About Stripping

[Flashman14]

Two questions:

Premise: I submerged several figures in Pine Sol for 48 hours. After a rinsing and a scrubbing with a toothbrush I find the paint is still extremely difficult to come off. I really don\'t want to loosen all that remains with an Xacto as I am extremely lazy.

Question: Has anyone used toothpaste to remove paint off minis? I\'m using a toothbrush after all . . .

I remember a warning given to me as a lad that writing on a hood of a car with toothpaste would strip the paint off where it was laid.

2) The toothbrush in general may be too soft and is not getting all the primer/paint off despite vigourous scrubbing. Does anyone recommend using a firm wire brush? Does that scratch older (non-pewter) soft lead minis? what about Steel Wool or SOS pads - will this harm the lead? distort or damage the sculpt?

 

[darthfoley]

I would just like to say the title of this thread had me anticipating...nay, drooling...over something totally different.

BUT, for the question at hand - sometimes paint can be very stubborn and will cling on no matter how much you attack it with the toothbrush. One suggestion is to use one of those fancy-schmancy battery powered rotary brushes that you can buy fairly cheaply nowadays - I have used one with great success. Also, I find that if you let minis soak TOO long in the PS bath, the paint will get so gooey that it becomes difficult to remove as well - so maybe not quite so long in the tub next time? Is that the mini equivalent of getting prune hands? lol

 

[Flashman14]

I like to have titilating titles . . .brings in the cretins! Not you Darth! But we\'ll see who shows up here disappointed. Let\'s watch together . . .!

(though my questions were given in earnest)

 

[Chrispy]

I also was mislead on the title.... :]

Anyhoo, I bought a wire brush for $0.99 at a store and thought I\'ve yet to test it, I think it would be okay, as it is used for scraping dirt off cars, and I don\'t think it would scratch too bad. I HAVE used a plastic brush attachment on a rotatary tool with good results, it god what regular toothbrushing and flossing missed!

 

[Logansama]

Break fluid to soak and a toothbrush and tap are all you need.

 

[kannan_fodder]

Hmmm, I figured out the topic being discussed was about stripping paint.....

Anyway, I soaked a couple of figs for a full week in brake fluid, to no avail. Even after a vigorous scrubbing, the paint and primer stuck better than super glue. That\'s when I tossed them into full strength Simple Green and let them soak for a day. Paint/primer came right off - even with one of those dentist approved soft bristled toothbrushes!

 

[G-nome]

You using a new toothbrush? The old ones you throw away to the painting table are by definition not that good at getting stuff out of from the gaps in your teeth so wont be that good on your minis. Get a new brush and dont be cheap!
I can testify to brake fluid working too stripped a whole regiment of awful metal catachans in days.

 

[Aryanun]

About the older lead minis....

Originally posted by Flashman14
Does that scratch older (non-pewter) soft lead minis? what about Steel Wool or SOS pads - will this harm the lead? distort or damage the sculpt?

Be very careful what you use on older lead minis, and even where you store them. The navy has had problems with their older warship displays that contain lead. The article is HERE. Also, looking on page five of that same article is a very large and extensive listing of what can harm lead miniatures.

Being as I own a large collection of old, lead minis, I try to keep them as safe as possible now. I have personally seen the effects of lead rot, and it\'s not pretty.

 

[jeffhiatt]

I have been experimenting with easy off oven cleaner. It is nasty toxic stuff but it gets the paint off really quick (even the black citadel primer). You have to be extremly careful with it.

I have used pine sol and brake fluid and both work pretty well. However brake fluid has a slight advantage as far as how it performs.

Another thing I have tried is useing an ultrasonic tank for cleaning. I have had mixed results with this and for the most part it doesn\'t work for paint striping and if you leave metal miniatures in there too long it will pit them.

 

[maximvsv]

Brake Fluid for stripping paint

Originally posted by Logansama
Break fluid to soak and a toothbrush and tap are all you need.

I am looking into trying to improve some Mage Knight figures. I really would prefer not to have to go the trial and error route. Will a brake fluid bath dissolve the plastic? What is a safe solvent for a plastic figure like those? Also, what is a decent primer?

 

[Errex]

Brake fluid won\'t harm the plastic from the Mage Knight figs, but it won\'t stripe them either. Seems tha folks at Wizkidz like to use industrial strenght paint to cover their sculpts. I have stripped some of their Heroclix ones with acetone, with acceptable results, but had to remove the figure from the base first, since acetone will dissolve the plastic the combat dial is made of.

 

[smokey]

Anyone got singles?

Ohhh, strippers, one of my fav topics. oh, wait... as it applies to minis. oic now.

all kidding aside, I\'ve found that a small stainless steel bristle wire brush will take the paint off even better than an old toothbrush (or new one even!) I use Scalecoat II plastic model stripper. It works on both plastic (a 10 minute bath and acrylics come right off) and pewter. I have no old lead figs to try it out on. I use a toothbrush on plastic minis but it doesn\'t get everything, so I usually end up going 2 rounds with it. pewter I just scrub away with the metal brush after letting the mini soak for 1-2 days, and BLAMO! bare metal, as good as new.

Hope it helps!
Smokey

 

[Cerridwyn1st]

Originally posted by kannan_fodder
Hmmm, I figured out the topic being discussed was about stripping paint.....

Anyway, I soaked a couple of figs for a full week in brake fluid, to no avail. Even after a vigorous scrubbing, the paint and primer stuck better than super glue. That\'s when I tossed them into full strength Simple Green and let them soak for a day. Paint/primer came right off - even with one of those dentist approved soft bristled toothbrushes!

Yeah, I kind figured they meant PAINT stripping...

Another disciple of the great Simple Green! Marvelous stuff. Dump the leftovers down your toilet - two cleans for the price of one!

I got a small BRASS brush at the fleamarket. Didn\'t have the nerve to use it in my dremel - too scared it would take detail as well as paint. But it worked like a champ getting stubborn paint off the in between bits of a mini.

 

[Jericho]

If anyone has a variable speed drill you could probably put the brush in there. The drill we just bought is like 12-1000 RPM or something, it can go super slow if you\'re gentle with the trigger. Very useful for pin vise substitute since you can do metal with little effort and still have good control over it. Sure beats 5000 RPM drilling with my Dremel

 

[GraveRobber]

If you are looking to strip metal minis, there is only one FAST acting, super strong product that I know of and use, its by a company called LePage, and the product is called Super Poly Stripa.

I am in Canada however, so I am not sure if this product is sold in the US, but I buy my cans ( they are about 7 bux for a litre ) at Walmart and CDN Tire.

This stuff literly will strip wood, metal or anything else in about 20 mins ( sometimes less I shit you not ! ), its VERY VERY potent, so potent, that you want to use those big thicker yellow rubber gloves when you use it, the fumes are not very very strong, but you can smell it a bit.

Luckily, you can water it down, its a gel form of industrial paint stripper virtualy.

This may be a little overkill for some people, or bad for people who are careless or have breathing problems, but I find its the be all end all of paint strippers, anything else would probably melt metal lol ( if thats possible ).

If you are like me, and dont want to wait hours or even days to dunk and have that mini just like the day you bought it, then sure there is other less strong options.


If you are interested, here is their site


http://www.lepageproducts.com/questions.asp?answerme=179

I will warn you, not to use this on plastic ( including the bases ) as it will turn all citadel plastics to pure gel or goop ( yea its that strong heh ! ) but again, you want your mini superrr cleannn ! use dis stuf !


Ooops my bad, this is the actual product

http://www.lepageproducts.com/products/detail.asp?catid=25&subid=59&plid=317

 

[Flashman14]

so no experience with tooth paste eh? I\'m going to try it. These zombies will be Minty Fresh after . . .

Thanks already for everyones advice so far - inclonclusive news on the wire brush and none on the toothpaste question. I saw there was already a topic on stripping and I was trying to avoid hijacking that one so please don\'t think me ungrateful . . .

At any rate - my toothpaste report will be forth coming . . .

 

[Flashman14]

ok . . . I liberally applied 3 of them with AquaFresh Whitening and let it sit overnight.

This morning I went to get it off - soap and water.

Conclusion: Tooth paste is NOT the miracle product I was hoping . . . No appreciable change . . . .

 

[Aryanun]

Actually, toothpaste is good for cleaning tarnish off of silver...


But I can\'t imagine it stripping paint. Would you want something like that in your mouth, stripping the enamel off your teeth? lol

I use a little product called Safest Strip by 3M. It\'s a semi-paste, biodegradable, doesn\'t have a horrible smell, and works beautifully. MUCH better than Pine-Sol or Simple Green.

However, DO NOT use it with plastic. while it hasn\'t exactly melted anything plastic, it does severely soften it so when you try to brush the paint off you end up ruining the model.

 

[finn17]

Metal brushes...be careful...

I used to use metal brushes, my favourite was a soft brass one, a bit like a suede brush but smaller.
I discovered to my horror however, that it damaged fine detail on older models. I conducted some experiments using parts from my bits box and discivered that sometimes the damage wasn\'t very pronounced when looked at with the naked eye, but clearly showed up when looked at through a magnifier. By the time a primer has taken away a bit more detail, I decided that metal brushes were not a good idea.

 

[Logansama]

I often strip stuff I have sculpted onto.

I find using a metal wire brush to scrub the mini down actually ends up distressing the sruface and causes the finish of the repaint to be less than desireable.

Break fluid removes pretty much all of the primer and paint but does not damage plastic, lead, white metal or green stuff.

You will fins some bits of primer remain, but if you don\'t prime really heavily in the first place, you can get anbother coat right over the top without losing any detail.

For quick, cheap and effective stripping, definitely go with the break fluid. And you wont die from exposure to it unlike some of the high grade chemicals suggested here! lol