Strippers…

Re-thinking strippers…

I have tried all kinds of product searching for the best (easiest) way to strip. Now that its almost completely over it really doesn’t matter, but I had been struggling with one last problem.

It seems that the paint used on my flaps and ailerons was a much different paint than on the rest of the airplane. No matter what product I used, nothing would work. I was about to sand and soda blast them but thought I would revisit one product I thought was junk.

There is a stripper by Solvent Kleen called D-Zolve  that I had tried early on. The company is right here in MA so I drove over to their warehouse and bought a 5 gal bucket. It was about $250 and the rep raved up and down that it was the bomb diggity etc… With enthusiasm, I gave it a try on a couple of test samples by brushing it on. 24hrs later, no joy. I called em up to complain and got no sympathy. In truth, I didn’t follow their instructions completely. 1) I didn’t shoot the stuff on with a gun, and 2) my shop was not near the 80+ degrees or so they wanted me to apply in.

I tried another couple of small tests with the same luck, and came to the conclusion that it would have been just as good to use oatmeal. Another complaint I had was that even though it was supposed to be “environmentally friendly,” the crap stunk so bad It was overwhelming, and hung around for a week.

Fast forward to the other day when I was scratching my head RE: the super-paint on the flaps/ailerons. I thought what the heck… I’ll give the D-Zolve one more try and did a small test. This time I wrapped it in poly and left it for 36 hrs.

To my surprise, when I came back and checked, it had removed all the paint. Way cool…

So this AM I brought both flaps and ailerons into the back of my office, cranked up the heat and went to town painting the stuff on. I wrapped them in plastic and am now letting them sit. Hopefully by Friday they will be stripped.

Downside: I used way more than I probably needed by brushing it on. Its pretty thick so difficult to get a nice even (thin) coat on by hand. Also, my landlord just came over and complained… (The stink has moved thru the industrial park.)

Net net: Looks like this might be the best solution for stripping (if:) you have an unattached hanger with a floor drain, ability to heat it up, have water in the hanger, and can spray the stripper on w/out getting it everywhere.