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I know there are tons of tutorials as to how to strip models, but I'm at a loss. The models I've purchases have obviously been hard coated, I'm assuming purity seal and will NOT strip... I've used simple green, which is what I normally use, and if anything the models look cleaner than they did before. I practiced using some non-acetone nail polish remover and it ate right through the plastic, does anyone have a happy medium?

I have no problem with acetone free polish remover. Just dip it for a minute at a time and check after that if the varnish is coming off.

what brand did you use

Brake fluid is safe on plastics and tears through paint, sealer, and stubborn primers that simple green wouldn't touch.

I used to advocate Simple Green because of its safety, but after recently trying to strip some eBay acquisitions... I let these figures soak for a week and could not get the multiple layers (2-4) of different color primers off the figure.

Gave up and switched to brake fluid. A couple of hours later, paint was sloughing off just under the pressure of water from the sink faucet.

 cento wrote:
Brake fluid is safe on plastics and tears through paint, sealer, and stubborn primers that simple green wouldn't touch.

I used to advocate Simple Green because of its safety, but after recently trying to strip some eBay acquisitions... I let these figures soak for a week and could not get the multiple layers (2-4) of different color primers off the figure.

Gave up and switched to brake fluid. A couple of hours later, paint was sloughing off just under the pressure of water from the sink faucet.

What brand of brake fluid? Can I just get it at Walmart

shauni55 wrote:
What brand of brake fluid? Can I just get it at Walmart

I don't go to Wal-Mart often, but according to their website, they carry multiple brands. I just went to an auto-parts store and bought whatever was cheapest.

Basically, I just poured some fluid in a jar, tossed in the minis and let them sit over night. I pulled one mini out as a test after a couple of hours and was pleased with the results, but otherwise just waited over night. These were all figures I was having trouble getting clean after a week in Simple Green. The metal space marine parts just rinsed clean of paint in the sink. The plastic guardians coated with some kind of black enamel primer and other coats of spray over that mostly sprayed clean and then were finished up with a bit of toothbrush scrubbing. Easy.

Just be really careful with brake fluid. It's decidedly horrific for your skin and you shouldn't really breathe too hard around it. It also can't be poured down your sink. It's a toxic chemical and should be handled carefully. I'd rather just give something 2-3 go throughs with the Simple Green than deal with that.

Ephriel wrote:
I have no problem with acetone free polish remover. Just dip it for a minute at a time and check after that if the varnish is coming off.

+1000.

Acetone free polish remover will eat through any acrylic with ease. Soak for minute or ten and scrub with a toothbrush. Color will literally peal off the mini.

I just went thru hell and back to get paint off of assault terminators. I literally tried everything. Brake fluid, LA's totally awesome, acetone free nail polish DO NOT USE THIS, you must have to get crtain brands or else stuff still melts!!

DAWN POWER DEGREASER finally got the job done. It cost me about 15 dollars to get the stuff shipped, but I put the models in and about days later you could see the paint siphoning off into the soap.

I'm almost done painting them all up, should finish this week. They are not in great shape, and I did lose some detail trying to strip them a bunch of ways.

If simple green or LA's totally awesome won't do it I would go straight for the dawn POWER degreaser. it has to be that kind, wasted money on dawn platinum degreaser, and it didn't work.

VanHallan wrote:
I just went thru hell and back to get paint off of assault terminators. I literally tried everything. Brake fluid, LA's totally awesome, acetone free nail polish DO NOT USE THIS, you must have to get crtain brands or else stuff still melts!!

DAWN POWER DEGREASER finally got the job done. It cost me about 15 dollars to get the stuff shipped, but I put the models in and about days later you could see the paint siphoning off into the soap.

I'm almost done painting them all up, should finish this week. They are not in great shape, and I did lose some detail trying to strip them a bunch of ways.

If simple green or LA's totally awesome won't do it I would go straight for the dawn POWER degreaser. it has to be that kind, wasted money on dawn platinum degreaser, and it didn't work.

Acetone free nail polish is used by women who have prosthetic nails. These are made from various forms of plastic or gel, so normal acetone will eat through them like a hot knife through butter. This means that you got the wrong staff. I have been using acetone free nail polish for over a year and never had a problem.

I tried to simply dunk each model for a few sec in acetone free nail polish remover, and the scrub it. It was a complete mess and I think it started eating the plastic. I've worked with acetone a lot and judging by the smell and feel when it touched my skin I'm not 100 percent convinced it was in fact acetone free as the bottle said. I went and got Dot or something break fluid and they're soaking now it looks to be working. It's thicker than I thought it be.

 Capamaru wrote:


Acetone free nail polish is used by women who have prosthetic nails. These are made from various forms of plastic or gel, so normal acetone will eat through them like a hot knife through butter. This means that you got the wrong staff. I have been using acetone free nail polish for over a year and never had a problem.

Keep in mind that there is a whole host of active ingredients on the market in these items which vary from country to country, brand to brand and even year to year. Since they are not marketed as being paint strippers for plastic miniatures, you can not simply rely on generic terms to determine efficacy or safety.

Some of the fake nails are acrylic based, and nail polish remover for them wont touch acrylic paints (at least no more than other liquids will) but it can eat the polystyrene that the paint is on. Other fake nails use polyester or polyurethane resins. These are able to withstand a different group of solvents. Just because what works for you doesnt work for someone else does not mean they didnt get the right stuff, it simply means that you probably arent talking about the same stuff.

Iso alcohol, propylene carbonate and ethyl acetate are 3 of the more common non-acetone solvents used. Of those, the iso alcohol will not harm polystyrene. EA will dissolve it straight away. PC wont dissolve it, but long term exposure can cause the polystyrene to swell. The strength of the solution also matters. A 1% solution of EA may not impact the polystyrene much in a short period of time, but a 10 or 20% solution will.

Anyway, aganst stubborn paints (all paints for me...others are a bit more cautious) I like to go back to the basics...potassium or sodium hydroxide bases that is. You can find them easily in a variety of different strengths starting at the weak end with things like LA Totally Awesome and Dawn Power Dissolver, moving up to Super Clean and finishing out with Easy Off oven cleaner for the consumer strength solutions.

Very few paints will survive Easy Off, but it is safe on polystyrene, polyurethane resins and pewter miniatures.

 Brother SRM wrote:
Just be really careful with brake fluid. It's decidedly horrific for your skin and you shouldn't really breathe too hard around it. It also can't be poured down your sink. It's a toxic chemical and should be handled carefully. I'd rather just give something 2-3 go throughs with the Simple Green than deal with that.

It also doesn't evaporate as I had the same $1 bottle (12oz) sitting in a cup for 2-3 years and used it probably a dozen times until the "sludge" from stripped basing materials started to add up. Simple green is obviously safer but also a much more time intensive stripping agent (3-4 overnight baths plus scrubs with a toothbrush in simple green can be accomplished with 1-2 in brake fluid). I use DOT3 cheap unknown brand fluid from the dollar store or Walmart. One thing I wouldn't use it with is green stuff and resin as it softens both significantly overnight. It won't dissolve them but I had it turn forgeworld resin cape into something as floppy as a mostly cooked spaghetti noodle. I tested it with a bigger piece which was fine for a week but the reaction overnight was alot quicker on a thin cape.

 Sean_OBrien wrote:

 Capamaru wrote:


Acetone free nail polish is used by women who have prosthetic nails. These are made from various forms of plastic or gel, so normal acetone will eat through them like a hot knife through butter. This means that you got the wrong staff. I have been using acetone free nail polish for over a year and never had a problem.

Keep in mind that there is a whole host of active ingredients on the market in these items which vary from country to country, brand to brand and even year to year. Since they are not marketed as being paint strippers for plastic miniatures, you can not simply rely on generic terms to determine efficacy or safety.

Some of the fake nails are acrylic based, and nail polish remover for them wont touch acrylic paints (at least no more than other liquids will) but it can eat the polystyrene that the paint is on. Other fake nails use polyester or polyurethane resins. These are able to withstand a different group of solvents. Just because what works for you doesnt work for someone else does not mean they didnt get the right stuff, it simply means that you probably arent talking about the same stuff.

This. I haven't been able to find anything that doesn't eat my plastics. I wasted money 3 times on stuff that says "acetone free" or "non-acetone" and I can't afford to take the risk again.

This works great:

I have tried brake fluid(s) and simply green and awesome but this gets the job done very well.
I kept expecting the plastic to get sticky or tacky but nothing: it works.

The brake flud worked but is way to delicate go handle since you dont want to touch it or get it on anything, and not being able to pour it down the drain made it tough to get stuff out of it. A couple were pretty melted from the nail polish remover sigh. Also found out that some of the models were half plastic half metal, wierd right

I used LA's Totally Awesome on a wide variety of models I had received from trades and other sources and after letting the models soak for 2-3 days...the paint just falls off.

Had a landspeeder with 5 coats of paint and LA's cleaned it up nice.