StrippingOriginal Paint from Lionel Aluminum Passenger Car

Well, it’s aluminum.........., aircraft stripper was the best product till they took the MC out of it...is it a fully painted car or just striped?....you can try the alcohol trick, but I’m not fond of waiting that long....I like stripping paint in milliseconds, not days on end....I’d use lacquer thinner, and here’s the trick to quick dissolving with LT, ...use a fine grit paper like 320-400 and just barely break the finish on the paint....this will help the LT leach a lot quicker and soften the paint.....naturally the LT won’t bother the aluminum, but make sure there’s no plastic pieces on the car shell....sometimes car ends are plastic, and if the LT gets to them...you’ll find them in the bottom of the vessel you use to strip...kinda gooey....

Pat

Martin, if the car has stripes (such as the white stripes used on New York Central aluminum cars, and UP red stripes); those stripes are actually tape and will peel off.

Acetone is the generally accepted cleaner for aluminum. It may attack plastic and it will remove many paints, but slowly. 

If the paint isn't flaking off why not use it as great primer? As Carl says the stripes may just peel off. What car is it?

Thanks for the very helpful responses  I had not noted that the car ends were plastic and will take precautions when applying the stripping agent.  The car is a TCA  issue with black "San Francisco" lettering at the bottom of the car.  There are two aluminum stripes (raised, so that they must be some type of plastic) along the car side - something else that I had not noted prior to posting my original message.  

The existing paint job is black and orange with a black roof.  All in all, it is a beautiful car and I am somewhat reluctant to repaint it.  I plan to remove the paint on the car sides with Acetone, but leave the black painted roof as is.

Media blaster?  I see these used on many toy restoration videos.

Jon

First thing to do is strip the car. Remove the extrusion from the frame as well as the ends and any glazing material. Then you can use any stripper you want to use. For me I would use a solvent PAINT STRIPPER. Thats what its made for. Like Pat says the good stuff is NLA but even the substitutes would be better than something not formulated to strip paint.

Pete