Acetone paint removal

[Storkfoot]

I am thinking of buying a Lambretta that has the typical Italian "spray can navy blue" all over the externals. Thankfully, the internals have been spared. At this point, I have no intention of lavishing a paint job on the scooter. It'll be checked for straightness and a few bits will be passed over to a panel beater but that'll be about the extent of my restoration.

I have heard of people having success in using acetone (this is nail varnish remover I believe?) to remove a top layer of paint to display the original. It sounds like a lot of hard work and, in the end, it won't work if it takes all the paint off. However, I do like a challenge

Should I:

(a) give it a go on a smaller part, such as the front mudguard to see whether I have the necessary skills, patience and whether it is possible to just remove a top layer of paint?
(b) don't be so stupid, life's too short to spend hours in a cold garage over the winter doing this?

Your thoughts and experiences are welcomed

[Knowledge]

How much time do you have?

If you go down the acetone route, take a nice big container to a fibre-glassing company and ask them to fill it for you. I have found this to be a cheap way to acquire a good volume of this stuff.

[Storkfoot]

Does it work though, Martin?

[ToBoldlyGo]

It does work, but is a bit of an art and very time consuming. And, after all that it may be that the paint beneath isn't worth preserving. It's a miserable job and you definitely don't want to be doing it in a cold garage in the middle of winter.

[xenia1]

If all it has is the original paint it wont take much removing as it'll be cellulose and it was only thinly applied, as well as the top layer it will most likely remove much of the original. You have to ask why it was repainted in the first place..

[coaster]

With care and a LOT of patience it will be possible to remove the top layer. However, you will end up affecting any original paint underneath (Andy has a point about why it was painted). If the original colour was a a solid colour then it would be a simple matter of buffing up with a polishing compound. BUT if you are thinking of a Special? then the metallic paint is a problem as the acetone will remove the glaze and you won't be able to use any compound on it as the aluminium metallic particles will be exposed.

Colin

[Storkfoot]

Thanks, everyone. I think I'll leave this one for someone who wants a full restoration project.