Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Take up smoking cigarettes! Not only will you no longer smell the smoke on the models, people will know you are cool when they see you smoking.

 techsoldaten wrote:
This is going to sound terrible, but urine works for getting rid of the smell without stripping the models. Nitrogen and ammonia are a powerful cleaning combination. Be sure to douse them with water afterwards and you should be fine.

He said he had a small army. He'll need to drink a lot of water.

This is by far the funniest thread I've ever seem on dakka

Put them in the freezer. Works for jeans, should work with models

Don't do it with resin, and be prepared for glue to crack, but thats an easy fix

I think the easiest thing to do is just take up smoking

that way with future purchases you wont have this problem

If they aren't already varnished why not try a spray varnish, like the flat clear type, so even if they are varnished then a quick spray won't hurt a thing. Plus it may mask it.

Soap, water.

Take up smoking weed ... masks the smell and ... if it doesn't you honestly wont care!!!

Get some hookers and blow, you will forget about the models

 DarkTraveler777 wrote:

 Dshrike wrote:
Thanks for the tips!

Are citadel plastic and finecast models dish washer safe?

Otherwise, I might try vinegar + some good outside sun.

I doubt Finecast would be dishwasher safe; the heat/steam would likely be too much for that material to take. Plastic might fare a little better but I'd be wary of using a dishwasher in general. If the vinegar doesn't work I'd try the kitty litter treatment. Especially if you get some baking soda kitty litter, though if you have any cats you may want to keep the litter someplace they don't venture.

The heat will likely make the glue points snap off. I advise the kitty litter method

Coat them in cancer causing primer!

What about fabreeze?

I got some models on ebay,that smelled like Cat PEE and Pot. Any suggestions. i put them in a bag in my shed hoping to get rid of the smell. No luck.

 col. krazy kenny wrote:
I got some models on ebay,that smelled like Cat PEE and Pot. Any suggestions. i put them in a bag in my shed hoping to get rid of the smell. No luck.

If you lick them you could get a good buzz going

I've heard good things about soaking items in kitty litter to soak up the smell.

Otherwise strip them with simple green and take the smell and paint right off.

 Desubot wrote:
You could Drop the frabreeze bomb into it

or just let it air outside for a bit

Unless he mixed cigarette ashe into the paint it should come out in a few days

Nope the ash doesn't really leave that smell. I've used plenty of ash from cigarettes as basing material and once the glue dried it never gave off that smell again.

Are you going to be striping these minis? Because that smell is going to be in the paint which means it won't go away.

Start smoking = it is not cool anymore.

Has anyone actually tried soaking one in urine overnight? The nitrogen and ammonia will get rid of just about any smell, and can easily be washed off itself using water the next day.

I was completely serious when I suggested this, and have used it to get the smell of compost and coffee grounds out of miniatures before. True story, pulled about 40 CSM Berzerkers out of the garbage one night and had to do this to keep them from reeking.

Why not just use ammonia.....

No! Urine! Cuxoxo we said so!

 Desubot wrote:
Why not just use ammonia.....

I think really the only reason no one is taking urine seriously is the taboo associated with something traditionally regarded as a body's waste. All I was suggesting is someone try it and give the models a sniff test afterwards. I get people's reservations, but there certainly is a chemical justification for why not ammonia.

By itself, ammonia is a volatile organic compound that is going to soften acrylic-based paints (if not strip them) and soften most plastics. It is a weak base and will likely keep working on those substances over time. It's not good for plants, animals or just about anything else out there that lives of breathes.

I wouldn't use straight ammonia on miniatures without cutting it. Some people have cut it with water (i.e. bleach), which certainly dilutes it to the point where it's less effective. All that really gets you is a less potent form of something that's not good for your models, which is like treating a heroin addiction with methadone. Neither one is good for you, one is just less not good.

Nitrogen, OTOH, is considered a pretty special cleaning solution. Ammonia is really just nitrogen and hydrogen mixed together - NH3 - and without the hydrogen, you lose the abrasive qualities. What nitrogen will do is eat small deposits that have made their way into the surface of your miniatures. It will not affect metal or plastics (which acrylics are).

It's just very expensive to work to work with Nitrogen, and you usually need to get it in a concentrated liquid form. But it is also produced as a byproduct of the body's metabolism process. The fact it happens to be mixed with a little bit of ammonia doesn't really make a difference, since urine is ph neutral. The worst that happens is there ends up being an ammonia smell on your minis, which can be washed off very easily (since it basically becomes a salt after exposure to water (which is what we call Ammonium hydroxide).

So that's the argument for why not use ammonia - it's potentially hazardous to your miniatures and probably is not going to actually clean anything. Concentrated, it's much more likely to form other compounds as well, besides Ammonium hydroxide, which will leave a residue and smell on your models of another sort.

For anyone less daring, another idea I had was simply to mask the smell using heavily diluted vanilla extract. I did this once with a frame I had painted and it offset the smell pretty well.

If they are painted and you want to save the paint job, g'luck.

If they are painted and you are going to repaint them or they are not painted, bathe them in simple green for 24-48 hours. Take out of bath, shake off excess SG, rinse under cold water.

Smoke smell is gone.


As an ex-smoker, i can finally appreciate just how absolutely gakky this is.