11 replies to this topic

[CROW]

So I started on the project of sanding off an old paintjob off one of my guns, and so far things havent been going too badly. However, there are a lot of small, hard-to-reach crevices on the gun's shell that are almost impossible to reach to sand. Any experienced painters have any tips on reaching them? Thanks

-CROW

[atomatron]

you could;

fold the sandpaper over and use the edge to try to get those tight spots,

...or Ignore them and just paint over it all.

[CROW]

I would do that, but sanding it that way would literally take days. The old paint job is solid, and takes a lot of work to get off. And as for just leaving it on there, I would if only the Vinyl Dye would work with it there. Sadly though, I've heard that Vinyl Dye doesn't really work on top of paint.

[Vistagecko]

Yeah fold the sand paper in half and squeeze it into the crevice. Make sure it's rough course, and move it around however you can. It can be really awkward but mostly any contact you can get it with the paint will tear the paint right off.

I'm not sure if your shooting for stock colors, but if you are repainting it don't worry about the little spots, the paint dries just fine.

EDIT: What gun is this? I would try paint thinner on the stubborn spots.

Edited by Vistagecko, 01 December 2008 - 10:01 PM.

[Blue]

Fold the sand paper over a thin metal ruler (or other strong thin thing), then use the ruler like a handle. I did the with a towel and it works great for cleaning crevices in the floor.

[CROW]

So Vinyl Dye can dry over small amounts of paint? Its a SM5000 by the way.

[nerfnut23]

use very light pressure with a sanding cone in a dremel. Will scrape off paint and not do too much damage to the plastic

[CROW]

Just finished getting half of the shell sanded. I ended up using a bit of everyone's advice actually Started with the dremel, then switched over to folding the sandpaper, then finished the hardest parts with sandpaper folded over a ruler. Thanks for all the help!

[BarryAllen]

I'm surprised no one recommended paint thinner. I've used it on poorly painted guns before. Soak the shell awhile, perhaps hours or more, then grab some gloves and a scrub-brush. You should know what to do with those.

The ideal paint-stripping situation would be a sandblaster, I think, but not a lot of people have access to one.

[BarryAllen]

I'm surprised no one recommended paint thinner.

That's because it's a really really stupid idea.

If you're not mistaken or outright lying, then you got ripped off with something that wasn't really paint thinner. Or just maybe somehow you were lucky - at about the superlotto-winner level. And I'm just not buying that last option.

I agree that the idea seems stupid, I wasn't sure what it would do to polyethelyne, but I had screwed up my maverick with too much paint. It was just a mav, so I just tried this. I didn't actually remove all the paint, but more than enough to re-paint it, and now it works just fine. There's a pic of it in the paintjobs/modifications thread.

I don't mind the skepticism but tone down the attack, geez.

[Split]

Paint thinner would actually have warped the shell of the gun in most cases. Acetone, turpentines, Xylene (some of the chemicals under that title) would have definitely. I'm not sure about the rest, but chemicals that powerful, with the gun immersed for hours on end, I can't really imagine good results.

[BarryAllen]

Paint thinner would actually have warped the shell of the gun in most cases. Acetone, turpentines, Xylene (some of the chemicals under that title) would have definitely. I'm not sure about the rest, but chemicals that powerful, with the gun immersed for hours on end, I can't really imagine good results.

Hm.. Guess I did get lucky. I left my shell in overnight, scrubbed it, painted it, assembled it, and it's currently my best-firing mav.