Submitted by racerguy76
Paint Stripping and Priming Tutorial
Star with seperating the body parts into as many pieces as you can, the more you disaasemble the robot the better the finnish will be. Here I am using a TFA Jazz head. Once detached from the body the eyes were held in with a single screw.
Once removed I soak the head in Isopropyl rubbing Alcohol for about an hour. The longer you saok it the easier the paint is to get off, but the plastic seems to get soft and mushy if left too long.
My tools are an old toothbrush a dentists pick and a razor blade. Be careful kiddies.
First I use the toothbrush to clean as much of the paint as possible, the razor and the pick are for cleaning up grooves and the paint that just won't seem to come off with the brush. The razor should be used with extreme caution. Alwasys cut away from yourself and try not to score or scratch the plastic as much as possible.
Once the part looks faily clean I soak it again for 15 to 20 minutes.
Then clean it again with the toothbrush and rub it down with paper towel.
Once we have secured the head to a painting hook(xmas ornament hanger) it is ready for primer.
I used a brush and testors flat grey for primer. I find it covers nice and can be applied thin enough to not loose to much detail.
Using masking tape to keep areas not needing paint clean works great but it somewhat time consuming. If using an airbrush for the final job a good mask is essential. Again the better you prep the part before painting the better the final product will turn out.
I try and do as many pieces at once to keep my work consistent. This is twice as true if mixing custom colors.
