I'm looking to repaint my F-18 as was wondering what the easiest method is to remove the existing paint, any suggestions?

Straight Acetone works great for me. I pick it up by the gallon from Wal-Mart. I haven't tried it with automotive paint though.

Thanks for the input, I'll give it a shot. Anything beats sanding!

I rubbed down a Paul Gray Grippen once and a Avonds F15, using sand paper, to repaint in a new scheme. You do not have any skin on your finger tips left once you have finished....HORRIBLE JOB....

hehe.... yeah, I have a black & decker mouse sander and even that makes your hand numb... and it takes forever too. Sanding by hand might as well be torture in my book.

Mlevin is right, I used some acetone and with a little rubbing the paint came off and there was the primer layer.... now I just have the other 95% of plane to do!

how about a chainsaw. Just lightly touch the surface while moving back and forth. Wa'la.

depending on what the finish is and the underlying surface you may get good results with paint striper from the hw or auto parts store.

I used a can of spray on striper from auto parts store on fg cowling with great results - just spray on, wait and then wipe off!!

Be sure to wear gloves and work outside.....

Brian,
The Paint Remover sold in the auto stores used for flexible bumpers. The "Aircraft Remover" product is not compatible with plastics but the other version for Flexibe Plastic Bumper is and helps a bunch. Buy the hard plastic scraper that's usually available nearby to scrape the goop off. I got two layers of paint and primer off a used F-22 project I'm working on this way. About 90% of both coats came off and the rest was sanded off by hand or an electric sander. You'll have to rinse the surface off with water after scraping the paint off to neutralize the chemical reaction.

I refinished my old Sport shark by sanding it all off. Not very fun at all! I used the little B&D Mouse sander as well but I still had Popeye arms when I was finally finished sanding the thing!
Does the acetone method work on water based paints?
If not, what will?
Thanks!
Myles

Acetone has worked for me. Have not tried stripper, afraid od what it might do to plastic parts and such. Sanding is a dog's breakfast, especially with a nasty little sander like the Mouse. Treat yourself to a Ryobi or similar. There's a big difference. That Mouse thing vibrates like crazy, and just ain't up for more than a minute or two of work...

there is a fiberglass specific paint stripper at the home centers. Klean strip was the one I used. brush it on, the paint bubbled up, and scraped it off with a fiberglass spreader. you will need to sand a bit after that, but it really knocked out the lionshare of the paint. I was concerned about it "softening" the glass, but no problems there either. this was on a 7 plus year old starfire.

I stripped a 1/4 scale Vendetta in about 3 hours, using 200 grit "wet or dry" sandpaper, with the "wet" being supplied by dipping the paper in lacquer thinner.

The first couple of seconds of sanding an area with this approach doesn't seem to do anything, but a couple of seconds later the paint starts coming off and forms into little "balls" of paint. At the end of the job, the floor looked like it was covered in some kind of crumbly cheese, but the fuz & wing were spotless.

If you try this though, use good ventilation, mask etc, to keep the fumes away from you.

Gordon

I just striped a jet with a glass fuse and wings with acetone, it worked great. I soaked some rags with acetone and laid them over the fuse keeping the rags wet at all times (the rags keep the acetone on the model at all times). After about tem minutes the clear coat started coming off. The paint and clear coat that was on the model was PPG car
paint and it came off no problem. Laquare thinner works just as good. Sanding if done incorrectly can leave gouges and marks that you will have to go back and fill and sand. So I vote for chemicals. PS my wife complained about the smell. I learned this method through making mistakes when I was painting a model and had to start over several times because I was just learning how to paint.

Regards
Vern

Ok, the chemical plastic bumper stripper I used carried the "Bulldog" name brand and it is compatible with fiberglass. Again, part of the trick is to neutralize the chemical reaction with a little water once you've got the paint stripped off. In theory, the chemical reaction could continue for some time after the paint is removed.

I've also heard of using oven cleaner but I have not tested this method nor do I know if it's compatible with "plastics".

Thanks for all the input, now I can get this bird clean and ready for the blue angels treatment! So far I think the chainsaw sounds like the best idea

While I am at it.... anyone used the CH (Cambell Hausfeld) Easy Spray unit? I picked one up about a year ago from Home Depot and so far all of my experiments with it have been unsuccessful, the paint always ends up running.

I stripped a Yel F-16 with an of the self paint stripper. I may have left it on to long. It made the section I was stripping soft.

I can see the value of washing the chemical off now.

Best thing to do, sell the model and start with a brand new one....Cos the hassle of rubbing paint off is an absolute nightmare. It never looks as good as a brand new one when you first paint.

Until I just tried it with acetone, I would have agreed with you. But it really was not so bad at all using just acetone. The paint strippers scare me, I have stripped a car and god knows that is nasty stuff.
It may not look as good as a brand new one, but I think that depends on how much time you put into it.
I have tried just sanding, and that's a nightmare.
Use straight acetone, you might be surprised that the job is not so bad at all.

I will gut out the jet then use a high pressure car wash nozzel at the local car wash with it set to hot soapy water-you would not belive how fast that old paint will come off with 1900psi of hot soapy water hitting it-what little is left gets the green scotch brite pad and acetone-I did it in 1 hour.


Jackjet