removing paint from clear plastic

[Dr. Wartenberg]

So, I masked the canopy and cemented to the body, then painted the plane and realized I got over spray on the inside of the canopy through the the cockpit entrance in the wheel bay....
Is there anything i can use to get paint off of clear without fogging it up?

I have enough room to stick a q-tip in and swab it off, I just don't want to mess up the clear..

 

[Wurger]

To be honest , there isn't. It doesn't matter what kind of a paint you have to remove.All thinners can leave the white deposit.Of course you can try to remove it with dry Q-tip but scratches will appear for sure.I have encountered the problem a few times and the effect of following the method was always miserable. The best way is to unstick gentle the conopy, removing the paint and then polishing.

 

[kgambit]

To be honest , there isn't. It doesn't matter what kind of a paint you have to remove.All thinners can leave the white deposit.Of course you can try to remove it with dry Q-tip but scratches will appear for sure.I have encountered the problem a few times and the effect of following the method was always miserable. The best way is to unstick gentle the conopy, removing the paint and then polishing.

Wojtek is absolutely right if we're talking about enamels. However IF you're using acrylics that might not be the case. There are a number of acrylic paint brands that can be removed from clear plastic with virtually NO residue. It would be easier if the clear part wasn't glued in place. But if there is enough room to get a q-tip in, you SHOULD be able to get the acrylic paint off of the clear with a little patience and repeated light swabbings and without doing any serious damage.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Just another question. If he can get a q-tip in there easily enough, what if he used a small amount of tooth paste to buff the overspray off and rinse out the residue?

 

[Wurger]

A q-tip doesn't have endings enough smooth.So it is very easy to scratch clear parts. The polishing process consists of sanding and melting of edges of all scratches.That's why the moving during polishing has to be quite quick. So it is impossible to achieve the smooth surface trying to remove any deposit of thinners, paints or enamels with the tool. Every scratch that isn't polished ( even these very thin) will get a very small amount of tooth paste inside. As a result the scratch will become visible. Therefore "the glass" should be painted separately and attached to a model at the end of a build.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Thanks...

 

[antoni]

You could try applying small amounts of Aztek Concentrated Airbrush Cleaner (Ethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether). It is similar to brake fluid. It will soften both acrylic or enamel paints but it needs to soak for a while and you would have to be very careful not to get any on any other parts of the model that are painted. It does not effect plastic including clear parts but it does need time to work.

 

[Dr. Wartenberg]

Thank you all for the tips, the paint was acrylic so I used a small amount of toothpaste to scrub the paint off, and wet q-tips to clear out the toothpaste. The P-61 canopy is clear again with no white residue. Mission Accomplished!