Problem with stripping minis...

mikeyc222 · Post by **mikeyc222** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 2:38 am

OK, over the years I have stripped quite a few minis. I have always used a 50% water and 50% pinesol solution and that has always worked great for me. until now... last week I bought a few things from an old friend that I haven't seen in years. a couple of the minis stripped with no problem, but I got a chaos team from him that just will not strip. I don't know what the heck kind of paint he used, but after a day and a half soaking (I usually only need to soak them about 8 hours), I've barely managed to put a dent in the minis. I've even resorted to using a steel wired brush instead of a nylon toothbrush. even that has only given me marginal success. anyone have any suggestions? I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to have to soak them in actual paint stripper to get this stuff off...

Madsherman · Post by **Madsherman** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:29 am

I don't know what pinesol is, but I used turpentine at one point. IIRC back in the day I'd use just about any paint I had handy, and my dad painted cars

so yeah paintstripper is a good idea

mikeyc222 · Post by **mikeyc222** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 1:35 pm

I have some paint stripper in the garage. I'll let the minis soak for another day as is, and see what happens. If that doesn't work, off to the paint stripper I guess. lol
When I was a kid I even used model car enamel paint for minis, because I didn't know any better. Even that came off easily after an 8 hour soak. lol

mikeyc222 · Post by **mikeyc222** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 7:37 pm

well, I found a solution. it's pretty labor intensive, but I found that with a sculpting tool, and some needle files, I can scrape away pretty much all of the paint. it takes about 30-45 minutes per mini, but it's better than nothing at all...

Fassbinder75 · Post by **Fassbinder75** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:17 pm

Sounds like a lot of work with potential damage to the mini. Paint stripper is toxic, but it is so effective that your exposure is very short ( if you're not taking precautions. ) Do you have an aversion to it?

mikeyc222 · Post by **mikeyc222** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 8:43 pm

not really. if it will work without too much hassle, I can give it a shot.

Dr. Von Richten · Post by **Dr. Von Richten** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:31 pm

Acetone.

Has done the job every time for me so far.

I'm assuming we're talking about metal miniatures here; for plastics you need Dettol

mikeyc222 · Post by **mikeyc222** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 10:35 pm

had some citrus based stripper in the garage. 10 minutes in that and 90% of the paint just fell off. soaking for a little longer now to see how much of the crevice stuff I can get out. bases are completely toast now, but I couldn't have gotten them off with out breaking them anyway. besides, bases are cheap.

Borthcollective · Post by **Borthcollective** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 1:58 pm

Small brass brushes are great at cleaning paint off of metal figs as well.

nonumber · Post by **nonumber** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:16 pm

Dr. Von Richten wrote:Acetone.

Has done the job every time for me so far.

I'm assuming we're talking about metal miniatures here; for plastics you need Dettol

This,

Actually I found Dettol to work better on metal miniatures too. Acetone is good, but I forgot about a bunch of metal miniatures soaking in Dettol for 48 hours once; The paint was so loose (if a little sticky) running the miniatures under hot water would just cause the paint to fall away with ease.

J_Bone · Post by **J_Bone** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:27 pm

I have always used Fairy Power Spray oven cleaner as it is widely available in the UK, cheap and works well but they've recently changed the formula so it is slightly less useful. I now have to bathe the figures in it rather than just spraying them. It works well on metal or plastic though.

howlinggriffon · Post by **howlinggriffon** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:45 pm

Do you recall which supermarket you got that in Johnny? I've been looking for some but I can never find it in my local stores.

J_Bone · Post by **J_Bone** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 3:06 pm

My local Sainsbury's always has it in mate... It used to be more of a white foamy spray (ooh, err) but now is orange and more watery. It still works well but, as I said you have to fill a pot and dunk your minis now. All I did before was put them in a bowl, spray them and go back to them in the morning and scrub under a hot tap with an old toothbrush.

mikeyc222 · Post by **mikeyc222** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 3:43 pm

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. I'll see if I can find some dettol somewhere, for future needs.

Wifflebat · Post by **Wifflebat** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 3:50 pm

mikeyc222 wrote:Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. I'll see if I can find some dettol somewhere, for future needs.

I believe the US equivalent is Simple Green. That's what I use, and it works well, but I usually soak them at least 24 hours for good results, sometimes more if I'm in no rush.

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