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I decided to browse Ebay to find the next addition to my Dark Angel army, and I found this poor vindicator for $20 from Lazarus Games so I had to buy it. It arrived to day, It came apart easily and I have no idea what chapter It originally belonged to.Here is all the parts laid out, This will serve as a "before" Image for later down the line. It might be hard to see but It was painted with what I presume is enamel. At the moment all the parts are submerged in a large container of simple green, the enamel is putting up one heck of a fight! This is my first restoration project, and I hope you say along for the ride!

I think the metal vindicators were actually a product of 2nd ed.

I was wondering ,the 1st ed ones where more minimalist, thanks for the catch I almost made myself look like a doofus. Thanks Zuul!

Yeah, the original RT vindicators out of the white dwarf 118 article was pretty simple. Still cool though.

Any idea what chapter mine was originally?

It was blue, so it could have been Ultramarines, Crimson Fists, or a homebrew chapter. There's really no way of knowing.

Also the metal Vindicator didn't come out til 1999, a bit into 3rd edition. The one that was essentially a Rhino with a garbage can bolted to the front of it was the only Vindicator available until then.

Thanks, I was thinking home brew, due to the heavy use of brass, and the commander was painted black with red trim. Also thanks for informing me about the origin edition of this model, I really need to do more research on older 40k models, if I'm gonna be restoring more in the future!

I love reading restoration threads. Subbed!

All the parts have been in the simple green tub for a day now and the paint doesn't want to budge. I put the metal bits in a jar of Isopropyl alcohol to remove the super glue and paint. I've left all the plastics in the simple green, if anyone knows of a better way to remove enamel form plastic, I would love to know!

Is it new simple green? I hear they changed the formula and now it's less great for stripping.

Not sure about the plastics, but the metal parts can be stripped in cellulose thinner. Trust me there wont be a trace of paint left.
Just be careful with the thinner. Gloves and a good quality face mask are a must. Celly thinner will disolve pretty much anything, including lung tissue. It can also cause severe dermatitis If It gets on your skin.

tomcat31 wrote:
Not sure about the plastics, but the metal parts can be stripped in cellulose thinner. Trust me there wont be a trace of paint left.
Just be careful with the thinner. Gloves and a good quality face mask are a must. Celly thinner will disolve pretty much anything, including lung tissue. It can also cause severe dermatitis If It gets on your skin.

I'm all about doing what it takes for my hobby, but I think once you introduce caustic and dangerous chemicals you should really reconsider. Brake fluid is okay for stripping stuff (no better than Simple Green in my experience) but I'd never, ever recommend that to anybody because it's a dangerous chemical. Stick with Simple Green, and anything that's really stubborn can probably be scraped off, dug out, or just painted over.

I'll take the advice and stick to simple green, my charcoal lined chemsuit and gas mask are uncomfortable this time of year.


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Update: the metal bits are ready to be removed from the alcohol I'll post pictures soon.


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Update for update: the paint I have removed thus far has shone some strange properties after being in baths of different stripping mediums, such as; clinging extremely well to plastic, but literally peeling off in sheets whilst on metal. which bring up the fact it may not be enamel.

I would try using a more effective cleaner like Purple Power or Super Clean, both of which can be found at Walmart pretty cheap.

Simple Green just doesn't cut it as a paint stripper. Im not sure why so many people are in favor of using it, perhaps its because they never tried SC or PP? I have used all 3 and after I discovered PP and SC I will never go back to SG.

PP and SC are pretty much the same thing but they do a better job of stripping paint and in a much shorter amount of time than SG could ever do. Paint and primer come off with ease and metal, plastic, finecast and resin are all fine to strip and can even be left in to strip for long periods of time.

I would try using one of these, I have stripped car primer using PP & SC and I have yet to find a paint or primer that they haven't been able to strip. I have even been able to strip varnished models as well.

I need to head to the store anyways, so I'll pick up some Purple power, the simple green just isn't cutting it.


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Update: just bought a huge jug of concentrated purple power. I've replaced the simple green in the Tupperware tub with 1:1 ratio of purple power and water


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Just an hour in the purple power,did what 3 days in simple green couldn't do! I'm very impressed, Deathklaat, thanks to you this project is now kicked into over drive! All that's posing a threat is the superglue which the PP should take care of.

All the metal bits are clean, I'm still working on getting the rest of the paint off the plastic.

dawn power dissolver is my go to for stripping metal and plastic.

Thanks for the advice! I increased my purple power to water ratio, and if that doesn't get the last of the superglue, I'll try the power dissolver.

Sorry for the wait everyone, It took awhile for the paint and glue to come off but It's finally done! The original hatch was fubar so I used a current rhino hatch, and the commander is on the side lines ready to be issued a new tank. Also I never got a chance to take pictures of the individual part after they where clean, I hope you guys don't mind.

That cleaned up nicely! Do you have any plans to fix the exhaust tips?

Yes! I plan drill hole in the exhaust and place a small bent styrene rod to replace the broken bits. It turns out that broken exhausts is a common issue amongst these older kits, almost every one I've seen for sale has at least one broke exhaust tip.

It certainly is a common problem. I have at least twice as many MKI rhino hulls than mark IIs. I think only 2 came to me with 100% intact exhaust pipes.

Hehe, no wonder they changed the exhausts to be cylindrical. Also it seems much cheaper to restore Mk1's than buying newer models, I might get some funny looks when I finally field them though.

MkI rhinos are great. They are often cheaper then a new rhino, and personally I think they look better. The heavy aesthetic influence of the M117 APC in the MkII doesn't appeal to me as much. If anyone gives you greif, remind them that a MKII vindicator has enough weight to be a murder weapon.

I actually weighed it, and its a little over 7 ounces.

Update: This thread is going to be my restoration projects in general, so expect more on the vindicator, and other projects soon!