What’s the best aircraft paint remover?

How do we get down to the surface - aluminum or wood? Even if you have 3 coats? 5 coats? If you’re like me, you’ve used razorblades, a gasoline liquid detergent mixture, belt sanders, palm sanders, a wire brush, 3M pads and even angle grinders to get to the surface. But good luck! You can’t get 5 coats off with any of those techniques, machines or materials. So what is the best aircraft paint remover? Well, there are several depending on what you need done, how many coats you have, and how environmentally friendly will determine what product you need to buy.

1 Coat

Bullseye Paint & Finish Remover (Rustoleum) is soy based and an environmental friendly spray that works ok with thin coats of paint. Honestly, it’s not worth the money. We are talking about an aircraft and we want to be perfect about this. If all you have is Bullseye, then go ahead and try it but you will be disappointed in the long run.

2 Coats

Environmentally friendly CitrusStrip will melt away at least 2 to 3 coats but you have to let it sit for at least 20 hours and then after that you have to chip away at it which takes a long time. If there are more coats, you will definitely need something more industrial strength. The good thing about CitrusStrip is it isn't flammable and doesn't have any toxic fumes.

3 Coats

Jasco Semi-Paste Multi-Surface Paint Remover or Jasco Premium Paint and Varnish Stripper will do a great job for an airplane with 2 - 3 coats of paint on it. It’s cheap and available at any local hardware store like Lowes or Home Depot. Some people swear by Jasco. They say it can remove anything, but research has shown that it cannot cut through more than 4 coats.

4 – 5 coats

Klean-Strip Aircraft Paint Stripper is the best out there. It’s designed to peel all of the paint off of aluminum airplanes without harming the metal. This is the product you need. It’s easy to handle, goes on very smooth with a brush,  and strips layers off with ease by using less than the others above.

The next question is how environmentally friendly do you want to be? If you’re worried about the environment, then the safest most effective stuff is CitrusStrip but you will have difficulty with more than 3 coats of paint (layers). So in conclusion, if you need it done right and are not too worried about harmful chemicals and/or have the facility to clean it up, go with Klean-Strip. If you are doing it yourself and there is a possibility that your efforts will spill into the soil or worse, get into the sewer, then go with CitrusStrip. You will probably need to do it a few times to get down to the metal/wood.

http://www.vertinc.net/whats-best-aircraft-paint-remover/

https://youtu.be/Apxgs8wu0hM