[R-390] Painting Notes and Parts

[Jerry Kincade]

Went through the same drill a few months ago with the nearly impossible to
remove front panel paint on my Imperial/Teledyne. Local bead blaster shop
refused to blast it, said they were sure it would round off the edges of the
lettering, no matter how careful they were. Plus they were concerned about
warping the panel, because I only wanted the front stripped. They did,
however, tell me what to use to strip it, and it worked like a charm. It's
the same stuff they use in their shop to prep autobody work, and is called
JET-STRIP Professional Strength Automotive Paint Stripper. It's "Autobody
Master P/N 7713", and is distributed by Auto-Value Associates of San
Antonio, TX 78126. Seems to be easy to find, as I recall I found it at a
large home center type store (sorry, don't remember which one. Like
convenience stores, they all look alike to me anymore), but it's sold in
gallons only. About $16 a gallon. Can is blue and yellow in color. I wasted
a bunch of time and change on about five other brands and types. None of
them even discolored the surface of the original paint, let alone softened
it, and I tried soaking some of them overnight. This stuff softened it in
about 15 minutes to the point where it was "gently scrapable", and a
followup coat and a soft wire brush cleaned up the remainder and the
lettering. Piece of cake. It also doesn't seem to be the super-volatile,
stinky, methyl-ethyl-xxx stuff. No major smell or fumes. Of course, the
gallon is a bit of overkill, since a gallon should do maybe 100 front
panels. I wonder what the shelf life of this stuff is...  :-)
73, Jerry W5KP

> >
> Someone mentioned an aircraft-grade stripper that works quite well.
> Anyone remember what it was? I almost think it was Barry #1. It's
> amazing how scratched and hacked up these panels could get, considering
> how tough the paint is to remove intentionally.
>