Comments on: A Simple Guide to Stripping Paint

By: Acrylic adhesive

Acrylic adhesive — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 10:01:01 +0000

Good Evening, I do not normally post feedback on websites, as I prefer to read only. However I find the article that you have written earlier has very insightful information, and I discover it very informational. I was searching on Google 4 acrylic adhesive information and found your eye opening article. Could find something the same insightful on acrylic adhesive? Thank you. Rodolfo Cohens

By: Mum

Mum — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:21:22 +0000

Just try some off the above methods, a small test amount on a none visable area is probably best as to see if it stains. But other wise nail polish remover or dettol.

By: Mum

Mum — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:21:00 +0000

Just try some off the above methods, a small test amount on a none visable area is probably best as to see if it stains. But other wise nail polish remover or dettol.

By: decanblue

decanblue — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:53:41 +0000

I only soak for a maximum of 2 days. I agree longer is better, but I'm usually in a hurry so I pull them as soon as the paint starts coming off. All you need at 48 hours is an old toothbrush and some running water to get the last of the paint out of the cracks.

Nice article.

By: stargatenerd

stargatenerd — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:31:53 +0000

This is going to be useful
When i sold the Orks from AoBR, the guy gave me a bag of marines (an tactical squad). But those were all painted – in an horribole way! Most of the details are covered whit paint. On some you cant even see the neck!

Now i can get this squad up to shape and use them

By: librariumonline

librariumonline — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:39:39 +0000

what kind of paint is it ?

By: Mum

Mum — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:47:28 +0000

Hi everyone
How do I remove black Warhammer paint from my
beautiful beige carpet? Help! From one very understanding and patient Mum

By: BCostaII

BCostaII — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:12:55 +0000

Very nice walkthrough! Never heard of Simple Green, and was going to use brake fluid, *actually had a couple tiny jugs bought from the dollar store*, until I heard about Pine Sol and water.

I used the same method, altho I had an old tupperware, and only did about 12 Fire Warriors at once. It's a 50/50 mix, and like your article, the paint came off a little harder than yours after soaking overnight. Some of my guys have bits of paint still on them, and I only did my Fire Warriors, so when I do my Crisis Suits, I think I'll use this Simple Green. :3

By: heavyskorcha

heavyskorcha — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:39:31 +0000

purple power worked great on metal models, and decently for plastics like tanks. if simple green is anything like it, i highly recommend it to take paint of minis you painted when you were young (13 for me) and that was 8 years ago, so you can imagine the dust and caking thats gone on since then. great article

By: heavyskorcha

heavyskorcha — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:39:00 +0000

By: Timber Wolf

Timber Wolf — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:14:38 +0000

Do you need to dilute the Pin Sol at all?

By: Timber Wolf

Timber Wolf — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:14:00 +0000

Do you need to dilute the Pin Sol at all?

By: Veggie

Veggie — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:41:44 +0000

Acetone works wonders on metals, you get instant results if you scrub with this stuff but for quantities of minis use a tub and swish the mix now and again or buy yourself an agitator (photo processing, Electronic PCB etching) and just watch the paint come away. you may need to use 2 acetone baths for best results. CAUTION: Acetone EATS Nylon

By: Veggie

Veggie — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 01:41:00 +0000

By: stayscrunchyinmilk

stayscrunchyinmilk — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:45:42 +0000

or brown dettol. available in uk, just wear gloves (dries skin alot)

By: stayscrunchyinmilk

stayscrunchyinmilk — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:45:00 +0000

or brown dettol. available in uk, just wear gloves (dries skin alot)

By: stayscrunchyinmilk

stayscrunchyinmilk — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:44:57 +0000

In the uk Brown dettol has an active ingridient, which although it takes ages will strip paint off plastic. wear latex gloves as it dries out your skin alot.
you will need a toothbrush as some adhesive will remain, so it’s not easy, but with time and work it comes off those prized pieces.

By: stayscrunchyinmilk

stayscrunchyinmilk — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:44:00 +0000

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:46:57 +0000

Hi Leigh;

A good UK alternative is Swarfega. It’s generally used over here (dunno if it is in North America or not) to remove oil based smears / stains. Pretty cheap too from what I remember. Definitely works on plastic models (tried and tested ) and isn’t toxic!

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:46:00 +0000

Hi Leigh;

By: Uchiha

Uchiha — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:13:17 +0000

just a quick question does it need to be diluted or not because if it doesnt i’ll need to buy some gloves XD thanks by the way most of the other things mentiond here i dont think can be bought in the UK by the sounds of it.

By: Uchiha

Uchiha — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:13:00 +0000

By: sgtwlf1

sgtwlf1 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:32:31 +0000

if you are not carefull you will have a glob o spacemarines very costly

By: sgtwlf1

sgtwlf1 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:28:38 +0000

Here IS A BIG WARNING ” as what not to use DO NOT I SAY AGAIN do not use NAIL POLISH REMOVER I LITERALY CHEM MELTED 50 SPACE MARINES AND THEIR JUMP PACKS very costly
the simple and efcective method is SIMPLE GREEN. thanks for the artical

By: librariumonline

librariumonline — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:51:58 +0000

nice story

By: Von Drakin

Von Drakin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:03:59 +0000

as a trained Chemical engineer i can tell you that any Ketone will work (acetone being the most common) however it will break down the carbon bonds in the plastics after a time which is why some of you have reported “softened” models.

As for circulating the fluid, doing this with any process will speed it up. Basically what happens is the fluid around the paint becomes “saturated” with paint, by stirring the fluid you expose the paint to fresh fluid allowing the saturation to spread.

Another tip to try is putting your cups of remover in a window pane or some other warm place, for every 10 degrees Celsius you raise the temperature the rate of removal will increase 2 fold. ( that is at 20c the rate is X, at 30c its 2X at 40c its 4X and at 50c its 8X) dont go to high though as most ketones will begin breaking down at roughly 68c.

By: Von Drakin

Von Drakin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:03:00 +0000

By: typhus the herald

typhus the herald — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:02:30 +0000

Hey I was wondering if any other products besides detol worked?

By: typhus the herald

typhus the herald — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:02:00 +0000

Hey I was wondering if any other products besides detol worked?

By: skarekrow

skarekrow — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:56:53 +0000

worked great…i stripped my own model (a land raider that took a wrong turn) and after about 18-20 hours i scrubbed it and managed to clean it up and keep the primer on

By: discount scrubs

discount scrubs — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:38:25 +0000

step given in the process of stripping are best.

By: Odessey501

Odessey501 — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:50:00 +0000

This method is very effective. A friend of mine did the same thing on his Marines but watered the concentrate down a little. It made the smell die down a bit but it took a good week for the paint to start flaking off. However he also made the liquid circulate (apparently it helps) by jerry rigging his old Gamecube controller’s vibrate-mechinisim to work like a boat motor. The moving liquid helped to excellerate the whole process.

By: malbur

malbur — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:23:27 +0000

I found out by accident that if you have just standard GW paints, Rubbing alcohol can remove the paint. dip a q-tip into rubbing alcohol and just scrub the paint you want removed. not the best strategy and time consuming but if you just have to get one model cleaned and don’t want to buy a bottle of this stuff, it works

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:12:43 +0000

I’ve tried acetone on a metal death wing terminator and the scrubbing took me 2 hours.And yes the burn and smell are awfull

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 11:11:21 +0000

For metal models just use simple spirits/alcohol.Throw the model inside for about a couple of hours in a small cup and the paint will be removed in layers and from every simple crack WITHOUT any damage to the model.

P.S.Havent tried on plastic yet

By: AgentBravo

AgentBravo — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:10:00 +0000

I found out 100% acetone works very well. It takes off paint in an instant and does not damage the plastic (in my experience). Take a old toothbrush dip into the acetone (don’t pure into plastic cup) and scrub off paint. Just for safe measure I dip the mini into a cup of water. other then your hands burning from the acetone (wash you hands occasionally) its an ok way of stripping paint off a mini.

By: Starscream

Starscream — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:33:35 +0000

hi there!

As well as a wargamer, I also have an interest in model trains.

The acrylic paint on ready-to-run models is remarkably tough, but I’ve found a product for removing this works very well on miniatures too.

The only drawback is that it’s a little pricey (£7.25 for 125ml) and will evaporate if left uncovered.
The best way to stop this is to use an old glass container (jam jar, etc) with a sealable lid.

Superstrip works on plastic models without any damage, and models can be immersed for a few hours and attacked with a toothbrush.
This will remove paint and spray undercoats too.

Alternatively, dip the toothbrush in the Superstrip and scrub away slowly eating away through the paint.

Find it at: http://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/superstrip.asp

Cheers

Starscream

By: IronSnake

IronSnake — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:25:02 +0000

brake fluid works really well but is toxic (harmfull to animals and plants) – so it’s really not good for the environment. I keep my waste brake fluid in a large container which I then take to the tip for proper disposal. Whatever you do don’t just poor it down the drain! I’d recomend going for these non-toxic alternatives – good work!

By: Nonalyth

Nonalyth — Fri, 15 May 2009 05:04:18 +0000

I agree, metho works just as well and may be easier to find for some people.

By: freshnet

freshnet — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:17:14 +0000

This looks good – I’ve been stuck with some old plastic models that need to be redone for a while now, because I know enough about chemistry to know that most methods I’ve seen will melt the models if left in too long (or melt the glue).

I use Goo Off (US/Canada only) for metal models, leave them to soak in a sealed jam jar for a few hours and the paint can be scrubbed off just like the above pictures. On the downside, it does smell bad.

By: Neighbor Kid

Neighbor Kid — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:56:50 +0000

Man ive been looking around for this, imma go to home depot today and get simple green, im going to fix my tank army up, I play ig Armored and my tanks with the exception for two of them are older than most peoples tanks and the paint has jsut been ruined, painted over so many times, and has gloppyness to it, i hope this stuff works, id be so happy if it did. question, if i soak the tanks for a bit and then take em out, can the simple green be used again or is it best to just dump it and pour more? btw i have 25 tanks todo http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14209&page=349 the tanks in black white and blue towards the bottom. i hope this stuff works i need it too =)

By: Blackhat

Blackhat — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:19:10 +0000

test

By: Dragoon130

Dragoon130 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:33:28 +0000

I work at an auto part store so simple green is easy to get for me. I’m trying it now. I just tried the purple power on an old necron that my cousin broke and its been in there a few day with no results what so ever (i scrubed it once a day) so now its on to try the simple green.

By: Dragoon130

Dragoon130 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:33:00 +0000

By: Cowboy

Cowboy — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:31:49 +0000

In the US, Pine Sol will remove the paint from plastic and metal models in around 2-4 hours. I had models soaked in it for 2-3 days with no damage to them.

I’ve also used another cheap pine desinfectant with the same results, so my guess would be that any similar brand would work here.

By: Cowboy

Cowboy — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:31:00 +0000

In the US, Pine Sol will remove the paint from plastic and metal models in around 2-4 hours. I had models soaked in it for 2-3 days with no damage to them.

I’ve also used another cheap pine desinfectant with the same results, so my guess would be that any similar brand would work here.

By: azrael

azrael — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:25:24 +0000

in the uk use dettol liquid pine disinfectant.
Leave plastic or metal models 24 hours in it and the paint just falls off.
It also leaves your models smelling nice and fresh

By: azrael

azrael — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:25:00 +0000

in the uk use dettol liquid pine disinfectant.
Leave plastic or metal models 24 hours in it and the paint just falls off.
It also leaves your models smelling nice and fresh

By: Derrick

Derrick — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:24:29 +0000

That marine looked realy cool even after the first scrubbing!

By: Derrick

Derrick — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 04:24:00 +0000

That marine looked realy cool even after the first scrubbing!