Hello. I need to clean and polish the front running-light lenses from both of my '65 Skylarks' front bumpers. So far, I've washed (most of) the dirt off with water and need to strip off the residual silver paint. How can I remove the paint without damaging the plastic? I've attached a picture of the lenses.
Oven cleaner should work. Will not damage the plastic. If you wanna be extra careful go to a well-stocked hobby store and they will have paint removers specifically for plastic models.
The world's biggest model car? At the hobby shop, would I need to go after thinners for enamel paints? When I'm ready to repaint it, what kind of paint do I need to go after? Just a can of anything silver? What's best for that kind of plastic?
No, not paint thinner. That probably could hurt the plastic. They should have an actual paint stripper, like aircraft stripper, but safe for plastic. Krylon Dull Alunimum in a spray can would work, or look for Testors Flat Aluminum at the hobby shop. It comes in itty bitty bottles.
Hmm... Paint stripper not in stock... It'll be a week before the hobby store gets it in. What about an acetone-based product like nail-polish remover, or maybe Castrol's Super Clean? Could either of those be used to remove the paint, or would they make the lenses look cloudy?
You can try Super Clean, but I doubt that it would do anything as far as the paint. Acetone should work--I think it's pretty plastic-friendly. Before slathering it on, try a drop on an inconspicuous corner for a few minutes and make sure it doesn't soften the plastic.
Update For anyone who's interested... :Smarty: The Castrol Super Clean really did the job. Unfortunately, it's no longer on the shelves (an EPA issue perhaps?) Since I still had a bunch more practice (already cracked) lenses still on hand, I tried out Purple Power to compare. It worked just as great.
