Restoring a Sunnyvale Light Sixer

[dphirschler]

Anybody have tips on how to get this paint off?

 

 

I tried paint thinner to no avail. Guessing it's latex. Are there products that won't melt my plastic?

 

 

Darryl

[nick3092]

I believe goof off makes something safe for most plastics. But even they admit its not great at dried latex. I think it used to be called good off 2. Now I think they changed the name to something else.

[RamrodHare]

I've got an odd suggestion, but it might work and is usually safe on plastic. Zippo lighter fluid. I've seen it take off stuff that other things won't. Some of my friends who deal with vintage toys use it to clean off paint, permanent marker, and a ton of other things. If you can't get it off, the next best thing is to cover it up. You might try using a black marker to dot each spot. It may take a while, but it should do the trick.

[fiddlepaddle]

Sometimes little spots like that, if the paint droplets had a little bit of time to dry as they were floating through the air before they hit the 2600, can be "scraped" off with a dull blade, like a butter knife.

 

You have to go at it spot-by-spot. Put the edge of the knife at the very edge of a circular spot and put the pressure sideways and be careful not to push down hard enough to go into the plastic. I've used this technique if there are a few spots like that.

 

Yours looks like it would take a lot of time, though, if this technique even works.

 

Also, you might get some success using a "magic eraser", but it might change the finish a little bit.

[azure]

I had weird spray on stuff like that on my Sega Genesis. It was like black textured paint. I still don't really know what it was, but it completely covered the top half of the plastic shell. It was either a bad attempt to "mod" the console or an accident. On a whim, I soaked it in vinegar for several days. The stuff came off pretty easily on the tub. The rest came off with a tooth brush. I used Heinz cleaning vinegar, which is stronger than normal. How it looks now. Came across it cheap so figured I'd try to salvage it.

Edited January 31, 2018 by azure

[dphirschler]

Cool! I googled a little bit about vinegar used as a later paint remover. Going to experiment with this!

[+RichG1972]