Yamato Paint Removal Solved!

[do not disturb]

hey all,

i know we've all been going nuts trying to find a good way to remove the yamato stock paint. i mentioned in the past that Brasso does the trick but it takes a lot of elbow grease and if you rub too long, the plastic becomes shiney.

well i really wanted to make a custom TV kakazaki/ben dixon with a minimum amount of painting so i can play with it without having to worry about paint chipping and scraping off. so after days of trial and error, i finally discovered the easier, fastest, hassle free way to remove the paint by looking under my kitchen sink.....

by using steel wool, it will remove the paint much quicker than the old method and because the steel wool is abrasive, it'll keep the valks part from getting smooth.

the paint removal on the wing was a total pain, but to make things easier, you have to remove the wing panel to get into the nooks and crannies. anything that the steel wool doesn't get, you can use an xacto knife to scrape it off.

the chest plate was also a pain but again, using the method above, it goes fairly quickly.

as you can see, my TV kaz/ben is 99.5% finished! all i have left to do is color match the shoulders. i tried to get some input from you guys in THIS THREAD which no one was able to help me with.... i'm hoping with my new discovery, someone will motivate themselves to make their own and find a good color match for the CF paint.

i also have a TV max in the works which will be unveiled in the next couple of weeks so keep your eyes peeled!

[EXO]

Looks great haterist... gotta try it one of these days.

[DatterBoy]

The secret revealed! Think it will cause a part snatching frenzy?

[do not disturb]

The secret revealed!  Think it will cause a part snatching frenzy?

361476[/snapback]

you got that right! but it all depends on the person? some people have painting skills so they don't have to go through the trouble i went through to make this happen. some people lack any skill when it comes to painting, and if they want it, now they can make it with a minimum amount of painting involved. then theres the people who want their toys to be toys and not a work of art.

in case anyone is wondering, i made this using a CF and a 1J hikaru(actually left over parts from the 1D conversion). i'm out the door right now but feel free to post questions and i'll answer them tomorrow.

[Graham]

Hmm.....I would have thought that steel wool would have scratched the plastic.

Graham

[Toonz]

wow!

brasso + brillo (how many percent each?)

[ghostryder]

Hmm.....I would have thought that steel wool would have scratched the plastic.

Graham

361509[/snapback]

I think it does, but not so much that it's noticable since the ABS has a dull finish. It probably rubs off the original surface, but leaves an equally dull luster.

This is a great tip, but gee, with all the geeks on this board (myself included), you'd think there was a chemist or plastics expert who would be able to prescribe a paint thinner/remover that does not affect the integrety of ABS, and also whatever the hell the heatshield is made of.

[EXO]

Hmm.....I would have thought that steel wool would have scratched the plastic.

Graham

361509[/snapback]

I've used Steel wool on a 1/48 before, it's like fine sand paper. But it took forever anyway using the Pine Sol method. It just takes off the texture and makes it smooth.

[Neova]

Ha! Awesome Gene! Now I can get back to customizing my TV Squardron with these time saving tips!

[Guest Bromgrev]

Old wargaming buddy of mine used to swear by oven cleaner. Spray it on, then wipe it off almost immediately with a rough cloth. He made it sound easy, but I would experiment a bit before using it on any of my precious Macross stuff.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to mention he used a soft brush, too, under unning water.

Edited January 19, 2006 by Bromgrev

[Die, Alien Scum!]

Great tip, haterist! I'll have to try this! Thanks!

[Mechamaniac]

Eine minute bitte....

Did you paint that at all? or just remove the brown from the chestplate and the wings?

[jenius]

I think he just removed the red from a Hikaru chest plate. He says the custom is made from a Hikaru that was used for a VF-1D and a VF-1A CF.

[do not disturb]

graham,

the steel wool does scratch the plastic but not so much so its noticeable. as i mentioned eariler, if the scratches bother you, you can polish the wing using some more brasso and a cotton cloth and it'll buff it right out.

toonz,

it makes no difference how much brasso you use. i just poured it onto the brillo pad and started rubbing. its not going to damage the plastic in anyway so go crazy.

Neova,

i knew you'd like this but before you get started on more customs, how about you get me that shipping quote for my order....i must have my GBP!

Bromgrev,

the last thing i'd use is oven cleaner, that stuff is like ultra strong and it would probably destroy/disolve the plastic in some way. i'd try it out on some spare parts you got lying around first.

Mechamaniac,

no painting whatsoever. i just removed the red paint from the chest plate, wings and fuselage. the only thing left to do is color match the shoulders. i got a near match that i could live with but i want a perfect match.

all in all this custom took me less than a hour to finish. the bulk of the time was scraping off the red paint in the panel lines, then swapping out whatever parts i needed. its pretty simple and with the discovery of Krylon Fusion, my TV Max will also be a piece of cake.

[Macross73]

Great tip !

i'm looking to finally do a custom 1/48

and wasn't sure about what to use to take the paint off.

I may try this on a 1/55 also.

[ghostryder]

I may try this on a 1/55 also.

361899[/snapback]

Whoa, I dunno if taking a brillo pad to shiny chunky plastic would be a good idea, unless you plan on deglossing the whole valk.

[Macross73]

i'v got a bunch of spare parts.

i'm not going do this on whole valk,

without testing it.

[Guest Bromgrev]

Bromgrev,

the last thing i'd use is oven cleaner, that stuff is like ultra strong and it would probably destroy/disolve the plastic in some way.  i'd try it out on some spare parts you got lying around first.

361714[/snapback]

I suspect our 'EU-approved-and-guaranteed-proof-against-even-the-greatest-of-fools' oven cleaners here in the UK are significantly more gentle than the US variety, though.

[mechaninac]

I've tried oven cleaner (Easy Off brand) on a model car body (polystyrene) to completely remove all traces of a previously cured coat of paint.

I placed the part on a sheet of plastic wrap and sprayed the cleaner all over the kit making sure to cover it completely in a thick foamy coat (make sure you have plenty of ventilation as even the "no fumes" variety of Easy Off sticks to high heaven), then used the plastic to wrap the part to prevent the cleaner from drying off and let it sit for about an hour or so; the next thing was to use a old soft-bristle tooth brush to scrub the kit under warm running water. The results were amazing: not only was 99.9% of the paint removed, but there was no sign whatsoever that the oven cleaner attacked the styrene... had I used paint thinner the car body would have crumbled in my hands.

A bit of a disclaimer, however; I have no clue how the stuff interacts with ABS, but on styrene/polystyrene oven cleaner is a no-brainer. It has no detrimental effect on the integrity of the plastic, does not destroy small details, and will not alter the pre-existing surface finish.