Dirinel Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I have this very common situation: I bought some second-hand miniatures, but some of them are already painted. I'd like to strip away (most of) the paint, to later paint it by myself and make an awesome miniature. We are speaking of acrylic paint on plastic miniatures. Searching around I found lots of ways to make it; also some of my friends have already stripped paint with some cleaning agent. What I was interested is paint removal by use of bare hot non-boiling water. I found some people who say that it's possible to strip away paint with warm water and some brushing. Has anyone experience with this? It sounds pretty strange to me. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/248656-strip-paint-from-used-miniatures/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olis Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I'm afraid I can't help with any hot water method, brother. This is the first time I've heard of it, tbh. :D If you are in need of advice on stripping paint then I recommend using the search tab at the bottom of the PCA forum page - it'll save waiting for a reply and you'll find all sorts of tips if you check out the various related threads. ;) Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/248656-strip-paint-from-used-miniatures/#findComment-3010892 Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayeL Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Get yourself some acetone free nail varnish remover and soak the figures in it for a few hours then use an old or cheap toothbrush to scrub the paint off, that's the method I use regularly. Never heard of the hot water method and I would say it probably wouldn't work if the figure has been properly primed etc. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/248656-strip-paint-from-used-miniatures/#findComment-3010946 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warped-Bitz Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I don't know about elsewhere, but Fairy power spray works well in the UK, oddly enough i used it this morning to strip a Forgeworld model, it works fine on plastic/resin/metal although i haven't tried it on finecast yet... Spray the model ,leave it for a few minutes then go at it with a toothbrush, may take 2-3 goes but it gets it off with out damaging the model, and if you can wear gloves, that stuff dry's your hands out!! Adam Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/248656-strip-paint-from-used-miniatures/#findComment-3010960 Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdeptusDavidus Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Simple Green is the thing to use (at least in the US - from what I've read, Fairy Power Spray is, at least for our purposes here, the go-to product in the UK). It won't attack plastic or resin at all, you can just plunk a miniature into a little bath of it, set it aside, and forget about it for as long as you care to. A few hours' soak is enough to strip paint, but you can leave a mini submerged in the stuff for, literally, months with no ill effects (I had a converted marine, composed of plastic bits, wire, green stuff, milliput, and who knows what other materials - none of them were harmed at all by the solvent). It does discolor pewter minis a little bit, but that's just a fine layer of oxidation (but that could easily have been caused by the mini being damp after rinsing off the solvent and paint flecks). Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/248656-strip-paint-from-used-miniatures/#findComment-3010964 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doghouse Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 Fairy Power Spray is the best that I have used by far if you are in the UK. I'd avoid using it on finecast though, I tried a few test bits and any thin detail like sword blades tend to turn to rubber. Never heard of the warm water technique though, other than removing demoulding agent from resin minis or reshaping bend resin/finecast minis. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/248656-strip-paint-from-used-miniatures/#findComment-3011570 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirinel Posted March 9, 2012 Author Share Posted March 9, 2012 Today I tried with an old IG model, to find it out. The water actually loosened a bit the paint in the more exposed parts, but removal still required heavy handed scratching. Definetely not a possible solution. I will probably try with a bath in mixed acetone/water. Thanks for the tips. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/248656-strip-paint-from-used-miniatures/#findComment-3011635 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durus Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 If you are trying to use actone with plastic you - obviously - should be careful. I found that if you just quickly dip/wet the part you want to clean, wait a few seconds and scrub with a brush loaded with acetone it works quite well on plastic too. You should just rinse the plastic parts in water, if it takes you longer than expected. If you don't use excessive amounts of acetone it should evaporate before it could melt the plastic. I did this with an old Razorback and some old metal speeders last weekend, no bath/soaking required whatsoever, just a loaded toothbrush. And in addition to removing the paint it could also weaken certain glue bonds. So you might get to reassemble whatever you were cleaning as well. Oh, and be sure to wear some rubber gloves and protective eyewear. Doing this in a sink/walled container near an open window would be good as well, as it is a rather messy method and as I said the acetone evaporates... Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/248656-strip-paint-from-used-miniatures/#findComment-3011670 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Mage 257 Posted March 9, 2012 Share Posted March 9, 2012 I tried this not long ago with several plastic models out of interest and found the best methods were: Slow and Purposeful Hot soapy water and Acetone free nail varnish remover, scrubbed with a toothbrush, lightly dipped and dried in the same nail varnish remover. (funnily enough used fairy also but wasn't power spray just normal stuff) Seize the Initiative Durus's method was the other I found to be most effective, although I tried to just use a soapy mix and some acetone in it with an acetone dried toothbrush and found it works well but getting the balance right was awkward, the first few models I tried did not work out as well as the final few that I did using Durus's method worked out the best. So I'd go with it unless you feel you can get the balance right. The only other thing I've heard of working for plastic models is brake fluid, but I'm a bit skeptical on that one, I wasn't able to find any to try it with, but I may try it over the weekend, the only thing is though apparently it can be just as bad as acetone for melting plastic, which I don't really get, but we'll see. Anyhoo as Durus mentioned if you are working with Acetone be careful, that stuff can be pretty dangerous. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/248656-strip-paint-from-used-miniatures/#findComment-3011713 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurgan the Lurker Posted March 10, 2012 Share Posted March 10, 2012 17 page thread on stripping minis that should answer your questions. Please direct any further comments there: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.p...howtopic=164867 Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/248656-strip-paint-from-used-miniatures/#findComment-3012041 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.