[VAL] Stripper for aluminum paint?

[John Sellers <sellersj@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Gang,

I started polishing--or rather, attempting to polish--our 1960 Pacer
this week and the job has already expanded beyond what I expected.

Those of you who have seen our trailer know that the previous owner
apparently painted over the aluminum with some kind of aluminum paint. 
This paint is proving almost impossible to remove.  The paint film is
quite thin, no more than a wash in places, but hard and adherent.  I
have tried three different kinds of stripper, Bix, Martin-Senour
automotive paint stripper from NAPA, and Parks Pro-Strip, with similar
results.  Even after an hour of soaking the aluminum paint doesn't come
loose.  The paint film is softened enough that it can be removed with
_hard_ scrubbing with fine steel wool, but that's it.  (I tried a
plastic scraper, soft plastic scrubbing pads, and fine Scotchbrite, and
none of them would touch it.  Only steel wool worked, and that with
considerable effort.)

I have found that 000 steel wool doesn't scratch the aluminum too badly;
my test patches polish out OK with Nuvite F7 and the compounding
polisher.  But it's going to be awfully tedious stripping the whole
trailer with steel wool!  (Underneath the paint, the aluminum is about
what you expect on an old Airstream; pitted and scratched in some
places, and in other places practically like new.)

I tried just grinding the paint off with the compounding polisher, but
F7 Nuvite won't cut it.

In desperation I ordered some F9 Nuvite from Perfect Polish to see if
that is capable of removing the paint.  Tom at Perfect Polish suggested
trying RemovAll paint stripper.  No promises, but he says he's seen it
take off paint that nothing else would touch.  All the strippers I have
tried have been basically methylene chloride, methanol, a few other
organic compounds thrown in for good measure, and thickeners.  RemovAll
works on an entirely different chemical principle, so I can hope that it
will work where others have failed.

Has anybody used RemovAll, and can you recommend a place to get it?  Or
any other ideas to get this aluminum paint off?

(Plan Z is to paint the trailer white and rename it the White
Elephant. . . )

Best,
John Sellers
WBCCI/VAC #1587
1960 Pacer
Dayton, Ohio