Body Paint Removal

[Justin33]

Urc has a video on youtube using dot4 to remove paint from lexan and it seemed to work really well even shows the body after the new paint!

[marlo]

Just to put my two cents in. NEVER use paint stripper, I tried it before I joined on, so I haven't read all this useful info. I tried to strip an older 10T body, not to keep, but as an experiment. Needless to say the body began to melt It was done in one corner, so I washed it off, to late. On the other side I then tried brake fluid, and a scuff pad ( about 300 grit ), worked a little but left a hazy look to it. At that point it went into our fire pit. That seemed to take the paint off. But of course it was now just a melted blob

[HKS_TRD]

I recently removed the paint from a wing and undertray using Tamiya Lexan cleaner, which Tamiya do state can also be used to remove paint.
It was not the quickest process but as it was only one wing and undertray which were originals rather than repros and the matching body was unpainted I persisted and it was bearable

I am not sure what the original paint on there was, it was flexible as it didn't crack if you flex the lexan but it did peel in a couple spots so maybe I was lucky that the product worked for me

[Coelacanth]

Tried DOT4 and it caused hazing on the Lexan. What URC might not have mentioned is which kind of paint was removed; if it was old Tamiya-style paint, that indeed would come off quite easily...but aged, Pactra-style paint won't come off "easy" as it's formulated to chemically bond to Lexan.

[vsefiream]

ELO - look for it in your local hobby shop, just be slow and patient
ELO is short for Easy Lift Off paint remover

[Justin33]

I tried dot 4 and go way more hazing then i wanted. Anyway to cure this or am i hooped?

[Coelacanth]

I'm afraid you're hooped. Read this topic here, posted by someone else who figured DOT4 would do the trick, and people replied that it caused hazing (including me).

http://www.rc10talk.com/viewtopic.php?f=62&t=32353

The hazing isn't a mere surface etching, it's a chemical reaction inside the Lexan itself.

However, if the hazing is not too bad, go ahead and paint the body anyway, it might turn out better than you expected. I did that and ended up with a pretty decent runner body.

EDIT: I hope this answers once-and-for-all the question of whether or not DOT4 is the incredible paint remover some people would have you believe. It may well work on some bodies, but enough people have commented that it can cause hazing that I don't recommend it unless you can afford to live with hazing.

[terry.sc]

The hazing means the brake fluid has reacted with the lexan. The hazing is buried inside the lexan, you can't sand or polish it out. Quite often the reaction has also removed the plasticisers from the lexan, so an accident can cause it to shatter.

I hope this answers once-and-for-all the question of whether or not DOT4 is the incredible paint remover some people would have you believe. It may well work on some bodies, but enough people have commented that it can cause hazing that I don't recommend it unless you can afford to live with hazing.

That will never happen.

I can guarantee that whenever someone anywhere asks about removing paint on a lexan body either the first or second reply will suggest brake fluid, whether they have tried it or not.

[vwjuice]

I am going to try the brake fluid on my old Outrage body this weekend. Then I will come here and be mad that no one warned me beforehand.

[slapshot1979]

I would suggest Marlo's firepit method first and if that doesnt do it, go with something else nobody has tried and tell us all bout how it didnt work

[vwjuice]

If dot4 doesn't work then I'm thinking something along the lines of KABOOOM. hahaha

[GoMachV]

Dot4 works like those drug commercials on TV:

Zolpidem is intended solely to make you sleep. Side effects include amnesia, explosive diarrhea, decreased libido, spine loss, ataxia, messy pants, hallucinations, doo doo smells worse, and abnormal thoughts.

[Edwin5]

Which product did you use? If you used liquid latex products then it's not so hard to remove that paint. Any ordinary removal will work even.

[67CamaroSS]

Way before the guys at team blue groove started re-popping the 959 bodies and just about any 959 body was worth refurbishing, I took a painted body and stripped it completely using Nitro fuel. It took a long time as I did it in sections and would let the fuel pool in sections of the body and then flake of parts of the paint. It probably took me 2 or 3 days with about 2 or 3 hours per day of work.

After I stripped it, I had to wash it off pretty good and several times with simple green to get the greasy feel of the fuel off but it worked. I was able to re-paint it box art and it presented well.

I wouldnt do it again unless the body was impossible to find again and in very good shape.

[67CamaroSS]

I found the link from tamiyaclub for the project. I no longer have the car though

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=1193&id=135