[SOLVED] Stripping factory paint from Tomy Zoids?

[Maiasa Liger]

I hope this hasn't been asked before but I found nothing here and google hasn't helped so far either :')

As the title says, I'm trying to strip the prepainted parts of Tomy Zoids. I want to custom paint a Zero, but I have heard stories of the spray paint reacting with the gloss paint on the body, and I would really like to avoid that. Plus it's super thick and just gross lol.

On my Bladey, I have had more or less success with benzine, q-tips and a lot of rubbing; but it's barely a step above sanding, attacks the plastic and is really not the greatest solution for e.g. Liger Zero body halves.
I have already tried soaking parts in chlorine bleach, oven cleaner and windex, each of which impressed them none. (except bleach made the white plastic whiter and turned the teeth bright orange lol)

Would anyone have an idea what could help or even have experience with the matter themselves? Or any lead on what Tomy paint is made of (acrylic, enamel, lacquer) would likely help as well!

[Maethius]

Not sure about normal gloss factory paint, but there are two things I've had some success with...

1) Simple Green soaking (24 hours - 48 hours) strips chrome, and might work for other kinds of paint.

2) Sanding. Faster for smaller jobs, and always works.

[Maiasa Liger]

Haha I was actually hoping you'd answer Maethius, thought that you'd definitely have at least an idea :'D

Unfortunately I don't live in the US so I have no access to Simple Green. I'm not entirely sure what kind of detergent it is, but it looks like a normal all-purpose cleaner like bleach or such? I have had success in the past with using cheap <5% bleach for stripping my Zoids 2 Claw - leaving it in a warm spot stripped the chrome in just a night or two, and a few more days for the lacquer undercoat to drop off.

Sadly this hasn't worked at all so far for the thick gloss paint. I've been running tests the past week and had a little success with Ajax glass cleaner containing ammonia + leaving it in the sun all day (no more 24/7 warmth since my heating has been turned off, curses). This loosened the paint a little to the point of being able to arduously scrape it off with a finger nail, but that doesn't work for grooves and the like since it still adheres much too much (and my nails are half gone too).

Maybe that's a small lead for anyone though on what kind of paint it is?... Or which other chemicals might work..?

[Maethius]

The other product I have read a lot about is faster but could be damaging... spray oven cleaner. I opted for Green first because it is safer, but sometime you need to bust out the harsh chemicals! If you do, outside and gloves, my friend! Don't breathe it, don't use it as a lotion, and try not to get it in your eyes... stuff eats carbon, and that's what YOU are!

[Maiasa Liger]

I've been using benzine for hours on end so I'm not opposed to harsh chemicals at all xD As long as it finally works lol!

I have actually already tried using oven cleaner ;v; put a shoulder vent part in a small glass bowl, hosed it down with oven cleaner, covered it more or less airtight with plastic wrap, left it for a day or two.... to discover that absolutely nothing happened at all lol.
Did I do something wrong? Or does it need more time? I used K2R oven cleaner, perhaps it's not the right kind either?

This decade old paint sure is disobedient!

[Maethius]

The factory paint is formulated differently than chrome, which is really a base coat and a top coat (which is why you can strip the red off of a red chromed kit and make is silver.

[Maiasa Liger]

Yeah exactly. Interestingly the paints are so different that a chemical that strips all the chrome has no effect on the gloss whatsoever.

I just can't make sense of which kind of paint the factory paint is. If I knew that it'd probably be a lot easier to figure out how to remove it.

[Maethius]

Well, as a last resort, you can just prime over the whole thing and repaint.

[Snowflake]

Are we even sure that's paint? I always suspected it was some kind of special enamel or even just a thin layer of plastic pre-sprayed into the sprue before injecting the main plastic color. I know some gundam kits do that, don't they?

[Maiasa Liger]

I'm honestly 99.9% sure it's some kind of paint. It definitely behaves differently than the plastic itself. And seeing how there is what looks like overspray on a lot of parts of painted Zoids, I'm fairly certain it is indeed paint (presumably a lacquer) that's sprayed on afterwards. Still haven't really made any progress in getting it off again though... will update this thread once I do.

However, during these experiments I have also made some interesting discoveries as to which chemicals should definitely not come in contact with plastic..... perhaps I should make a paint removal and do-not-use-these-chemicals centered guide thread some time? Would that be considered useful?

[Snowflake]

I think a lot of people are already aware that a lot of paint- and glue-remover melts plastic (which makes sense given that a lot of paint and glue is made of essentially plastic) but there's no such thing as too much warning (unless it gets to the point that people start ignoring it all, like warning siren tests)

[Maiasa Liger]

STOP DROP EVERYTHING I finally figured it out omg. Got the hint from my friend Aurora who mentioned isopropanol for removing acrylic paint. Now mind you, I have heard of isopropanol (aka isopropyl alcohol or rubbing alcohol) before, but due to translation errors thought it was a different chemical (which ended up melting the runner) so I discarded the idea until the other day.
And man... after a month of low to no success, I can only say isopropanol is amazing omg. You just leave the parts soak in it for a while, it won't attack the plastic, and after a few hours-ish you can mostly scrub off everything with a toothbrush. If some doesn't come off the first time, rinse and repeat. I only wish it didn't cost $9 for 5 oz. here c':

I also found a faster way to remove paint from large and/or even surfaces and I feel kind of dumb for not thinking of this earlier: nail polish remover. Inb4 people crying that acetone eats plastic - yes it does, but you wouldn't soak your fingers in it for hours now either would you. (Also acetone free nail polish remover is just as hot. I extra bought some to try.) If you take the paint off the same way you remove nail polish - ideally with a cotton pad and some rubbing - there is no real damage to the plastic whatsoever other than surface matting unless you really overdo it. It's certainly faster than sanding but comes with the downside of pretty nasty fumes. Use it at your own risk and responsibility and only in a well ventilated area, I still have a headache from using it more than three hours ago.


Once I get the time, I'll compile all my findings into a new thread centering on chemicals, paint removal, deyellowing and the like. Don't think there's anything like that on here yet and it would serve nicely as a quick lookup for people (and myself so I don't forget what removes what hah). And also because I just love writing down elaborate sciency stuff lol

[Maethius]

Sweet! So glad you posted this here! And I'm glad you found your solution, of course!

[Maiasa Liger]

Adding this cuz an image is worth a thousand words~

Recently acquired an X with the empire armor being an extraordinarily pearly sparkly red, so ofc I had to strip the foot armor to reveal the gorgeous plastic x3 Soaking in isopropanol and using a bit of nail polish remover for the last resilient bits was all it needed~

[Leon35]

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