Erik: The secret to removing acrylic paint is easy. Just soak the whole VW body in cheap regular ammonia, sudsy or otherwise . Works quickly and easy as can be and will not harm the plastic. Blue window cleaner that has ammonia in it (Windex) works well too but takes a bit longer.

Do not use acetone or lacquer thinner as it will melt the plastic. Stay away from oven cleaners.

No need to use brake fluid, in fact, don't bother as it’s toxic (but so is lacquer thinner).

Clean your airbrush every time you change acrylic colors with water or lacquer thinner. Don’t let the acrylic dry inside your airbrush nozzle. I run my brush under running water until it blows clean but I have a utility sink next to my airbrush station making it really easy.

If it does dry, take it apart and soak the parts in lacquer thinner and then clean.

The above info only applies to acrylic paints.

Here you go, my friend @airbum:
https://www.ehow.com/how_7524246_strip-paint-brake-fluid.html
Good luck!

Erik: Soak that body one more time in ammonia. Just try it. I have been using acrylics for since the 70's both for modeling and for work. Forget using alcohol. It just doesn't work nearly as well as ammonia. I think you will be able to get that body looking as good as new, assuming that's wrinkled paint I'm looking at in the above photo and not wrinkled plastic. Ammonia does not harm resin either.

One more comment. Because you have tried other methods to remove the paint, it is possible ammonia may not work as well it would have if you had started with just that. It is possible the paint could be "etched" so to speak into the plastic.

Sometimes I have had to remove paint two or three times and repaint to get the finish I am satisfied with. In fact i have some painted wheels soaking in ammonia right now for the second time. After 30 minutes there were completely devoid of paint with a little rubbing and ready for the paint shop again. Like I said, this only works on acrylic which I assume is what you are using here.

Thank you for the encouraging words gents. Sadly it is the plastic that has been hit as I was stupid enough to spray thinner on it and let it sit to remove the paint later. It was enamel, but actually came off nicely with alcohol (IPA). Lesson learned!? It is sadly too far gone to save but may do well as a base for something further down the line. Luckily I have a few of these in the stack, and another body will be used to finish this build - only decision now is wether to try to salvage the woodburner installation and toss the body away or keep it as is and return at a later date.

A new body it is!

And the bonnet gets reused – partly!

Trawling the web, I came across several pictures of some “Holzbrenner”s. I discovered that I would need to make a panelline across the part.

And add a handle. I had been wondering how they did gain acces to the luggage hold, but this is such a simple solution!

I started by cutting the old bonnet (is that the correct term?) closely followed by the new one.

That leaves me with two that actually can be used for something!

First the new offcut was fitted after which the old one had a fair amount of sanding – and the handle was removed.

It were then dryfit to the running gear. Does it look like the real thing? I think so.

And what about that ruined body? Well, I have a CMK pick-up conversion that will see the light of day soon.

The entire aft part of the body has to be sawn off, and that leaves me with a very easy sanding and filling session – compared to doing it on the entire thing. And the bonnet will be a lot easier to re-do too, as it is 2/3rd new anyway, and the remaining wrinkles will be relatively easy to reach. I could even get some AM resin doors to make life even easier – time will tell. . .

And with that it is back on track. next up I hope to have had some warmer weather so that I can use my spraybooth again without having to break off ice from the airbrush every other minute – and a new 1/48 VW is waiting just around the corner!

Back on track, my friend @airbum!
AND, practically, nothing is thrown away!

Erik: Molotow is indeed acrylic. I keep a Molotow pen around and when I need to use some, I just remove the tip and pour the amount I need into the airbrush cup. No need to thin it. Let dry thoroughly but don’t touch it with your fingers as skin oils will discolor it. Use gloves.