Pete,

I used a product called Citra Strip. It is avalable at Home Depot You put it on and 30 minutes later you can use a squegee to scrap of the paint. I did find that with red paint you have to put it on kinda of heavy. You might have to go over a few spots twice. After you whipe it down you can sand it with 100 grit sand paper.

I use a Palm sander for the big work then go back over the whole thing by hand with 100 grit Because some of the piant that is left over gums up and sticks to the surface. After that I primer with 2 coats of Laquer primer then wet sand with 200 grit and do Spot putty work. At this point I only work the Spot putty aeras and primer those aeras. Once all the Spot putty work is done, A final coat of primer and wet sand with 400 grit then 600 grit. This gives me a nice smooth surface for the paint.

Joe