Stripping Paint from Helmet

[KnavishPlum]

Hello everyone!

I haven't really been on here recently but as school is getting closer to ending and vacation almost here I hope to finally start my Spartan suit. I have a question though relating to a piece I already have... the helmet. It is a ODST helmet I got on Etsy about a year ago at this point and I was wonder what could be done to strip the paint on it without harming the helmet. It was painted before I thought about making a body and I have learned of other painting techniques since then. It's a PETG plastic molded helmet and it was painted using some Rustolium spray paint and acrylic brush paint.

I have a piece from where the visor was hole was cut so I can test stuff before hand, I just am worried about sanding as I do not want to lose any detail and also since it already got the intense sanding treatment from when it was painted the first time.

Thanks!

 

[Hein B287]

I always strip my plastic minis with paint cleaner. For that i use st. Marcs (netherlands). Others in the uk use brown dettol for stripping

 

[Cadet]

You could just lay down a new layer of Rustoleum primer and paint a new layer on top without stripping off the previous spray paint, if you did not want to worry about the paint remover interacting with the helmet material.

 

[Dirtdives2424]

If you do a "paint over", don't forget to give the helmet a bit of a sanding. You want to remove a bit of the old paint top coating. It gives the next layer a bit more adhesion.

 

[KnavishPlum]

Would a paint over be the best option if I do a light sanding? I mainly worry since it already has a few layers of paint on it from the filler primer to regular primer to its colors.

 

[Cadet]

If you do light even coats, you really shouldn't lose much of any detail

 

[TurboCharizard]

If you haven't lost detail yet with layers added your best bet overall is to do a light sand as Dirtdives said and go to a light spray paint OR get to wet sanding and get a nice surface finish, air brush on your colour of choice and then clear coat.