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So, my impatience has struck again and yet again bit me in the ass. My masking tape is packed up and on the other side of the world and instead of walking down the street and getting some I decided I could take a sheet of paper and carefully primer my nephilim jet.

Needless to say this didn't work and it got on several parts of the clear windshield. I was wondering what I should use to get it off. I was thinking either acetone or paint thinner but don't want to melt the plastic. What will work, make the the glass clear, and keep the glass in tact. It's very frustrating after spending a good amount of time painting the pilot and cockpit. If it matters at all it is dupli-color sandable black spray primer.

Hope someone can help if ya'll need any further info let me know.

I would try mineral spirits, and I would do it NOW before the primer cures. If you get it right away it will come off quickly.

My favorite saying at the office - didn't have time to do it right, had to make time to do it twice ;->

Acetone will completely F&$# your windshield.
As will methylated spirits, isopropyl alcohol and mineral spirits/turpentine.

Simple green MIGHT work - I've never used it, so can't say.

You're pretty much stuck with either ruining the canopy with whatever paint stripper you do use, or overpainting the canopy and making it look like reflected sky and not clear.

I've gave it time to sit unfortunately so I'll try the mineral spirits, if not I may keep it with the tinted look it has going on, it is just sad with how much time was spent on the interior. I do have simple green here though to try. any more tips are more than welcome.

The fairy power spray that is popular in the uk would probably work; the tub I use to contain minis while stripping is clear plastic and comes out clean as new... maybe cleaner ! P
Im aware you cant get it... but its an oven cleaning degreasing product.. there is likely something that will do a similar job... a spray product for getting the crap off your bbq grills perhaps?

Simple green doesn't remove primer well at all. It is able to remove acrylic pretty easily but any surface that is primed, simple green halts at the primer. You can have a painted model, leave it in simple green for weeks (like I have), and the paint will come right off, but the primer is completely impervious to SG.

Most stress free way is to call gw and ask of they can send you a replacement.

Or T-cut if you have it in America. It's a car polishing compound and is used by some in the aircraft modelling community. I recently bought a 1:32 scale jet aircaft kit and the canopy had a really distracting mould line lengthwise down the centre. I used fine abraisive paper to remove the line, then polished the canopy back to it's proper state with T-cut.

If you can get it, I recommend the one for metallic paint - it's a finer grade than the standard stuff and will give a better finish.

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:
Simple green doesn't remove primer well at all. It is able to remove acrylic pretty easily but any surface that is primed, simple green halts at the primer. You can have a painted model, leave it in simple green for weeks (like I have), and the paint will come right off, but the primer is completely impervious to SG.

OTOH, if the only primer it's been exposed to is a GW rattlecan, then it's not even a real primer and it might work.
I use etching primers on my models (but canopies get put in last and are hand-painted with masks.).

 Conrad Turner wrote:
Or T-cut if you have it in America. It's a car polishing compound and is used by some in the aircraft modelling community. I recently bought a 1:32 scale jet aircaft kit and the canopy had a really distracting mould line lengthwise down the centre. I used fine abraisive paper to remove the line, then polished the canopy back to it's proper state with T-cut.

If you can get it, I recommend the one for metallic paint - it's a finer grade than the standard stuff and will give a better finish.

This (assuming you cant get hold of anything similar to fair powerspray- even then, the primer may have tarnished the clear plastics surface)
Use fine grade sand paper to get the primer off, maybe starting with 800 or 1000 grit, and sanding wet. Once the primer is removed, leaving a scratched dulled surface, move up to cutting compound, (T-cut is a brand) There is undoubtedly one available to you in USA as the custom car and bike painting industry would use it a lot. My personal fav is G3 compound from Farella, its sold as a boat polish, for shinying the up the hull of a boat after repair work. But even Halfords have their own brand of it. Performance varies from brand to brand
To use it, you want a wet rag and some elbow grease, keep rubbing untill its shiny clear again, you may need to do the entire canopy in order to keep an even shine across it, or the bit you polish may end up clearer than the rest hehe.

edit; these polishing steps are basically the only way to achieve the 'showroom shine' on a sprayed car or something like that. The clear coat is sanded up with really fine paper, ever increasing the grit value, and the white scratchy marks will dissapear when youve done enough work.

T cut is a great shout. If you cant get that, a cd scratch removing kit should do it too. Its initally fairly abrasive, but if you follow the instructions, they do a pretty good job of getting them back to normal.

Trust me BRO-- Denatured Alcohol.

You can get it at Walmart and you just put some on a sturdy thin rag and use a small flat screwdriver to get a sharp edge and wrap the rap around the screwdriver and rub the excess paint right off.

DENATURED ALCOHOL

modeling sand paper perhaps? be super careful. might even give the window a weathered look that would look more realistic. otherwise id say get a new one or buy the bits on ebay.

Silver polish could also work.

It's an ultrafine abrasive cream. Computer case modders use it for polishing scratches out of clear plexiglass.

You could also make a new canopy. Old trick I used when doing model airplanes as a kid.

Put a thin (almost not there) coating of vaseline on the inside of canopy, let sit for a while, then start brushing on thin layers of clear fingernail polish. A couple of good coats from the underside, then pop it out and do a few more coats on the top side. You end up with a new canopy, just not as strong as the original.

I've heard lots of aviation modelers recommend dipping the part in Future Floor Wax to give a nice, even, clear finish on canopies that have required abrasive cleanup or been accidentally scratched. From what I gather, a dip should set you right without the need for cutting/polishing compound - something as fine as the "finishing" face on an emery board for nails (I have a 4-grit, foam-backed board that can put a decent polish on plastic, but leaves clear parts slightly hazy) should be sufficient, and is both cheap and easy to source (more generally useful than the compound, too, if it has a few different grits on it).

I use a plastic polishing cream at work to erase fine scratches in acrylic glazing and it certainly does work, but even vigorous polishing only takes out very shallow marks. If you're going to have to do some superfine sanding to prep the piece anyway, might as well save yourself further effort.

Disclaimer: I've never actually done this, myself, only seen it recommended in modeling books and magazines, as well as having seen pictures online of parts that were salvaged flawlessly, using this method. Do a quick search and read up before committing.