Some caustic soda has aluminium particles in it. The zamac goes darker (or black) then the ones with aluminium

the drain cleaner we have in Canada that Nobleco mentioned has aluminum shavings. I ve used it once and it worked ok had to do the process a couple times. Not as strong as straight caustic soda I guess.
Nobleco what type of furniture do you use?
Great video Routemaster, thank you.

I meant furniture stripper

I always used the Circa 1810 from Home Hardware stores. It worked really well, not that stinky and was water soluble so you could just wash it off under the tap after taking off as much paint as you can. You don't want that down the drain. They changed the formula from a liquid to a gel and it worked just as well but for one think. The Gel does not brush on the same way. Liquid you could always get lots on a small brush and then brush the sides or grille with it and it would stick and do its thing. Now, with the gel formula it does not stay on the brush like the liquid so you have to "push" it up onto or into the toy. Such a pain. Works well on vertical surfaces for furniture they say but I don't know how they apply it. I asked and the store guy said with a brush or cloth wearing rubber gloves. I never use gloves as my hands are still like leather mostly and I never used a cloth on my toys, too wasteful. I then tried out the new Circa 1850 stripper and it is called Soft Strip, also by Circa 1850 but it is crap. Did not take hardly any paint off the two ambulances I am working on. I am now trying out something new but actually have not used it yet. Also from Home Hardware called EZ Strip professional strength paint & varnish stripper, Low VOC, the Eco Alternative. Supposed to be good on Masonry, metals, stone and wood. No fumes, No burns, Non -caustic is what the label says.

Here is a picture of the two I have right now.

The stuff on the left above is garbage as far as I am concerned. Will probably try out the EZ strip this weekend.

Thanx for the info ☺

Your most welcome. When I get to using the new stripper I will let you all know about it.

I use this paintstripper for my diecast cars but with caustic soda it goes quicker. I leave the paintstripper on the model for about 12 hours.

Most times with my stripper it is only on for half an hour, sometimes it takes longer though. I can't leave it on for 24 hours as it dries out.

Cleaned the body, nice and shining.

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Today I'm going to show you how to strip paint off a diecast without making a royal mess of it like when using paint stripper and at a fraction of the cost, too. I do this on my kitchen table and wear normal attire.

Bonus: Clear plastic windows resurrection included!


1. You disassemble the model:

2. You will need a takeaway bowl and - you guessed it - Caustic Soda:

3. Put the diecast parts to be stripped in the takeaway bowl (depending on the size of the bowl, you can strip several simultaneously):

4. Add boiling water until the parts are submerged:

5. Add some Caustic Soda:

6. Watch witchcraft happen:

After about two minutes, when the solution has stopped bubbling, dump it into the sink and rinse everything liberally with water. Usually you are finished now, unless, depending on age, kind of paint, thickness of paint, etc, not all traces of the paint have come off:

8. In this case, repeat steps 3 to 6.

After a few minutes, remove the parts from the solution, but do retain the solution and let it cool a bit.

Be patient, whatever that is.



9. Throw the clear, or any other plastic parts you want to get paint off of into the solution now:

You can leave them in as long as you like. It won't harm them in the least.

10. Once you've rinsed everything liberally with water, behold the result in awe:

Now, usually here comes the litany about safety precautions, gloves, goggles and all that sort of rot.
All I'm saying is let common sense, whatever that is, prevail.

Thanks for your perspective on this topic. It has been discussed on here many time since the start of the site. I for one, can not get Caustic Soda. In Canada you have to have a license to buy it and another to use it. there are varying grades of Caustic here in Canada and you need to be licensed to get and use each grade. I used to have both licenses for work and they paid the high price for the exams and license. Here the cost is prohibitive as the soda is expensive at higher concentration levels and using a less concentrated form takes too much soda to do the job. Would be nice to have something like you have. We have Draino but it leaves the casting blackened.
I use paint stripper and my glass bead blaster.

Forgot to say that I use Easy Off Oven Cleaner to remove paint of rubber and plastic parts.

Not sure what the motivation could be behind licencing it, or who could possibly have an advantage from it, especially since it can be easily made at home from the most readily available ingredients.