Small Scale Military Headquarters

I want to remove 21st Century decals. Will brake fluid remove them and not the paint or what will work???

metalwar wrote:I want to remove 21st Century decals. Will brake fluid remove them and not the paint or what will work???

I use fingernail polish remover (w/ acetone) which does a pretty good job, but it can take the paint off underneath if you rub too hard..

Try using Formula 409 spray cleaner applied with aa q-tip. Rub the numbers till they are gone. The 409 will slowly remove the layers of paint while brake fluid will quickly and deeply remove too much paint.

This is an old model railroad trick I saw in RMC way back when. Guys used to do it to remove car numbers from factory painted rolling stock so they could redecal the cars in different numbers...

TJ

I would advise against using brake fluid unless you want or are willing to repaint the parts where the decals sit. Finger nail polish is ok as is paint thinner/airbrush cleaner/enamel thinner, but it's best to mask off the area before applying the fluid, and be sure to let it set for a few mins (you can do a test area (bottom of wing?) and see how long it take till the fluid starts wearing down the paint, and adjust accordingly to the area you're wanting to remove the decal. I've also heard but have yet to try, applying vegetable oil and letting it start to disolve the decal material, while not causing the paint to thin? again, maybe worth a try on a surface area underneath the ac/armor and see what results you might get?

I have done what hworth18 suggested and it works fine. The nail polish remove has to contain acetone for it to work. I put some remover on a Q-tip and lightly rub it over the decal or tampo marking and you will see, almost immediately the paint coming of on the Q-tip. I take a few more dry Q-tips and wipe the area so the clean Q-tips soak up any tampo markings or decals. I also use a dry facial tissue to soak the mess up and then I take some clean water and a cloth and wipe the whole area down 2 or 3 times to help remove any thing that might be left. This also helps stop any reaction from the acetone. This whole process might take 1 minute and the quicker you do it the less chance of doing any unwanted removal.

Any thoughts about how to remove them if i want to do some repainting?

Cheers chaps