DOT4 Ain't Cuttin It
 

Wanting to respray a body I painted with aerosol Pactra for lexan. I've had DOT-4 in it for 8 hrs and it's having very little effect, which surprises me. It probably won't clean up at this rate. But I know it's worked for others. Dunno.

Anyone else had DOT-4 fail? And find something better? A lot of the high powered stuff isn't lexan-safe.

Bump. 20 hours now and I've only made 1% progress on the job. Need some new ideas here.

Hardknockz is gonna paint me a work of art body one of these days, but I still need a respectable mule body. Can't be messin up the super nice one for practices and low key events.

Buy a new body dude.

seriously man...that single stage enamel stuff has built in hardeners...kind of like a built in clear coat so anything that'll break that down is likely gonna eat at the lid too.

I'm thinkin most use the DOT4 for water based paints but not sure.

You got money Mr. Brand new crew cab Ford. :lmao:

LOL, Slap....

I know the frustration. Sometimes it is better for your sanity to cough up the extra $30 or so for another body. I have ruined many. Sometimes it is easier to start from scratch and hopefully learn from past mistakes. As far as stripping the paint, I usually use non actual lexan rc paint and it has worked with brake fluid. A lot of my bodys have been painted with Krylon sprays. They do not stick quite as well compared to Pactra and such. But they work good for me. One cheap and easy to find paint that I found to stick to lexan very well is "Rustoleum Rust control enamel" I used some that I had in my 1:1 jeep as it was the only black I had. I painted my grill on my SCX10 Cherokee with it and the stuff will not scratch. Best sticking paint to lexan I have ever used. Not sure why, but it worked great. I used "Satin Black". The rest of the rig is white and I wanted a contrasting grill. I may use that paint for future stuff. It was sprayed to the lexan grill area that was masked when I painted the rest of the body. So it was sprayed right to the lexan rather then over another paint or color.

Denatured alcohol removes over spray, not sure how well it'd remove the whole paint job though.

Actually, using the wrong paint is what got me into this mess. And when it started to chip I was going to start over. According to some, DOT-4 was supposed to just wash this stuff off. NOT

Anyway this is just a temporary thing. JD is painting me a show body. And my buddy and I are figuring out DIY lexan bodiless toppers which will bolt on in place of the std body.

This post has a few other products listed that have worked for people: http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/paint...int-lexan.html

easy off brand oven cleaner-original(yellow can) dont use fume free(blue can) or any cheap/store brand crap...it'll work and shouldnt "hurt" the plastic, i've used it on styrene models for years and the plastic looks new when srtipped- i put it in a sealed container and usually let it sit for a hour or so, i use a toothbrush to get in the cracks and crevises

Re: DOT4 Ain't Cuttin It
 

i have repainted dozens off hardbodies and even with automotive paints and 2k paints, when i wanted to strip them i use mr muscle oven cleaner(with the orange cap), iff this fails i always get good results with caustic soda(the stuff used for unclogging the kitchen sink)

bare in mind that you never should leave your body in it overnight and you have stay with it when you perform this task.

i do it in the following way:
get a large bin or tray to fit the complete body in
submerge the body in luke warm water
try to add a weight on top so it does not float

now add the caustic soda around the body, never on the body, make sure you remove all the screws and other metal parts iff it is not stainless steel it will eat it away, i ussualy let it soak for 10 minutes.

now comes the grimey part, i suggest to use gloves becaus the stuff whil eat your hands,also a protective set off goggles would be helpfull.
get a toothbrush and a dishwash brush or similar, now start by rubbing the brush on the paint and it whil clear as snow before the sun.

all the little nooks and cranys you can clean with a toothbrush, but i suggest not to use it after you cleanen the body with it

i am from europe so my english may not be accurate in all points but i hope this is helpfull to you

"thumbsup"

Re: DOT4 Ain't Cuttin It
 

Actually I finished the job with DOT4. It just took way too long. And involved a toothbrush and a wire cup on a dremel.

To avoid that in the future, I'm changing to water-based Faskolor for the repaint. Mostly because they had the right color. But it's also said to be easily removed after too much wear and tear.

That means I need to learn airbrush, but I doubt that's gonna be a big deal. I'm not doing a Mona Lisa here. That's what Hardknockz's for.


BTW, what about the outside? Do any of you guys clear-coat over the scuffs and abrasions? Or maybe Minwax, like we do on planes?

Re: DOT4 Ain't Cuttin It
 

you will have to back faskolor or it will wash off first time it gets wet. you can also use createx from hobbylobby or other craft stores. same paint as faskolor and cost half the price

Re: DOT4 Ain't Cuttin It
 

You make a good point. But if I back it, it limits it's repairablility. I comp in the desert, so I think I'll take my chances on keeping it dry. If it doesn't work out I'll rethink it. Faskolor has the specific lime-green I was looking for. I didn't find it expensive.

Actually, it's rapidly becoming moot. A buddy and I have gotten pretty good at designing and fabbing delrin bodiless cabs to fit conventional chassis. All of a sudden, none of my crawlers currently have bodies.

Re: DOT4 Ain't Cuttin It
 

You should try and get de-solv-it Graffiti remover. It cost around £10 and you can get it from www.screwfixdirect.co.uk Not sure if you can get it where you live.....
It does hard bodys and lexan. To totally strip a full body takes a few hours.
I stripped this pajero shell down to the bare plastic in about 3 hours.
It runs rings round brake fluid. Apply it and leave for 5 minutes, when it starts bubbling scrub it with a toothbrush, rinse with cold water. re apply if required. Normally it takes 4/5 goes. "thumbsup"

Re: DOT4 Ain't Cuttin It
 

Interesting. I just might shop for paint at Lowe's this afternoon instead of my LHS.

After having Tamiya rattlecan come showering back out of a properly prepped body in tiny flakes for the 3rd time (little things like pulling a sticker off or even scratching with a fingernail on the OUTSIDE of the body would make the paint flake back off the INSIDE with the greatest of ease. I was dumbfounded, and very pissed:x) I'm like Rook82, chalk it up as a loss and go buy another body. Even with paint coming back out so easy over 60-70% of the surface area, you think it will ALL come back out so I could try again?? Fat chance.

I'm willing to pee on a spark plug if it will make paint stick inside a lexan body...

Re: DOT4 Ain't Cuttin It
 

i use super clean or purple power to peel paint

Re: DOT4 Ain't Cuttin It
 

Someone told me DOT 5 is what you need

You might want to check this link out

Stripping paint from lexan: 15 products FAIL! - YouTube