Hey guys,

So here's the story - back about 10 years ago, I was heavy into customizing my joe collection. Now, 10 years after having stepped away from the hobby completely, I've opened my containers of joes once again to find the number of actual figures very low, and the number of painted pieces and mismatched projects that were never finished very high.

I want to remove the paint on all the pieces I customized (returning it to pre-factory paintjob if necessary) the safest way possible. Ideally I'd like to re-assemble a lot of the original figures, or at least have more usable pieces to work on if I want to customize again sometime.

Thanks so much in advance for any input or suggestions, it's much appreciated.

Thats a tough problem. Not sure if that is gonna go well. Also depends on what kind of paint. If its a model spray paint, I doubt its coming off without ruining the part. Enamel is going to be tough also and the chemicals needed might ruin the part. Maybe acrylic would come off if you boil it or something. I don't know. I've never even considered trying that. If I screw up and paint something wrong, I throw it away or save it to be repainted later.

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If you used the cheaper acrylics like Apple Barrel...the type you get at walmart for $1 a bottle... Soaking them in PineSol works to soften the paint to the point where a good scrubbing with a toothbrush takes the majority of the paint off.

Be careful because it can also dull the underlying plastic... I had an Alley Viper that was painted Black...and using the PineSol worked great...but the figure's Base orange just wasn't as bright any more.

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Thanks a lot guys. Yeah, some of it was the cheaper apple barrel acrylics and some of it was model acrylic. I'd seen the pine sol technique while researching so I wanted to see if you guys agreed. I'll try it out and see how it goes

I've also used OOPS or Goof-off in a spray can. Spray it on the part & let it soak to soften acrylic paint then rub it off with a rag or toothbrush. Still no guarantees though.

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I actually used Simple Green in palce of PineSol and it worked all right.

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I've been doing the same thing. First thing I tried was Dot 3 brake fluid. It works on models. Models are made of styrene, and it doesn't hurt them. Depending on how long you soak or how hard you scrub, you probably will damage the factory paint. I've never had it hurt the plastic on the styrene based ARAH Joes. I've had mishaps with TMNT and Wildcats figures. The TMNT paint dissolved, and whatever plastic they made Wildcats out of crumbled to dust.

After these mishaps, and dry skin, I tried Simple Green. I used the concentrate from a gallon bottle, and poured some into a peanut butter jar halfway full. I would highly reccomend the Simple Green! It works better than btrake fluid, and doesn't irritate your skin. all manner of paint (spray, enamel, acrylic) comes right off after soaking for a day or maybe more for stubborn paint, scrubbing with a toothbrush, you may need a toothpick or sharpened chopstick for crevices.
ARAH parts. Like new, no damage to factory paint.
Modern joes. Like it never happened.
Robotech figures. Factory paint scrubs off with the rest of it.

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