Paint stripping on fibreglass

[RotaryOne]

I have a Bell Longranger which I bought second hand. It has a sound but the fuselage needs tidying up and I think the best thing to do is a total paint strip and start from scratch.

What suggestions does anyone have for stripping paint from a fibreglass fuselage please.

Thanks in advance for any helpful suggestions.

Nigel

[scoobystig]

i have used Glow fuel in the past for removing paint on Fiberglass cowls and spats
Petrol, Meths or Acetone(nail varnish remover) would all be suggestions to try

[RotaryOne]

Many thanks, Steve. Much appreciated.

Nigel

[Wayne's World]

I had the same problem with a Graupner fuss. It had been painted (poorly) with celulose paint. I eventually used nitromors paint stripped. It clearly says not to be used on fibreglass, so i tested on a sample, even left it over night. It worked a treat, no softening of the gell coat, and the paint fell off.

[RotaryOne]

Many thanks, Wayne. That's interesting because I bought some Nitromoors but hadn't used it. Also I didn't mention Nitromoors when starting the thread because I wanted to see what others would say. I tried some acetone, as Steve suggested, this evening and that certain does the job without having an adverse effect on one's skin. However, I found it a bit slow so, I will try Nitromoors on a trial area and see how I get on with it.
Thanks again.
Nigel

[electricsceadu]

the one method some have tried is to place the body in a large plastic bag with some thinners inside
and then seal the bag
remove 24hrs later and the paint wipes off

i don't know how well it works as i've never tried it myself

[Cagey]

For what it's worth I tried Nitromoors on an Align 450 cano, after 1/2 hour the laquer top coat softened a tad, but the colour underneath was as hard as ever and the odd area of raw fibreglass that the Nitromoors got onto started to soften too. So I just went at it with fairly coarse wet and dry, used wettted with water only and I was down to the bottom coating in just an hour. not near as messy as it sounds, very theraputic. Mind you the mess I made with the union jack paint job ( avatar ) made me wonder if it was worth it, considering I couldn't see it too well as I'd hoped up there. Bugger !

[RotaryOne]

Thanks, Cagey. So NM can work but one obviously has to be careful. Good tip.
Many thanks
Nigel

[RotaryOne]

Thanks, electricsceadu. Sounds interesting. Presumably not cellulose thinners because that would probably melt the bag.
Nigel

[carper2k]

Hi Nigel
I Used Nitromors on a Century Airwolf fuselage and it ruined it
only left it on for 10 mins and it ate right through the paint and the gel coat
washed it of in The bath full of water and the Nitromors floated and started attacking the bath on the water line as i did not know that this was fibreglass as well
the missus was not happy it cost me the fuselage and a new bath
I would just rub it down long winded i know but safer

Paul

[electricsceadu]

Thanks, electricsceadu. Sounds interesting. Presumably not cellulose thinners because that would probably melt the bag.
Nigel

as again i don't know on that
but i do know they say not to leave it any longer than 24hrs as it will soften the fibre glass

the best option would be to sand it and then use a primer that seals the old paint from the new

[RotaryOne]

Many thanks, Paul. That's really helpful. The Nitromoors will stay in the tin. Back to acetone, I think. That seemed to work well enough even though it was a bit slow.

Nigel

[MattHarper]

I've been there and got the T-Shirt whilst stripping a poorly painted Graupner 212 TwinJet. I started using Nitromors which as others mentioned removed the top layer of gel coat. If you get down to B & Q, they sell a plastic friendly stripper which, no surpises, comes in a plastic tub. It's around £10 and works an absolute treat.

Matthew

[RotaryOne]

Fantastic, Matthew.

But thanks again to all the others who contributed to this thread.

Many thanks again, Matthew.

Nigel

[MattHarper]

This is the stuff. Eco Friendly Paint & Varnish Remover for safe Paint Removal

They have it in B & Q although it doesn't appear on the website.

Matthew