I like Thom have tried my hand at paint removal.  Instead of sandblasting
I attempted to chemically strip the layers of old paint off my 62 T-Bird
using aircraft stripper.  It was a mess, bubbling and scraping and in the
end there were many spots that just wouldn't come off that I had to sand.

I was not pleased with the end result and the paint job had many flaws so
I'm thinking of doing it again. Sandblasting sounds like it will leave the
surface unsmooth.  What other way is there to strip off paint?  My local
body shop tells me I should just sand and sand and use putty to fill any
imperfections.

Any experiences would be welcome.

Martin