Stripping Figures

I would recommend 99% Iso Propyl Alcohol (IPA) - this is the active ingredient in Dettol. It is also the active ingredient in most acrylic paints (when it evaporates it causes the paint to "dry")

I use an ultrasonic cleaner filled with IPA which shifts nearly all the paint on metal minis and almost all the paint on plastics - GW's own black primer is hard to shift as it "etches" into the surface of plastics - a bit annoying but you can get minis to the state where you can paint them again easily enough.

Following dunking in the IPA bath I give the minis a quick squirt of fairy power spray and clean them in a bowl of warm water with an electric toothbrush - result sparkly miniatures. I wear nitrile examination gloves for this - two pairs as I find the spiky bits (on mostly chaos miniatures) can puncture a single pair of gloves and IPS stings if it gets into a cut.

The bit that causes the paint to go gloopy is the IPA in the Dettol breaking up the paint and the pine oil (also an ingredient in Dettol) infusing into the paint - a really clever chemist at work explained this to me when I talked to him about the process.

Hope this helps

All the best Otto

Cheers for the info Otto, although to me when you say IPA all I can think of is Indian Pale Ale!!!! That's my kind of chemistry!

Tom

I used 96% liqur (industrial liqur). Just drop the metal or plastic in the liqur. Leave it over night and it wery ease to remove the paint whith a thoote brusch the day aftet.
The paint fell off in smal piceses.

(Sorry for the bad english, note use to write in english)

Sincerly Taogoli

Might be a tad late to the party here, but this is the bomb - Biostrip 20.

I've used it with old rogue trader plastic and metal and new plastic and metal with great results and no loss of detail or melted plastic. You can start stripping in about an hour, although an over night soak is best. I've not found an acrylic or spay primer / paint its not removed as of yet. (That's not to say there arnt any out there.) No bad smells, non toxic, water soluble. Just give the mini a little scrub with a tooth brush and it all peels off similar to the break fluid method (only non toxic.)



Really pleased with it. Don't be shy pouring it on, let it do the work so you don't have to.

I use Aceton for metal minis, but old enamel paints can be very resistant, sometimes. Is Dettol/Isopropanalcohol superior to Aceton?

@JonAtron: What is the active agent? Ethereal orange oil? Sugar?

Bio strip 20 will turn your black plastic bases into jelly. I've not tried it on grey plastic but I wouldn't recommend trying it.

You can get similar stuff called Wilko paint and varnish stripper. It's a white mayonaisey(?) substance the same but it won't damage plastics at all. It's only recently been discovered that I'm aware of but works excellently. I've switched to it entirely at this point, it's just so cheap and effective. It doesn't even have the problem Dettol does where it turns to rubber if water touches it which makes clean up a lot easier.

@ Mophus, you know, it doesn't say on the bottle or the website

@ MutantGoblin. I've stripped a lot of stuff old and recent and their base, both black and grey and they have all been fine, bar one black one, which as you said, did go soft. I thought it was just an odd one out, super cheap plastic or something. But I'll keep that in mind in future or try your suggestion!

Maybe it's acting poorly with some of the plastic recipes but not others? All my GW round bases have melted so I just remove them entirely now.

Something I forgot about Wilko stuff, it will debond super glue if it touches it. Make sure your sink has a net across it so you don't lose parts when you scrub it clean.

No one experience with Aceton vs. Dettol?

Pure acetone for metals, works brilliantly, not messy but a bit smelly.

Same here, best solution I've found.