I am looking at repainting a carf Mig-15 that is currently painted with ppg and clear coat. I was hoping to remove the paint and get it back to the original silver finish that it came with from carf. Does anyone know if i will damage the original factory finish while removing the ppg paints?? I have been told to just paint over the existing finish but i still have to remove the markings which are clear coated over?? I am no paint expert so any experienced advice would be helpfull.
Thanks V..

Vin, going with a aircraft grade stripper might (probably) go into the plane. You might experiment with it. Sanding IMO would be the way to go. The heavy wet/dry used with water then go up to fine grades. Maybe have a sanding party with some friends and weight each piece before and after, ie wing panels. Offer a prize to the best sander!haha!
I have not done this to a plane but have removed auto paint at work. I am a set painter. Experiment is an unseen area. Painting over would be the easy way out and the weight savings from removal might not be a big deal to you. Is there a texture to your current design or is it smooth?
I like you paint scheme now, but it is a bit busy.

Joe Kelley

Vin, my friend,

I think you will have problems with keeping the details on your MIG, ie the rivets and hatches. I would probably get several grades of steel wool or a Scotch scuff pad and just knock the existing paint down a little. I believe you will get good adhesion if you do that.

Just my .02

BRG

Greg Anixter

http://seanreit.dynalias.net/planes/f18/index.html
Will work on any paint I've come across, including PPG.

Vinny I too think you will have problems if you use an aggresive striper, I dont know what kind of details you have on that jet but if you do need to use a striper first I would test it on a small area. If you find it too aggresive you can use brake fluid as a striper, its slow and will not damage small plastic parts. Again I not sure what the original silver was but I would think it was some kind of gel-coat, if so it will not look very nice once you get all the paint off, it will need to be refinished again.

Ron

Hi Ron,
I guess what i mean is i don`t want to ruin the original gell coat finish such as panel lines, rivets and hatch details etc. I anticipate repainting once the original paint is taken off.V..

Vin
I would just steel wool/scotch pad the finish down , light coat of primer ...paint what ever... added weight guess 12 to 16 ozs. IT's a russian MIG ... all the real ones I've seen are ....Well say rough not a smooth finish like the US birds
Semper Fi
Joe

Look what repainting did for "Earl Shibe" any car for $19.95

If this is the "three part mix"PPG paint...its pretty hard to remove with stripper without damaging underlying coats of paint....Just stripped my full size Pitts........would have been easier to just recover the whole airplane.

another posibility is "media" blasting. a local freind here has a business and does
this. it uses re-clamed plastic that is then formed into small pellets. they also use
walnut shells. it takes low pressure, and is amazing at what it will strip.

the nice thing with this is that we have stripped many "plastic" cars. vettes, no
problem, rubber bumper covers, no problem. it isnt really cheap, but it doesnt mare
the finish.

just another option

Stripper for fiberglass components will work fine without harming the plane---I've done it myself. You can get stripper for fiberglass at your local automotive paint and supply store...

Kevin