Useful Paint & Chrome Strippers
This is not a "comprehensive" listing, just the products I've tried and the results I've gotten from them.
Castrol Super Clean (CSC) & Purple Power degreasers.
This is great stuff for stripping plastic! It eats right through enamel paints and will strip lacquers as well, albeit a might slower than enamel. It works without damage to clear parts. DO NOT USE ON diecast or resin! Bad things have been known to happen. Doesn't strip chrome (or at least not very well).
Brake Fluid. Cheap old DOT 3 works well.
Brake fluid removes lacquers and enamels from plastic very nicely. Not always as fast as CSC on enamel, but always effective on lacquer. I haven't tried brake fluid on clear parts or diecasts, but would recommend against using it on resin. Never tried to strip chrome with it either.
Westley's Bleche White tire cleaner.
Never tried this as a paint stripper, but it strips chrome very well - including the clear basecoat. Westley's is also highly recommended for cleaning resin parts prior to painting.
Bleach.
Another good chrome stripper. Ordinary household bleach works good for removing chrome plating, but it doesn't remove the basecoat.
Kleen Strip paint remover.
Works great for diecast! Do not get this near plastic or resin parts! Again, very bad things can happen!
"Aircraft" paint removers.
(Brand names to follow, but includes Zip Strip and Lightning Strip). Again, great for diecast, but deadly to plastic and resin!
That pretty well covers the products I have had success with. I will add to this list when and if I learn of better products. These products work for me, so I don't experiment much.
