Stripping Paint on Newer MTH cars

[fifedog]

I used to custom paint.

MTH uses very good paint, that I have found nearly impossible to get all removed.  Whenever I even think of repainting Mike's stuff, I start with a piece that has minimal decor and striping, and simply primer over everything first.

[TRAINCAT]

Go to the grocery store and buy the cheapest, foulest smelling oven cleaner you can find. Not the oderless types. This is safe for plastics but WILL remove chrome instantly. Oven cleaner will always work where others do not. Barke fluid can seriously harm SOME plastics. I have seen it eat HO plastic engine bodies to the point of melting them. I usually use 91% alcohol or "Super Clean" in the purple jugs.

Roger

[Seayakbill]

It is very difficult to strip MTH paint. A couple painting experts on another forum suggests very light sanding and then primer.

[brianel027]

Doug, I've been stripping and repainting now for nearly 20 years. One thing I've found is that depending on the era of production and the product company, different stripping products work better than others. I've used Pine Sol, brake fluid and isopropyl alcohol to do stripping with other products.

The main thing is to remove the lettering on the car and then so sand smooth any indentations especially from heat stamping.

I'm not a big MTH guy nor have I ever stripped an MTH product. But over the years I have read many instances on other forums where those who have tried say MTH products are difficult to strip at best. I suppose MTH uses some other process to paint their products, which while being more durable for certain, makes stripping difficult.

I don't want to lead you away from this forum, but in all honesty, this question might best be posted on the OGR forum as there seems to be a real leaning towards MTH products there and that's where I have read comments about the difficulty of stripping MTH products. Bear in mind, the archive on this forum goes back years and is nice. On the other forum, the archive goes back much less in time.

[Doug T]

I just finished reading through 7 pages of posts on stripping cars. Most of those posts covered PW Lionel, diecast, and some K line cars. I have several MTH coil cars that I would like to strip of paint and markings.

While I was in HO I used brake fluid to strip various cars. Brake fluid worked well back then. However disposal of brake fluid today is a problem enviromentally.

I read Chameleon will work but that is pretty expensive. Has anyone used Pine Sol and what were your results? I read that Simple Green can be used. Do either of these products harm the plastic.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Doug