Help Removing Sharpie!

[Tim Bit]

My buddy's son recently "grew out of lego" so He gave all his lego to me.

He was very into star wars so he had many episode 3 sets.

Sadly he took it too himself to customize clones with sharpie

So I was wondering how to remove sharpie without removing lego decals and paint.

Please help me out!

[Eilif]

I'm not sure about sharpie brand specifically, but sometimes writing over marker in expo marker and then wiping it off will remove the original marker.

[Mike Yates]

Aren't some sharpie markers a thing called PERMINANT that means that it may never come off well it depends wether he used a washable or a permanant one , so you could be screwed my friend

[Eilif]

Aren't some sharpie markers a thing called PERMINANT

Actually it's called p-e-r-m-a-n-e-n-t , and they are advertised as such. However, there are still solvents in other products that can often remove it. A bit of searching revealed that there is actually some basis for my experience with EXPO markers. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpie_(marker)#Erasing

Edited February 26, 2009 by Eilif

[Dutch]

well all i know about removing sharpies is take some rubbing alcohol and rub it on the minfig hop that helps

[General Armendariz]

I had a girl face that had sharpie I removed it with a wash rag, water and soap.

It takes a while but works

[Natman8000]

well all i know about removing sharpies is take some rubbing alcohol and rub it on the minfig hop that helps

I just tried that... It works like crazy! Just need to scrub.

[Darth Skinyus]

Rubbing alcohol works, but I think that Brasso from the tan bottle works better. Just a small amount and LIGHT rubbing. Do it too hard and you screw the whole thing over.

[Captain Green Hair]

Rubbing alcohol works, but I think that Brasso from the tan bottle works better. Just a small amount and LIGHT rubbing. Do it too hard and you screw the whole thing over.

With just a little bit of brasso everything comes off.

[Peppermint_M]

Alcohol based products work wonders. I think I even managed to use some sort of common household alcohol based spray (scented bodyspray, not deoderant.) one squirt and all the ink came of leaving a shiny minifig

[Darth Skinyus]

With just a little bit of brasso everything comes off.

Not in my experience. I just put a small dab on a tissue, then rub the minifig peice until the sharpie begins to come off, then use a clean part of the tissue and remove the rest of the sharpie and brasso.

[Tim Bit]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I'm going to try rubbing alcohol.

If it doesn't work I'll try finding some of that brasso stuff.

[Natman8000]

Alcohol based products work wonders. I think I even managed to use some sort of common household alcohol based spray (scented bodyspray, not deoderant.) one squirt and all the ink came of leaving a shiny minifig

Holy cow! That one also works well. I tried it on a clone helmet and bam! Thanks.

[Peppermint_M]

Glad to be of help .

I think I read somewhere that alcohol based things kill each other and when I messed up a custom head I was trying to draw the first thing I found was some body spray. I was most pleased when it worked. When my brothers and their friends grew out of stealing all my best Lego parts I used it to get rid of all the initials I wrote on them to prevent said stealing.

Plus body spray is cheaper than brasso or rubbing alcohol because I can buy it for like 50p (about a dollar for those across the pond) a can in the supermarket.

[JCC1004]

They were free anyway. One of my friends gave me a clone with a red line on him and i came off with rubbing alcohol

Edited February 28, 2009 by JCC1004

[Darth Legolas]

Rubbing Alcohol, definitely. You can practically remove anything with the stuff, but yes, once I accidentally sharpied on a piece or...4 and removed it instantly with a bit of that.

[JCC1004]

Rubbing definitely. You can practically remove anything with the stuff, but yes, once I accidentally sharpied on a piece or...4 and removed it instantly with a bit of that.

I yellowed a CW Anikan's head for awile and it came off with rubbing acohol, but not where one of my friends kids found him on a table and left chew marks on his head! The yellow was stuck in the indents. Rubbing acohol doesn't remove printing !

Edited March 1, 2009 by JCC1004

[Darth Legolas]

I yellowed a CW Anikan's head for awile and it came off with rubbing acohol, but not where one of my friends kids found him on a table and left chew marks on his head! The yellow was stuck in the indents. Rubbing acohol doesn't remove printing !

Wherever there's a niche or small dent mark, the color doesn't go away sadly, so my C3-PO head has a half-dark mouth and pupils!

I also tend to lock my Minifigs away, far from anybody's mouth.

[Ryan_T]

Nail Polish Remover! Yea. that's right. lol, I printed over King Kahuka's torso a while back, and maybe 1-2 years later I removed it with the nail polish remover, Still a bit here and there, but that's because I didn't bother to get rid of all of it. just don't rub Really Really Hard, I did that and i saw bits coming off, I rubbed a bit softer after that. :) Hope this helps. and brasso.. never used it. hopefully never will... lol then on the back, I used a sharp knife and scraped away the left over.

Edited March 2, 2009 by Davy_Blocks

[Legoking]

Nail polish remover should do the trick! Tell me how it goes.

LegoKing

[JCC1004]

Wherever there's a niche or small dent mark, the color doesn't go away sadly, so my C3-PO head has a half-dark mouth and pupils!

I also tend to lock my Minifigs away, far from anybody's mouth.

I was building it and they just poped it the door. They knocked of course! And poor, poor 3PO! Since is head has no printing, why not let it soak in rubbing acohol. How much worse can it get?

Edited March 10, 2009 by JCC1004

[Logbo]

Nail Polish Remover! Yea. that's right. lol, I printed over King Kahuka's torso a while back, and maybe 1-2 years later I removed it with the nail polish remover, Still a bit here and there, but that's because I didn't bother to get rid of all of it. just don't rub Really Really Hard, I did that and i saw bits coming off, I rubbed a bit softer after that. :) Hope this helps. and brasso.. never used it. hopefully never will... lol then on the back, I used a sharp knife and scraped away the left over.

I concur my Partners Nail polish remover found its way into my lego toolkit.

[Piranha]

Possible Solutions:

1. Brasso

2. Rubbing Alcohol

3. Graphite Pencil Eraser

Warning though, those all damage the original printing (if not completely remove it )

I have only used alcohol once, however that damaged the actual plastic badly

I am not too sure about removing it w/o damaging the original printing

Hope this helps

[The Who]

Possible Solutions:

1. Brasso

2. Rubbing Alcohol

3. Graphite Pencil Eraser

.......

I am not too sure about removing it w/o damaging the original printing

I have not tried any of those yet, though I have used Brasso to remove torso printing, and it worked really good.

As far as not damaging the plastic or the print though, it is easy.

Just take a can of AXE Bodyspray, squirt a few drops on the part, 'roll' it around, and wipe it all off.

It works, and leaves your Lego brick smelling fresh!

[Natman8000]

I have not tried any of those yet, though I have used Brasso to remove torso printing, and it worked really good.

As far as not damaging the plastic or the print though, it is easy.

Just take a can of AXE Bodyspray, squirt a few drops on the part, 'roll' it around, and wipe it all off.

It works, and leaves your Lego brick smelling fresh!

How about no. AXE smells terrible. Besides, cologne works better, more alcohol