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Hi all

Very simple one today - I'm thinking of re-starting on some metal SoB (started painting them about 5 years ago, when I wasn't very good at painting). I'm pretty sure conventional wisdom says just use nail varnish remover.

Now, I'm not much of a nails aficionado, but I know what I am. And that is nervous about fething up some OOP metal minis that I'm really really fond of. Anyone in, or have lived in Japan, able to give me some advice about what specifically to get to whip the paint off of these ladies?

Thanks very much!

I find that Acetone or Isopropyl Alchohol does a good job for most of the old models I get from ebay. Sometimes people paint their models with some weird stuff though, in which case in the past I've use carburetor cleaner form an auto-parts store.

I've never had anything damage metal models.

Acetone (the active ingredient in nail polish remover) won't hurt a metal mini.

It WILL remove paint, turn superglue into a removable goo (if not outright dissolve it) and destroy any plastic base or parts it is attached to, though. This also goes for many resin (pu) parts as used by many 3rd party bits makers.

Don't use it on polystyrene plastic OR RESIN and you'll be fine.

Methylated spirits and an old toothbrush works fine for me, you might need to give it two or three baths, though, to get all the paint out of deep recesses.

What are people's opinions on sonic baths? I've got one and it SEEMS to work pretty well with meths...

Methylated spirits (ethanol mixed with methanol) or isopropyl alcohol will both cut acrylic paint (and remove it).

The ultrasonics agitate by causing microbubble action in the fluid, and as the bubbles collapse, they give off energy (some light, some heat, sometimes small microburst xrays) and THIS causes the liquid to heat up. Most of the cleaners circumvent this by having a timer.

I can advise that an ultrasonic cleaner and isopropyl alcohol will strip even 2-3mm of enamel paint off a plastic mini fairly easy.

I'm afraid I have lost the 'after' pic, but you see the little yellow [Expletive Deleted] behind Brother Maynard? Three thirty second dunks was all it took to strip him back to grey.

I have a container of 70% isopropyl alcohol that I use for most things, and another of cheap nail polish remover for tougher jobs. Alcohol might be difficult to find right now, what with the shortage of hand sanitizer and whatnot.

Yeah, I thought it might be as such. Sounds like I want nail polish remover with acetone in it. Josh, do you know if that stuff will usually say アセトン on the side, or do I need to stop worrying and just head down to the 100￥ shop?

Cheers for all the replies! I hate stripping so much that I don't think I'd ever consider an ultrasonic cleaner, but I've had some success with the aforementionned methods in the UK -


I was just a little concerned because I can't read too good out here, and I'm not familiar with the local cosmetics.

Mine came from the ￥100 shop, in the aisle with the nail care stuff. I don't remember checking the label (I've been using the same bottle for years, as I have enough unpainted models that I don't need to strip things vary often), but it's probably a good idea to do so.

Right, back from ￥100 shop, got some stuff that looks about right. Gonna test-dunk a slightly less precious bit of painted metal and see how it goes. Wish me luck, guys! Thanks for all your help!

Thread Necromancy, forgive me for my sins. This worked excellently, my sisters are all primed and ready now!

Gonna strip a lil old plastic push-fit marine. Anyone know how I should go about this - again, in Japan - In the UK lighter fluid worked pretty well, but the eldar minis I stripped that way got VERY brittle, so what does the plastic-stripping meta look like these days? Cheers!

Surprised lighter fluid didn’t melt that marine…

Conventional wisdom seems to be certain cleaning products (Dettol/ Fairy Power Spray in the UK, Simple Green in the US) does the job for plastic. Do they sell any of those in Japan?

Haha, might've been meths, not lighter fluid, but the plastic wasn't particularly happy afterwards.

Unfortunately, dettol/fairy power spray/simple green aren't super readily available out here. Might be able to swipe like a pallet of them off of Amazon, but...

Anyone know of equivalent products in Japan, or, failing that, any chemistry buffs know what kind of chemicals I should look out for for stripping plastic minis?
Cheers!

If I have to strip plastics, I use 70% isopropyl alcohol from the drugstore. A good soak followed by scrubbing usually does the trick. Caveat: I don't use spray primers.

I used 90% isopropanol before, it worked alright.
The plastic got quite soft and brittle, I broke a couple of spears before learning that. But once they dried out the plastic seems to have recovered.

Ooh, okay, this looks like a pretty good shout. I live down the road from a bunch of big drug stores, so that might be a good bet, but I'll be in Kanazawa this week, too, so if all else fails, I'll deffo be able to find some there. Cheers for the advice, guys! Will keep an eye open!

Would definitely recommend Biostrip if you can get it over there. Takes paint off just as good, if not better, than meth spirits, without any harmful fumes.