Stripping Figures

Dettol for the win. Soak for a day, use to softest toothbrush you can find to strip the outer layers. Then soak again. I use a fresh batch of dettol normally ( so have two pots of it).

Acetone tends to evaporate too quickly and is fumey. You can also get solvent sensitivity if you use it too much.
 
Brown crystal soap. Works on both metal and plastic. It's cheap. It doesn't smell. It's non toxic (although I use plastic gloves as it it can be a bit rough on the skin with continued use).
It takes a bit longer to work, though. Normally, I leave the figures for a minimum of 48 hours.
 

Berkut666

Member
I use to be a dettol man but recently tried Clean Spirit (water based white spirit) and I have to say I much prefer it. Smells less, less yukie gunk,strips better and leaves no residue. I have only one minature it’s not stripped well, a plastic marine received in a job lot. Tried everything on it but it just won’t strip. It’s like it was painted in superglue!!
 

JonAtron

Member
Tried the Wilco paint stripper as recommended on here. Smells and looks the same as Biostrip 20 but cheap as chips, £3 a bottle. Works just as good on metal and plastic! Very happy about that there saving money thing. Thanks

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JonAtron

Member
As of today having used the above wilko stuff on some new modern minis, I don't recommend it! No no no.

It wrecks them. Makes them soft that brushing off old paint smears the detail and brittle that fingers and hands snap off. That's just killed my 25th anniversary marine and Pedro Kantor. Be warned.
 

Returning

Member
JonAtron":2cthby8y said:
As of today having used the above wilko stuff on some new modern minis, I don't recommend it! No no no.

It wrecks them. Makes them soft that brushing off old paint smears the detail and brittle that fingers and hands snap off. That's just killed my 25th anniversary marine and Pedro Kantor. Be warned.


Was it plastic or metal? I have been better bunch of metal minis I am looking to strip and was thinking of using Wilko stripper.
 

JonAtron

Member
Ahhh lads, :oops: just been doing some homework on it and yes you are quite right, resin not plastic.

MY very big mistake and not the PRODUCT per say.

They took one for the team, I'm hoping that whats left of them will harden up over time so I can pick off the rest of the paint and resculpt the missing bits. But for now, they are too floppy.
 

Returning

Member
Hopefully you will be able to salvage something! I decided to try two batches one using Dettol and the other using the Wilko paint stripper and see how they both go.
 
Got a question about the Dettol;

I live in the Netherlands...so they have different Dettol here it seems, what I found is this ;

Dettol Chloorxylenol 48mg 500ML

is that the same as the Dettol that is used in the UK ?
the thing is that they seems to sue other packaging here i.e. in white bottles/packaging.

thanks for helping out :)

cheers
 

Returning

Member
So I have tried both the Wilko paint stripper and Dettol and I must admit Dettol has so far given the best results, some miniatures have needed several soaking sessions but the paint has been on for around 30 years!

Not sure if the Dettol differs from that in the Netherlands but the bottle I purchased also says chloroxylenol so they are probably the same.
 

Trinh

Member
He always rinses with water before using fairy liquid and turns the half dissolved paint into a sticky this acca bet
 mess. Always scrub with detergent before water gets anywhere near.
 

JonAtron

Member
I've used the wilko stripper on a few things now. Old RT beakies, plastic of the white and of the green type and it makes them go brittle and break, soft but not slimy soft surface. I don't really recommend it. I know others on here have used it to good effect but -shrugs- not me. I also stupidly used it on £20 worth of resin which it just turned it to cake icing. My own fault on that. I'm still an advocate for biostrip 20. It is expensive but I've used it on everything bar resin and its always done its job with no issues, gentle on the minis, all kinds of plastic, safe on the hands and can be washed down the sink.
 

JonAtron

Member
Ay you lot, any recommendations for the "AK-47, the very best there is. When you absolutely, positively, got to kill every motherfucker in the room; accept no substitutes." paint stripper for metal.

I don't care if green peace come knocking, I'll put an extra quid in the charity pot. I've tried all the recommendations already here and they all just don't quite cut it.
Break fluid is the only one I've not tried.
 

Gallivantes

Member
I say give brake fluid a go if you are ok with gambling on the small investment. I think I got my half litre for a fiver so it's an affordable experiment.

I feel your pain and I share your quest as I was stripping hundreds of models this past year (and I still am). Some were bastards to strip, some were not stripped to satisfaction. See if I can share my experiences a bit for your benefit.

The thing I found with stripping hundreds of models is that every agent eventually came up short. Sounds discouraging, but need not be so bad if you can employ several agents as long as one will work (sounds like a spy novel this)

More precisely, I use a dettol-type, isopropyl alcohol (isopropanol) and brake fluid. I consider all three to be my work horses and worth buying in the long run. They have all had their triumphs and failures. I think there is merit in having the brake fluid, as there is in having the others, as each has been the most efficient at times. They have also all come up short at times. I suppose that just comes down to there being great variety in paint types, and how the chemistry works out with various stripping agents. On top of that, primers and varnishes may complicate things further and give you different results.

I personally suspect that the kill-all is somewhat of a mixture of wishful thinking and urban myth. There are tons of testimonials saying a product "was awesome, it will strip everything and I never use anything else". Meanwhile, you can find testimonials of people saying "hmm funny, I tried it and it didn't work for me".

I don't think going nuclear is the answer either, as if there is something out there that is an unstoppable beast at stripping miniatures, it may very well also strip your lungs. Believe me, I am not trying to babysit or being up in arms about the environment, just saying there is actually such a thing as gravely hazardous chemicals that have caused people irreparable damage. If you try though, post results. Relevant to your search however, I don't know what substance that would be in any case. I've only heard rumours about airplaine paint strippers so bad it will strip your ancestors.

Seriously though, brake fluid can work. But will it? Never a guarantee, that's what my own experiments told me - but sometimes it came out on top in my toolbox of three.
 

Sjoerdo

Member
I tried Dettol for the first, had four metal miniatures soaking for about a day (75% Dettol/25% water). Brushed the old paint of without using water (because I read somewhere water turns the paint into a gluey blob), and the old paint came of like a charm. On some really difficult places I had to pick some paint remnants out with a needle.

All in all worked really well.

Before I used brakefluid, also worked ok, but took a little more effort brushing and picking all the old paint remnants of.
 

Sleepysod

Member
Can indeed confirm water after dettol turns the paint into a slime mess... still dettol super effective. V useful thread.
 
I have the dettol now, kinda nervous to use it (regarding the water story).

so after being cleaned, do you let them dry, and then rinse them with water, or no water at all ?
would models require several soakings or just leave the model in the dettol for a longer period of time (ie several days) ?


thanks and cheers people. :)
 
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