So I just picked up a TIE bomber and for some reason thought it was a great idea to use purple and red sharpie to swag it up and I'm regretting it now and would really like to know of a way to just get the sharpie off

Maybe alcohol, but it can remove the model paint too.

You might be out of luck, but rubbing alcohol 'might' do the trick, just put a bit on a cottonbud and try wiping specifically the areas that are coloured.

If that fails, this could be an opportunity for an epic repaint!

RoV

If the alcohol does take off the original paint, be sure and strip the whole thing - Sharpie is REALLY good at showing through water-based paints.

20 hours ago, Mr. Magpie said:

So I just picked up a TIE bomber and for some reason thought it was a great idea to use purple and red sharpie to swag it up and I'm regretting it now and would really like to know of a way to just get the sharpie off

I think we need pics of your modification.

Don't use nail polish remover or similar.

Stop by the dollar store and pick this up:

Spray it on or drop the ship in to soak for 30 minutes. It should come off.

Then find a paint brush and some acrylic paint and JOIN US and we can rule the galaxy together like father and son!

You have the desire to do some customizing to your ships, so why not jump in. The hardest step is believing that you can do it. And now that you know that you can fix any happy little accidents you have no excuse.

One of us! One of us! One of us! One of us! One of us! One of us! One of us! One of us!

I made an even worse mistake and tried to use acrylic model paint and the sharpie that I thought I took off just went through the tan paint and now I have a tiny bit of sharpie on the solar panels and a lot of paint on one so I would like to know how to get rid of the paint and if there's any paints I could do to make it look cool and cover up the sharpie and previous paint

This doesn't sound disastrous.

Go get a bottle of that Awesome stuff or Simple Green. There are a number of others (I think one is called Purple Power?) you can use to strip the paint. Just fill a small jar with enough to cover the ship and let it sit for 30 minutes or so. Then fish it out and with an old toothbrush, scrub the ship where you want the paint to come off. Don't worry about the factory paint; that stuff is baked on or something and takes A LOT of elbow grease to take off. Rinse the ship in clean water and repeat if necessary. The end.

If you want to paint over the panels to cover the sharpie, you'll likely need a number of coats depending on how thin your paint is & the quality of the paint you're using.

Thin your paints with a drop of water if they're too thick. It should be about the consistency of whole milk.

Post some pics too, so we know what we're working with. You'll need to join a photo hosting site (imugr is free) and just copy and post the link after you've uploaded your pics.

We're here to help each other on the Painting & Mod forum, so pipe up any time if you need more assistance.

Good luck!

8 hours ago, Mr. Magpie said:

I made an even worse mistake and tried to use acrylic model paint and the sharpie that I thought I took off just went through the tan paint and now I have a tiny bit of sharpie on the solar panels and a lot of paint on one so I would like to know how to get rid of the paint and if there's any paints I could do to make it look cool and cover up the sharpie and previous paint

23 hours ago, thespaceinvader said:

If the alcohol does take off the original paint, be sure and strip the whole thing - Sharpie is REALLY good at showing through water-based paints.

I warned you

So well. If you can paint, throw the entire model into an alcohol pool and remove as much paint -original, yours, sharpie or whatever- as you can and let it dry. Use a normal and cheap spray to prime the ship and cover the sharpie, BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GODS DON'T USE TOO MUCH SPRAY AT FIRST, and paint it and enjoy your creation.

Other solution is to sacrifice the damaged ship to Cthulhu, never speak about it and purchase a new one.

On 10/25/2017 at 3:52 AM, Minaith said:

Other solution is to sacrifice the damaged ship to Cthulhu, never speak about it and purchase a new one.

I may or may not have a TIE Striker sitting on my workstation that I have shamefully left there for two weeks because I'm so ashamed of the crappy job I did. A new sacrifice was bought today when I picked up Guns for Hire.

5 hours ago, vbananas said:

I may or may not have a TIE Striker sitting on my workstation that I have shamefully left there for two weeks because I'm so ashamed of the crappy job I did. A new sacrifice was bought today when I picked up Guns for Hire.

Lucky guy. Here at Spain, Guns for Hire has been delayed to next friday. ¬¬

@vbananas is it just cosmetic or did you chop it up?

If it's just a bad paint job, you can strip it with Simple Green or Awesome (see posts above).

Once you do that if you think the original paint job is not "salvageable" at that point, try repainting it.

I'd prime it in black, lay down a base color (prob. a medium gray) on the body and frame of the wings, then do a watered down black wash 1:1 or 1:2 black paint to water. You can use Nuln Oil, too. Just remember it darkens up the colors very quickly unless you water it down. Followed up with a very light dry brush of my base color.

It's easier to do than you might think. At least is not a TIE Defender with a thousand little solar panels!