I'm getting ready to start refinishing my classic Cobra. It was originally painted with dope with catalyzed polyurethane as the topcoat. The plane needs some alterations in the controls so that a human can fly it, but once that's done, I plane to strip the finish and redo it. This was the 6 day wonder paint job I did a couple of years ago for VSC and the plane really deserves to get a nice finish. It currently weighs 45 or 46 ounces, most of the extra weight is in the ridiculously rushed finish. I'm hoping that along the way I can knock a few ounces off of it as well.

My plan is to use a combination of lacquer thinner and naptha with steel wool to take the finish down. I thought about stripper, but was afraid it would get into the wood and cause problems. Once I get it back to silkspan I imagine there will be some patching involved and some reshoot of primer in some areas. Then I repaint and reclear it. Probably all dope this time.

Any thoughts or ideas on this process? Based on some previous experience, I don't expect it to take too long to take the finish down to the silkspan, but if you've done this before, I'd love to hear any thoughts about it or tricks you learned.

Thanks for input.

I second the comment on hoping to learn something.  Randy, any chance you can post pics as you go?  Maybe in the "Building Techniques" forum?  I'm amazed you can take the finish off and leave the original silkspan.  My expectation would be you'd have to just remove the 'span, remove finish from elsewhere, re-silkspan, etc...

Dennis,

I can tell you from experience that using 000 steel wool and a bit of lacquer thinner and it will cut right through catalyzed urethane. I've done that before. Once I get through the urethane and if I can manage to not take too much of the color off, I'll switch to naptha for the dope. While you can use naptha to clean a dope surface for further painting and such, with steel wool, it takes dope off pretty quickly. I think the method will work fine, just wondered if others that have done it had any trick they might want to pass along.

I've used the techinques separately for other things, but never tried it all together. Guess we'll see.

I probably should already know the answer to this, but what is naptha?

James

Cigarette lighter fluif is mostly naptha but it's cheaper to buy by the gallon at a hardware or paint store.

I've got a couple of models I need to strip and refinish, so I'll be watching this thread. Please post your results as they happen!  Steve

Randy,

Thanks for the tip. I tried some aircraft stripper on a test piece (bottom of a wing on a "retired" plane) and it made a hash of things. Actually ate into the silkspan. I'll head to Home Depot and get some Dad's.

Steve,

I won't be starting it for a bit yet. But if the stripper Randy suggests works well, maybe the Novi will get the same treatment.

Hi Randy,

I posted on SSW a few years ago about the "Dad's Stripper".  Aaron found it at Wal Mart and it came with a squirt bottle to fill and use.  It will take off as much or as *little* as you want.  It will depend on how long you leave it on the surface.  We gat a new roll of paper towels, set the plane on soft pads and go to town!  It will take a layer of dope off about as fast as you can spray  it on and wipe it off.  A *little* longer wait and it will really work. 

As Randy said, it will even remove the silkspan substrate if you care to. 

We have done three refinishes with it.  Aaron's Ares, my P-47 and a SV-11.

DO NOT LET IT GET ON A PLASTIC CANOPY!  That is the ONLY problem we had with it.

I had to go to Homey Depot today, and looked for the Dad's paint stripper. No luck at finding any product from Dad's. I did find two products from Mötsenböcker's, and brought them home. The first, in an aerosol can, is Liftoff 2. It is claimed to remove grease and oil stains from anything. Maybe a K2R substitute? The second one is in a spritzer bottle, called Liftoff 4. It's for Graffiti, and will remove most things applied by aerosol can without damaging the fence or building surface. Maybe it will take the paint off stunters, along with some Scotchbrite or (stainless)steelwool and papertowels.

Another thought...we use two kinds of Layout Dye Remover at work, in aerosol cans. One, Dykem brand, is very mild, mostly liquid propane. I wouldn't use it next to the furnace or hot water heater, but I think it would be good for taking tape goo off, or removing India Ink faux paux. Crown brand is a bit more aggressive, and it's what we use mostly. Either is more expensive than a gallon of MEK or alcohol, but there are no stupid questions from the EPA about how we disposed of the "dirty" gallon of MEK! SOP is to put it in a "wash bottle", squirt some on the part, wipe the part clean, let the stuff evaporate, throw the rag in the safety can...or someplace close to it, or on the floor...my co-workers are mostly pigs, it seems.

Needless to say, test these products with some care, in those "inconspicuous" areas where nobody will ever notice.   
  Steve

Hey, Steve, you got a Wally World around there?? 

Unfortunately, I have not found it around here in any store besides Wally World.