Jump to content

About reusing miniatures.


Recommended Posts

Hi, I resently read that the cleaning product Fairy is good for removing paint from miniatures without damaging the plastic/resin. Have any one tried this and if so, any recommendations? Also, what is a good product or a good way to disolve glue? The glue I usually use doesnt melt the miniatures, instead it kind of cristalizes and sticks and the parts.

Link to comment
https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/292915-about-reusing-miniatures/
Share on other sites

Fairy power spray really is the bees knees for stripping paint. A happy side effect of the stripping process is that it also makes superglue brittle, so you can take arms, legs etc off and repose minis at will smile.png

At the risk of promoting my own stuff:

Before (miniatures from about 20 years ago):

gallery_51296_6652_20252.jpg

After:

gallery_51296_6652_168773.jpg

You might need to give your minis a scrub with a brush (I use old toothbrushes and have a few cocktail sticks handy smile.png ), but it does the job. I've never used FPS on resin, but I've read that it shouldn't harm it as long as you don't leave the minis in for long periods of time.

Hope it goes well for you! happy.png

I do believe on your side of the pond, yes, Fairy Power Spray is king of stripping paint off miniatures. As for the glue, that's a bit trickier. There really is nothing that will actually dissolve the glue, without dissolving the miniature instead.

 

The best technique I have found is actually leaving the miniatures in the Power Spray soak (We use Simple Green on this side of the world  :)  ) for about a week. This will help weaken the bond of the glue. Afterwards, and after scrubbing the paint, apply gentle pressure with your fingers until the glue pops loose. This is a bit tricky, and is more a matter of 'Practice makes perfect', but you'll get the hang of it eventually.

I have stripped some resin miniatures with Fairy Power Spray and it didn't damage the models, but they were the citadel finecast ones so I'm not 100% sure how it works on Forge World stuff if they don't use the same resin. Test on some smaller part of the model(s) before dumping them all in :)

DO NOT LEAVE FW RESIN MODELS IN FAIRY POWER SPRAY FOR MORE THAN A COUPLE OF HOURS!!!

 

I left some FW parts in Fairy power spray for the best part of a day and whilst the paint stripped off perfectly, the resin itself became slightly 'rubbery' on the surface.

 

Plastic & metal minis can stay submerged in the stuff for weeks however!

To be honest - It's only happened to me the once. However it did significantly soften the FW resin. It ended up more like the soft rubbery resin that the very first GW Failcast models were made from...

 

Heathens: I'm not sure if Simple Green and Fairy Power Spray are the same thing?

Thanks brother, Im glad I havent begun the cleaning process yet! How long do you recommend for FW resin, 1 - 2 hours or longer?

 

You shouldn't need more than a couple of hours. By that point you should be able to scrub most of the paint off with an electric toothbrush.

 

Don't expect the models to look absolutely brand new afterwards though - you'll probably end up with some staining from stonger colours: Blue, Purple and Black paints have a tendancy to stain GW Plastic & FW Resin. The key is to scrub off enough of the paint so that once you have applied your new undercoat, you would not be able to tell that the model had been painted previously.

 

Another worthwhile investment may be an Ultrasonic Cleaner. Our Brothers over in this thread have been getting amazing results, and I may be buying one myself in the near future!

It also loosens wood glue, so it is great for stripping terrain off of your unit's bases too!

I can attest to that. The mini's in the picture above had flock of various types and within five minutes or so, the whole lot came off with a flick of the finger! smile.png

I cleaned some MK II marines today and even with fairy it was a pain to do, with all the tight places the paint accumulates. I might have to give them a second go to completely clean those. But its still better than other brands I have tried, so I still love it :D

Are you scrubbing the models? I found that an electric toothbrush works wonders for getting paint out of the crevices in models, and it's much less stress on your hand/arm than using a normal toothbrush. After the models have been left to soak and the paint is loosening, just dip the brush in some Powerspray, scrub the model, and then rinse with warm water.

Are you scrubbing the models? I found that an electric toothbrush works wonders for getting paint out of the crevices in models, and it's much less stress on your hand/arm than using a normal toothbrush. After the models have been left to soak and the paint is loosening, just dip the brush in some Powerspray, scrub the model, and then rinse with warm water.

 

I'd second this, I've got one of those cheap AA battery powered ones out of Wilkos and it makes getting paint out a lot easier. 

I presume with the Fairy Power Spray stuff you don't actually spray it on - you pour the stuff into a tub so it's a proper bath, rather than a shower, right?

 

That's what I do, then I give it all a stir and let it sit for a while. I've only done plastic and metal models so far so I tend to leave it for a week on top of the washing machine, don't know if the vibrations from the spin cycle help, but can't see it hindering it either.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.