by waaytoomuchintothis » Fri Oct 30, 2015 12:50 pm
I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet, but the safest, most popular, and most effective stripper for plastic models is 91% isopropyl alcohol, in my experience. It won't harm your hands unless you stay in it for a really long time, and brake fluid, Superclean, and several others don't work a bit better. After the body has been in the alcohol for a long enough time for the paint to be softened, I speed up the process by scraping a lot of it off with my thumbnail in the vat. It works for enamel (takes longer), or lacquer (amazingly fast, tampos, too). The only time it ever failed me was a Scalextric body that had a freakishly thick clear coat. I sanded it lightly with #600 grit just to scratch it up, stuck it back in the alcohol and it was stripped in about an hour.