Stripping metal models easily

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Published on 01-05-2006 08:20 PM Number of Views: 13914

18 Comments

Ok so i havnt seen any paint stripping articles on here for metal and ive seen many people asking about it on forums, i have experimented with three different types of 'cleaner' to see what our results would be like. the only articles i have seen on the internet have been american and use american products which are very hard to get hold of.

there are a lot of different articles out on the web talking about brake fluid, and although i havnt used it myself i do know people who have had some problems with older models becoming corroded slightly when using it.

i used 'Klear', 'Oven mate' and acetone 2-propanone (nail varnish remover) they all worked to a degree but i expect that klear only worked because i was using a toothbrush.

Ill start with Klear as it appeared to do nothing,

only used it because in the ingredients list it was 5% phosphate (a water softener) which i thought may soften the paint. Klear is a clear floor cleaner, very thin like water, a weak disinfectant. i was able to pick some up in the local hardware shop for just under £4 but there were no health warnings whatsoever (not even keep away from children)

Placed just enough so that it covered all the metal of the mini and left for 36 hours checking every 3 hours for a change, nothing happened in any stages, seemed more like water than anything else, after scrubbing i managed to clean up the mini a little, never took off ay part of the undercoat and wouldnt take off in deep cracks and details.

in conclusion it seems to have worked a little, softening down the original paint enough to scrub off with an old toothbrush.

Oven mate is an industrial oven cleaning product used for cleaning ovens (you dont say)

it has hondreds of warnings over the label of the bottle such as 'highly corrosive to biological material' 'fumes can be toxic' 'only use in a very well ventilated area. So on went the gloves and fume mask (one lying around as we use a lot of paint thinners etc). extremely thick and difficult to get onto the mini, i just used a old paintbrush to paint it onto the whole of the mini, leaving it inside a small metal cap filled with it.i left for 36 hours overall but started to see changes after about 4 hours, all the mixture started turning to a darker blacker colour, pulled out the mini to look at it but there was hardly anything left, all detail was gone, it had destroyed the mini and i abandoned using it. i guess i should have expected that not only being corrosive to biological materials that it would also destroy the nickel/tin/pewter mini. good job it was just a spore mine hey.

onto acetone 2-propanone, (molecular formula C3H6O, if anyone wants to make there own) in my opinion the best paint remover that you can buy,

costs around £2 per bottle but for anything larger than a single unit you will need more, girlfriends can be a good source but otherwise chemists are a good place. warnings on the bottle saying danger fumes can cause drowsiness and illness, another saying corrosive material so its serious stuff, and of corse being a 16 year old know it all i decided that i didnt need the face mask or gloves. Hah how my brother laughed as he watched, if you guys use this, and i really recommend that you do, wear gloves and some kind of serious breathing protection. when coming into contact with the skin a chemical reaction which burns the skin. the fumes also smell real bad and cause headaches and dizziness. but its worth it (trust me) because the restults are perfect, after only 3-4 minutes the paint was flaking off into the solution, i left until 10 minutes had passed and then took them out, only paint was left in deep recesses. all it needed was a toothbrush and they were clean, looked like they had just come out of a blister pack.

so to cut a long story short Get acetone, it will make metallic stripping a lot easier. thanks for reading and i hope that i have helped some people.

Note: do not use any of these on plastic!! they will ALL destroy them completely, it does look cool if you want to create bio acid damage on the side of tanks though if you flick acetone onto the damage area.

18 Comments

No Such Agency - 01-15-2006, 02:43 PM

You can view the page at http://www.coolminiornot.com/article...ls-easily&
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zeromorph - 01-15-2006, 10:57 PM

Yeah acetone is the way to go!
Been doing it that way for years!
First time was funny not knowing how good it was left it in aplastic container on my mums kitchen table. Got a loud wake up call the next day, it had gone through the container and stripped some of the finish off said table!
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Antar000 - 01-16-2006, 03:44 AM

hm. Castrol Super Clean engine cleaner is better than all of these, I've seen. You can soak plastic in it forever, and it won't damage the mini. However, it strips paint like a dream.
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razzit - 01-16-2006, 01:56 PM

Hmmm, a little chemistry goes a long way here...

The "Klear" stuff is simply water with some detergents, so it should not attack paint in any way. (Imagine your floor if it did...) Softening water is a semi-jargon term and has little to do with actual softening of anything touchable.

"Oven mate" is alkali-based and therefore attacks paint and many organic substances, skin among them (but not plastic in minis), but may also corrode metal. Whether it does depends on the composition of the mini metal, but it is a possibility. I would avoid using it simply for its aggressiveness and possible injuries (a little splash can damage your eye permanently).

What you call "acetone 2-propanone" is in fact samply acetone; "2-propanone" is its chemical name. Yes, it does literally dissolve paint. I doubt you will find any of it in nail polish remover, for this is ethyl acetate-based nowadays - but that works as well. The easiest and cheapest source would probably be do-it-yourself shops; acetone can be bought as industrial solvent (for e.g. polyurethane resins), while ethyl acetate is a widely-used paint thinner (there are generally two types of these, one is benzin-based and smells like naphtha, i.e. sweetly, the other is ethyl acetate and smells... like nail polish remover). Ah, and acetone does not burn your skin; it simply over-dries it, which itches, but is not really harmful.

Brake fluid seems to be the most universal agent, though, as it works on both enamels and acrylics and does not corrode plastic or metals.
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NightLife - 01-22-2006, 06:09 AM

Personally I use Simple Green. It similar to Castrol Superclean, but biodegradable. If I have a really stubborn fig, then its a two bath process. First in Pine-Sol for a night then into the Simple Green for another bath. Works like a charm on metals, if its plasitic stick with just the SG.
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JonQuixote - 01-25-2006, 08:06 AM

Thank you, I've been dying to know what was good for model stripping, and nobody has said outright. Nailvarnish remover it is. Cheers.
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kinjesus - 01-27-2006, 07:52 PM

Please guys,Nitromors is the stuff to use,you really will know the difference if you use this and a small wire brush....metal figs only though please!!
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AttitudeAdjuster - 02-01-2006, 01:33 PM

Be careful with Castrol Super Clean - its health data sheet is scary. Easy Off Oven cleaner is safer, works great on GW acrylics, and doesn't harm plastics either. Its strips metal minis as well as any heavy duty paint stripper I've ever used and is easier to clean up to. Doesn't seem to strip the paint off plastic minis as well as it strips metal though . Google "paintingclinic removing paint" for a nice test of various stripping agents.
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Cheddarmonger - 02-09-2006, 04:37 AM

Thanks for posting your experiences here, it is pretty helpful, and I like having a non-US point of view. I usually use Simple Green; it takes most paint off after soaking overnight and hasn't ever seriously damaged plastic or metal miniatures on me. It also attacks glue joints, making superglue brittle. Oh well, if you gotta strip it, might as well re-build it too!
That said, I recently got my hands on a bottle of Dawn Power Disolver. It is a household cleaner designed to desolve baked on gunk from dishes and cookware. It did an unbelievable job stripping paint off; the paint just loosens up and slides off, even plastics without any damage. I stripped a whole regiment of plastic chaos marauders down to bare plastic. Unfortunately, I used it up pretty quickly, and forgot where I bought it! Simple green isn't quite as effective, but much more economical.
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Deldeus - 02-15-2006, 06:11 PM

I'm with Kinjesus here, Nitromors is the way forward. I recently put six Escher gangers in a glass, covered them with Nitromors for about an hour. what didn't fall off under the tap came off straight away with an old tooth brush.
Melts your fingernails after prolonged use though....
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Deldeus - 02-15-2006, 06:12 PM

I'm with Kinjesus here, Nitromors is the way forward. I recently put six Escher gangers in a glass, covered them with Nitromors for about an hour. what didn't fall off under the tap came off straight away with an old tooth brush.
Melts your fingernails after prolonged use though....
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Evil Steve - 02-26-2006, 01:06 AM

I'm glad to see someone tackle this topic.

I've used foaming oven cleaner, and one should wait 45 minutes and then attack the model with an old toothbrush and clean water. Works great, though may require a second application if the paint is heavy, or the model has deep details.
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kingsmotley - 03-01-2006, 09:00 AM

The best technique for both metal and plastic is using simple green - some sort of environmetlally friendly all purpose cleaner, put some in a jar, dip the mini, leave for a few hours, most of the paint will come off in the first go - repeat for more complete strippage. I just totally stripped a Maugan Ra figure by GW using this. Justy do a simple web search - you can order online.
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Suladan - 03-19-2006, 09:37 AM

Great article, very informative.

i dont strip plastic minis personally cos i rarely paint them. but for stripping metals i use pure acetone and that works a treat.
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Buggrit - 05-20-2006, 10:33 AM

I use Dettol to strip my mini's, Acrylic paint slides off really easily after a soak in that.
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Eryops - 01-18-2007, 09:46 PM

Simple Green is great. It does a pretty darn good job AND you can do it right in your kitchen sink without gloves or anything else. I've usually left minis in for several days, but that's just because I'm in no hurry to work them up. A toothbrush and water are all that's needed to get the paint out. Sometimes a pin can be handy for deep crevices.

In this day and age, I think we can use more earth-friendly products without sacrificing quality!
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battlefieldscenics - 05-20-2008, 08:02 PM

Great article. Many people are always on the lookout for new ways to refurbish old models. I will vouch for Antar000's post about Castrol Super Clean. It's the best stuff in the world that I've used. It will strip metal or plastic minis down to the bare metal or plastic with no damage to the models. I've left models (plastic and metal) in for over a week and it did nothing to them. If you're in the US, it costs around $7 for a gallon of the stuff.

NOTE: WEAR GLOVES!!! It doesn't hurt when you get it on your bare skin, but it will eat the first layer or 2 of your skin and you'll have dry, flaky cracked hands for a couple days...
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jlewis30 - 02-04-2009, 02:39 PM

you can get a stronger acetone solution in a beauty supply store quite inexpensively, I would not use the "nail polish remover" in the drug store as it will be weaker and contain crazy girly additives.
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