglass isn't polyester based)
 
I've used spray-on oven cleaner to strip the paint from styrene plastic model kits. Works like a charm and doesn't harm the plastic in any way that I noticed. I forget how long to let it sit after spraying on (should be something on the web), but you just scrub off the softened paint with dishwashing detergent in water and an old tooth brush. It even gets the paint out of the grooves and detail - might need a second application for old or stubborn paint.

This, or brake fluid or even Pine-Sol. Some plastics may become brittle after soaking in brake fluid, so test it first. Some hobby shops have strippers like Chameleon that are supposed to be plastic safe.
 
The majority of plastic modelers these days use castrol super clean degreaser, or purple power degreaser.
a soak in alcohol will remove most acrylics.
 
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