Well i finally took the step and fired up my air brush ( Virgin Here ) well all i can say if i perform like that on my wedding night i will be divorced with in the hour, OK 15 minuets :-)
Right to my problem i thinned the paint to much and its run and dry ed in puddles and its just not good, so how can i get it off and start again, i have searched the forum and found plenty of weird and wonderful ideas but found no clear winner. I am using Tamiya Acrylic.
I have since tried airbrushing again on some old piece of plastic and i think i have cracked it
So as soon as get this dam paint of i can get cracking

Many thanks redleg

I have heard that Windex will remove Tamiya Acrylic paint. I believe it is the amonia in it. You could probably dip it in straight (cleaning) amonia as well. Not sure of the results though, I only use enamels and strip them with Easy Off Oven Cleaner.

Oh, and better luck on your wedding night. I won't offer you any advice on that, not on this forum anyways.

I don't know about availabilty across the pond but Castrol "Super Clean" works great for removing any paint, oil or water base. Won't hurt the plastic but it will tear up your skin. Where gloves because it is very caustic.
I have heard "Simple Green" all purpose cleaner works well removing acrylic paints. I have not tried it.

I will withhold wedding night and marital advice in general, since I have had three... :-)

Shaun

Put the model in a plastic bag, and spray it with oven cleaner (Mr Muscle should do). Be very careful of the fumes. Then put the bag in a sealed plastic bag.

Leave for a few days then rinse under cold water (be carful to use an old sieve in case you wash off any bits). Remove any stubborn bits of paint with an old toothbrush.

Works for me - but make sure there are no metal pieces on your model - they will react nastily to the oven cleaner

Get you self to Morrisons and get there BettaBuy White Creme cleaner (its 25p!!!!!!!). Fill a bowl with warm water. Cover the model in the creme cleaner and soakfor a few min. Rinse clean and the paint will fall off.

It's amazing and will not damage any parts, metal or otherwise (well it works fine all the models I've tried - both plastic & white metal)

Reading this post made me feel your pain.

Since you are a noob with the airbrush, do yourself and your models a huge favor (expensive model paints will thank you too)

Get your self some cheap house paint, interior wall paint is fine. Pour some in a jar, and thin it to the consistency of milk - give or take. Strain it thru an old (or new) pair of panty hose, or similar to clean out any large pieces that are usually found in that sort of paint.

Fill you your ab's reservoir or jar and practice, practice, practice! After you are done practicing, practice some more! Use a piece of cardboard or similar to practice spraying even coats. Practice making circles, writing your name, swirls, etc.. Learn how close to the subject you can get. Learn what air pressure works best. Than get an old piece of 2x4 wood or anything that will now represent a 3D model. Practice airbrushing that. Practice using even strokes across each surface. Draw a few parallel lines across the wood and practice filling it in without going outside the lines. Practice. Than practice a bit more.

I cannot stress how important practicing is. Anyone here can tell you the same nightmarish story about learning how to airbrush on their model. Eeek! Save yourself the hassle of having to clean the model and start anew. Save the expense of using model paints and use some inexpensive house paint or similar. Just be sure to strain it before spraying.

A couple hours of learning "how to" will last a lifetime.

How many models did you go through to get this tip??? :-)

How on earth did you arrive at "Morrisons BettaBuy White Cream" is the best to use???

Just curious!

Thanks for all the great ideas everyone, i will get soaking,washing and brushing after work tomorrow.



Slight problem i don't have a Morrison's anywhere near me would another cream cleaner work?
And please answer murdo's question i am intrigued also

redleg

I will second Shauns idea of super castrol ( I think I got the idea from Shaun), this stuff works great on Tamiya acrylics. A couple of months back I was given a bunch of models from a fellow at work, these this were probably 15-20yrs old, and painted with Tamiya acrylics. After spraying a couple of shots of this castrol stuff and waiting 5 mins the paint rinced right off in the sink, left a nice clean surface free of oil and ready for paint, wow excellent stuff

Ok, it all started with the old oven cleaner tip on white metal models I bought from e-bay. I wanted to strip them back and repaint them.

After several near death experience thanks to the fumes I had to find a safer way – and oven cleaner is really expensive!

Now a bit of chemistry research was required and apparently there is an active ingredient in oven cleaner that is also in cream cleaner. It so happens that this ingredient has an adverse effect on acrylic based paints, but is safe on hard surfaces (plastic and metals as this is what it’s designed to clean).

So research done off I popped to the super market and bought some BettaBuy cleaner. And wow did it work on the white metal! You need to pick out paint in deep recesses with a pin or needle and it does not work very well on Games Workshop spray paints, but a bit of time spent scrubbing with an old finger nail brush works.

I painted a rather expensive 1/72 air kit and I just did not like the end results and was very frustrated with myself. So I tested the cleaner on the plastic later that day and amazingly the paint just fell off in big pieces leaving the bare plastic.

A few days later I was spraying some camo on anther aircraft and I had not turned down the compressor. Well, I wanted to spray at 5psi and ended up giving the aircraft a burst of paint at 35psi! What a mess! So again I turned to the cleaner and again it worked. Just set me back two or three days.

I’ve used to correct other botched paint jobs - I’ve come along way in my airbrush skills since and thanks to the Cream Cleaner I have no fear of been able to start a model all over again.

So there you have it.

Tell all your modelling friends about this real life saver!!

Simon


Oh, I've no idea how it works on enamels - might try later today
Oh, and PLEASE if you try this, test it first !!!

Thanks for the reply... well done!... I wish I could think of a really great way to congratulate you but..
(not good at spouting)...

Hey, Well done!


I'm often fascinated by the ideas and results intelligent, enterprising and experimentive people come up with on this site.

Some are simply amazing and I can't understand how they came up with the idea in the first place.