FAQ: Removing Paint - Paint Stripping

[Procris]

From my experience, SG will get black-primer off of plastic, it will just take longer and require more scubbing. I re-did a few units of Templars and I think the stuff is great.

 

If you have 30 models, you have at least one test model.....

[dahlberg66]

should work fine for you i've left models in simple green for weeks on accident and i barely had to scrub them at all with no damage at all to the models

[longscope]

As an experiment I dropped 2 AOBR marines into a jar of SG and left it for 30 days, no damage at all, no paint either :o

[Gaeus Marius]

aha! found where my post went...

OK, so I gather that SG is relatively safe, and will get most of the paint off after a few hours(not overnight?). Yes, you would think that with 30+ models to strip, I'd use one as a test, but no; not a mini to spare.

So here are my questions:

1. will it still work if the models have a coat of Matte varnish?

2.How long will the soaking process take to produce results that I can paint over?

3. This is probably a very dumb question, but what about models that have basing materials on them, or have been converted with GS?

[Solid Zaku]

1. I do not know. I've never used varnishes on my models, but I can assume it will work just as well.

 

2. I typically leave a model I'm stripping to sit overnight, just to be sure it's done its business everywhere. I've always got other models to paint if I'm waiting.

 

3. I remove my models from their bases when I'm stripping them, as the Simple Green will more or less dissolve the glue that binds the basing materials to the base. Nasty if you have to pour it down the drain. As for Green Stuff, the most regrettable part of stripping models is that any GS sculpting will be completely destroyed. It's less of a matter of the advanced chemicals in the Simple Green, it's just the fact that it's a modeling putty, and will be destroyed by fluids...tap water could do it given time.

[Gaeus Marius]

It is absolutely true about SG and metals. one soak and they are good. I have soaked my Grey Hunters for 2 days now, giving them a good scrubb every 24 hours. Still paint, but on more day should do it. I think the varnish actually slows the process. Lost some good GS wolf pelts, tails, and a couple of beards. How do you safely remove models from thier bases? I trie one, and the feet got a little jacked up. All in all though, SG gets my vote

[Dawkins]

On advice from dragonforge in another thread I tried out some superclean (http://www.superclean.com/product1.php) tonight and it worked as advertised. 30 minute soak and a quick rinse and the paint was gone. much easier than SG has been for me in the past as far and time and scrubbing. and at seven bucks a gallon at walmart its easy to get.

[Lei of the Angelai]

My budget here is limited but I want to strip down 15 dark angels vets (plastic) and 7 grey Knight Termies (metal) along with an inquisitor (metal)...

 

Now I live in a shared house where our employer dumps us with a CRAP load of products for cleaning the house...

 

Could anyone tell me the active ingredients that work best.

 

Please bare in mind I am planning on replacing the DA vets completely but if some can be saved, I want to mess around with eventually taking them apart and starting over so saving these Vets to use as my test subjects is better than buying new.

 

Mentioning named brands products wont work with me as they're too cheap to buy those things... Now, I plan to possibly buy myself the product if it's within viable price range.

 

Could someone tell me some of the cheapest vs effective products I could buy here in London, England?

 

The ingredients that work is probably the most reliable information, then I can actively go looking. Thank you.

 

 

EDIT::::

 

Also, is there a way to break the plastic models apart? Ie, break the glue with keeping most of the plastic intact?

 

I do have GS though Im only new to using it.

[Florida Gator]

question... is there anything that wont damage the greenstuff?

[dangerbob]

Thank for the tips, really helps a lot... :D

[Archon Mike]

Have just finished stripping my SoB army, all the sisters came out well with the use of Simple Green, but did take lots of elbow grease, even after letting them sit in the stuff for about a week. The vehicles - plastic and metal, rhinos and exorcist would not come clean with a tooth brush with a simple green soak. Left them in for about 6 days. Decided to try the Easy Off - let it soak for an hour and the paint just about slipped off. The only thing I found was the visor on the rhinos which were painted black - primed black would not come clean. Not sure why?

 

Easy Off for the win on the ease of use. Plastic / metal both came clean very easy.

[Galadren]

What kind of Easy Off? They have three kinds: Fume Free, Heavy Duty, and BBQ Grill. Don't want to get the wrong one and have it either not do the job or or go to far the other way and destroy the plastic.

[Galadren]

Ok, so I used the fume free Easy Off and it worked brilliantly.

[brother varen]

I just purchased some already built rhinos that were painted. I need to strip them so i can repaint them. Is simple green or easy off safe to do this? How can i clean up after it is stripped (the inside of built vehicle)? If i can not clean it, will the chemical interfer with the new paint?

[Archon Mike]

I used just the yellow can of easy off - though the fumes are a bit strong at first, use in a well ventilated area. I found a little plastic container at walmart that has a flip lid, sprayed the vehicles, sat them in the container, holds 7 rhino sized vehicles fairly easy, then closed the lid so no fumes. wait, then toothbrushed them. as for the inside, I did what I could to get hatches open, but after all was said and done did a good rinse under running water then again placed them back in container with water and let them soak for a few hour occasionally changing the water out, figure if there is a little paint left on the inside, it would be rendered inert with the good flushing of water.

 

The solution to pollution is dilution... That being said all miniatures were rinsed and soaked in water for a day. now just getting the dental pick to find the little spots that the tooth brush missed.

[Solid Zaku]

Simple Green works fine on stripping metal or plastic, but it has no toxic fumes. Actually, it's rather lemony. Plus, it's non flammable, which nearly every aerosol is. As for the interior? A full bath in SG should loosen the paint to a point where all you have to do is just brush it off.

 

With either oven cleaner or SG, it's imperative that you flush your model out with water so that none of the chemicals are left, as it will botch a new paintjob. Just flush it out and let it dry for a day or two, if there are a lot of crevices. You could use a hairdryer, but you run the risk of deforming your plastic that way.

[cathar the great]

I know it won't contribute a lot to the thread if I post this, but in a thread this long, it might be good to have this mentioned every few pages or so...

 

Simple Green is AWESOME.

 

After soaking for 48 hours, the paint off the metal test mini more or less jumped off before the brush even touched it, and it was similar with the plastic mini. I now have about 20 marines and 2 dreads happily bathing in the box with Simple Green, can't wait to finally being able to do something with my old stuff again.

 

 

One thing though: I was unable to remove black primer (Chaos Black spray from GW) from one of the pieces. Do I just need to leave it in longer?

[Mjelnir]

I live in Holland so simple green isn't mutch of an option. So I turned my gaze upon Mr Muscle kitchen Cleaner AKA the tears of the emprah.

 

This stuff is AWESOME. it strips all the paint from plastic mini's within 2/5 hours of first letting the stuff soak. And its availebe everywhere

[captain_shrike]

I know this is a subject that gets posted about a lot, but I struggle to find threads with a definitive English products that work. So does anyone know any that definately work? I need to strip the black undercoat off a Land Raider and spray it white.....

[infyrana]

It would certainly be helpful to hear on what to use for stripping paint from plastic models.

 

I use cellulos thinners for metal minis, but this happily melts plastic.

 

In addition to this question please, what's the best glue for plastics to enable you to strip the mini parts in the future ? Currently I use superglue for most everything, not the easiest thing to part pieces from down the line if I've made mistakes.

[Bartali]

A Cillit Bang bath worked on plastic for me, albeit with some hard toothbrush scrubbing. It's not particularly nice stuff though, make sure you wear gloves and wash the model with soap and water after

[Brother Loring]

Everybody seems to talk about simple green and despite popular belief, it is available in the UK.

 

simple green

 

I haven't used it myself, but searchy is your friend...

 

does the mini survive?

 

how long for?

 

Here is a more general article for advice - link

 

I've never used simple green, but it seems to be the most commonly used produce for plastic minis. The only thing I would say is never use boiling water with it - there is a thread somewhere with some Lascannons that will now have to shoot round corners - B)

 

Personally I've only ever stripped metal models. Dettol worked perfectly for this! about 1:3 (dettol:water) ratio, for 48 hours with about 3 toothbrush scrubs worked a treat. When you scrub with a brush make sure you use soap to emulsify the oily cleaning agent to get it off of the mini.

 

Note: Make sure you wear gloves with whatever you use - I had a scaly hand for 3 days after 2-3 episodes of concentrated dettol being scrubbed into it. Dettol is unlikely to cause harm long-term but nobody likes a lizardman!

[Glaeken Templaris]

one thing ive found that a cheep bottle of nail varnish remover works great on both metal and plastic minis.

really only works best if the paint is acrylic. turns it rubbery after a few mins then after a while longer you can just peel the stuff off the mini. did it do an old heroquest orc years ago and it was like peeling an orarge lol

[stouty]

I've used Simple Green on plastic and metal minis. It will soften up green stuff (at least it did on my stuff), but has never damaged my plastic or metal models. I get results with soaks from 8 to 24 hours in length depending on the amount of paint on the model. I've even used it successfully on a plastic mini coated with polyurethane sealer.

 

Hope this helps,

Stouty

[crazychib]

Dettol is the way to go for stripping plastic minis. Just make sure it is the original brown stuff and not the newer coloured fragranced bottles (clear,green,blue). Not sure if any of the cheaper own brand stuff would work, but might be worth a try.

 

Just bathe the minis with undiluted dettol in a sealed container for about 24hrs - rinse under running water, scrubbing with an old toothbrush (if needed).

 

Mr. Muscle oven cleaner is another product I've heard works, but I've only ever used Dettol.