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Okay, so I've had a batch of old marines stewing in Simple Green for a good 48 hours. I pulled them out and took the old toothbrush to them and...

I was rather disappointed with the results. It did not work nearly as easily/well as I have read. Should I wander out and get a stiffer brush? I tried a metal wire brush, but it didn't do the job even as well as the toothbrush. Maybe let them soak a bit longer (which they are currently doing)? Perhaps it was the paint? I noticed that the Boltgun is completely gone, the Chaos Black comes off a little better, but the Fiery Orange... yikes. Sticks like you wouldn't believe.

The stuff isn't eating the models, but it did cause them to fall apart. Not surprising as I normally just glued primer to primer (BAD KALORAN! BAD!).

Anyone have any insight?

I have heard that simple green is for the patient modelers who want to use something that is eco-friendly.

Depends heavily upon the paint.

Some primer does not come off no matter what - simple green, brake fluid, acetone etc.

I leave figures in simple green for a week or more - just dump them in the tin and leave them there until I remember them again.

I have seen people use a fish pump with simple green with success to keep it moving. I just give the can a swish every few days however.

tallmantim wrote:Depends heavily upon the paint.

Some primer does not come off no matter what - simple green, brake fluid, acetone etc.

I leave figures in simple green for a week or more - just dump them in the tin and leave them there until I remember them again.

I have seen people use a fish pump with simple green with success to keep it moving. I just give the can a swish every few days however.

OH OH OH...

Fish pumps AND a Supersonic cleaner would help a lot.

If you want something that will be less "eco-friendly" and more kick-ass macgillicuty try to work with some of the other stuff out there. My friend mentioned the best stuff the other day... c'mon brain, c'mon....hmmm. Nope, I will have to ask him and remember to post later.
Hmm... that wont help much

I would recommend making some sort of concentrated fish pump contraption if you like to do a bit of orkgineering. You could make a cylinder with a pump at the bottom and concentrate the bubbles so they actually make the models jump around, you could even use solar power so the models can rest at night . That would make your paint station into a PAINT LABORATORY!!! .... omg I need one of these

Wrexasaur wrote:

tallmantim wrote:Depends heavily upon the paint.

Some primer does not come off no matter what - simple green, brake fluid, acetone etc.

I leave figures in simple green for a week or more - just dump them in the tin and leave them there until I remember them again.

I have seen people use a fish pump with simple green with success to keep it moving. I just give the can a swish every few days however.

OH OH OH...

Fish pumps AND a Supersonic cleaner would help a lot.

If you want something that will be less "eco-friendly" and more kick-ass macgillicuty try to work with some of the other stuff out there. My friend mentioned the best stuff the other day... c'mon brain, c'mon....hmmm. Nope, I will have to ask him and remember to post later.
Hmm... that wont help much

I would recommend making some sort of concentrated fish pump contraption if you like to do a bit of orkgineering. You could make a cylinder with a pump at the bottom and concentrate the bubbles so they actually make the models jump around, you could even use solar power so the models can rest at night . That would make your paint station into a PAINT LABORATORY!!! .... omg I need one of these

Did you mean Toluene?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toluene

Wait, are we still trying to remove paint or are we on to the explosives manufacturing?

Simple green does take a while. You can make it a bit quicker by keeping it warm.

I paint my stripping buckets black and set them where they catch a few hours of sun everyday. Keeps them quite warm and this seems to make it work quite a bit faster.

Still- I plan on at least a week.

A week?! I want to be repainting stripped models within the hour.

Yeah I'll most likely use Acetone or Perchlorethelene

Then tip it down the sink.

Ya...down the sink. Theres eco-freindly for ya.

If you want models with no paint on them instantly just buy new ones.....

And on topic- if you live in the boonies and have a septic tank- dumping caustic chemicals like acetone will likely end up costing you a few hundred bucks to have your tank dug up and serviced.

Tallmantim wrote:Did you mean Toluene?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toluene

Apparently it,

Wiki wrote:Like other solvents, toluene is also used as an inhalant drug for its intoxicating properties; however this causes severe neurological harm

This would be something that I would want to avoid at all costs. I seriously hope this wasn't what my friend was talking about. Perhaps I am overreacting, but I would be stripping minis in my room if I were to do them fast, and it is not all that ventilated. Simple green doesn't have fumes right?

Mistress of minis wrote:Simple green does take a while. You can make it a bit quicker by keeping it warm.

I paint my stripping buckets black and set them where they catch a few hours of sun everyday. Keeps them quite warm and this seems to make it work quite a bit faster.

Still- I plan on at least a week.

Interesting. Could you use a heating pad? Would heating the water even more by using a solar oven for your method work even better? Gets kinda hot, as you can make tea with the water. I am not sure what the melting point for models is, but you could tune it to a few degrees below that. By melting I mean getting tacky and on the road to squishy. I should ask my uncle about this, he used to torture his poor poor G.I.Joe's in some of the films he made. Not sure if he ever boiled one though; how would you write that script without resorting to cannibals?
On that note would the bubbles help even more? Could I seriously make a paint-stripping gizmo?

I am quite sure that you get immeasurable amounts of sun out in Arizona .

Mistress of minis wrote:Simple green does take a while. You can make it a bit quicker by keeping it warm.

I paint my stripping buckets black and set them where they catch a few hours of sun everyday. Keeps them quite warm and this seems to make it work quite a bit faster.

Still- I plan on at least a week.

Heat, huh? I think I can manage that. Thanks for the tip!

Thanks to everyone else for suggestions and insight, as well. I'm not in any particular hurry to paint the models I'm stripping, so waiting another 5-6 days isn't an issue.

These simple green posts always make me laugh. Read the tutorial on here about using the SuperClean. Itll strip anything bare in no time flat!

Super Clean









Danger: Corrosive,
May cause burns, Harmful if swallowed
or inhaled, keep out of reach of children,
See additional precautionary information on back panel.

Huh. If I'm still annoyed with Simple Clean next week, I'll wander over to the Evil Empire for a purple jug of delicious chemical goodness!

I also prefer Super Clean, but its not an instant stripper either. And a factor that might be good, or bad- is that it also breaks down super glue bonds. So dont be surprised if you pull a bunch of bitz out of the dip. I like the citrus scent too, better than the mutant mint thing simple green has going(wtf smell is it anyway?)

As for the warmth/heating. Dont get them anywhere near thier melting point. If its too hot to stick your hand in dont do it. The figs WILL warp if theres too much heat. GWs plastic is very inconsistant, just look at how some sprues are light grey, some dark. This means some figs will have lower melting points and its really hard to guess which ones when theyre painted

Oh, I'll just put the bin in the sun, now that our highly uncharacteristic monsoon is over...

Oddly enough, I like the smell of Simple Green. It reminds me of something.

For tough paint, I would set in Simple Green then brush and clean. If there is more paint residue, repeat the process. I bought a Ravenwing Box Squad that was painted horribly and assembled even worse. But the repeated Simple Green and Brushing removed the super thick layer of paint the kid put on and even got thru the primer which I didnt think would come off. Of couse the poorly assemble attach bike and land speeder is no longer salvagable which gives me a chance at some customized vehicles.

Mistress of minis wrote:I also prefer Super Clean, but its not an instant stripper either. And a factor that might be good, or bad- is that it also breaks down super glue bonds. So dont be surprised if you pull a bunch of bitz out of the dip. I like the citrus scent too, better than the mutant mint thing simple green has going(wtf smell is it anyway?)

i might try it for just that reason. i'm getting a couple of big models in the mail due to a trade but (judging from the pics), i'll want to re-pose them. the guy used regular cyanoacrylate super glue instead of plastic glue. i'm all out of the professional uncure stuff but frankly i don't know if it harms the plastic (only used it in the past on metal).

Alot of the CA de-curing agents will affect plastic, the ones that are plastic safe will say so on the label.

Between the castrol and the freezer trick (freezing ca makes it more brittle) you can get most CA glue off any model.

Mistress of minis wrote:the freezer trick (freezing ca makes it more brittle) you can get most CA glue off any model.

Neat trick there, thanks.

Since you're a lady do you have any tips for what to say when Mrs Spiggott finds my toy soldiers have invaded the freezer?

KaloranSLC wrote:Oh, I'll just put the bin in the sun, now that our highly uncharacteristic monsoon is over...

Oddly enough, I like the smell of Simple Green. It reminds me of something.

Im guessing the days you used to huff behind your dads garage?!

I use Simple Green "Concentrated", your supposed to dilute it with water, but I chose not to. I put all my models into a vat of it, left them in the sun for 1 day, and the paint fell off when I picked up the models. A minute or two of model-brushing and they were good as new.

Mistress of minis wrote:

I paint my stripping buckets black and set them where they catch a few hours of sun everyday. Keeps them quite warm and this seems to make it work quite a bit faster.

Still- I plan on at least a week.

Waitwaitwait...how do you paint a bucket you intend to use for stripping? Doesn't it strip the bucket as well?

Nurgleboy77 wrote:

Mistress of minis wrote:

I paint my stripping buckets black and set them where they catch a few hours of sun everyday. Keeps them quite warm and this seems to make it work quite a bit faster.

Still- I plan on at least a week.

Waitwaitwait...how do you paint a bucket you intend to use for stripping? Doesn't it strip the bucket as well?

At a guess, I'd say she paints the outside of the stripping bucket?

i also use the simple green concentrate, unwatered down.

i let the models soak for about 24 hours or so.

at that point, i don't even need to scrub many of them, the paint just comes off sorta comes off in a large chunk.

for the ones that do need scrubbing, i use a denture brush i picked up cheap at a grocery store

edit- simple green is oddly minty fresh

KingCracker wrote:

KaloranSLC wrote:Oh, I'll just put the bin in the sun, now that our highly uncharacteristic monsoon is over...

Oddly enough, I like the smell of Simple Green. It reminds me of something.

Im guessing the days you used to huff behind your dads garage?!

That would explain a lot of things, actually...

Castrol Super Clean works wonders. Every time I see one of these threads, I stop in to say "Please, wear gloves when using CSC!" I didn't the first time I used it, picking up figures, scrubbin' with a toothbrush, not good times...

George Spiggott wrote:

Mistress of minis wrote:the freezer trick (freezing ca makes it more brittle) you can get most CA glue off any model.

Neat trick there, thanks.

Since you're a lady do you have any tips for what to say when Mrs Spiggott finds my toy soldiers have invaded the freezer?

You have a star wars icon...so just look at Mrs Spiggott with a straight face and say "Honey, theyre training for a battle on Hoth to reenact the glory days of the Empire" then just go back to painting and humming the Imperial march tune.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Nurgleboy77 wrote:

Mistress of minis wrote:

I paint my stripping buckets black and set them where they catch a few hours of sun everyday. Keeps them quite warm and this seems to make it work quite a bit faster.

Still- I plan on at least a week.

Waitwaitwait...how do you paint a bucket you intend to use for stripping? Doesn't it strip the bucket as well?

Bucket 101.

Buckets have two sides. For simplicity we will refer to them as 'inside' and 'outside'.

The 'inside' is the portion of bucketness that is useful for containment of stuff, in the case of reference to this thread- it holds stripping agent and miniatures.

The portion that faces 'outward' gives credence to the label of 'outside'.

The inside and outside are opposites, the archenemy of eachother. But like yin/yang, in a 3 dimensional physics model, one must exist to keep the other in balance. With said balance the harmonius stripping of poorly painted miniatures can take place.

If- you were to paint something, that has an inside, and an outside, for the purpose of absorbing solar radiation- would you paint the inside, or the outside?

That would be like putting solar panels in your closet...


And Kaloran makes a valid point with gloves & strippin agents- gloves are a good idea- the degreasers in the stuff will dry your skin big time and any open wounds are ouchies. Seems like common sense...but....ya....

I gave the Simple Green a test run last night on a few figs.

Picked up the cheapest electric rechargeable toothbrush I could find $15 and gave it a try today, I was pleased enough with the results.

It isn't dangerous and will work well enough as far as I am concerned. After soaking for 20 or so hours, it stripped one of the metal figs very well and the other mostly down to the primer. The two plastic figs it only stripped the top paint off.

So I added more simply green, and the rest of the figs I want to strip in this wave, dumped them all in and we will see what happens tomorrow.

I also broke the guys up into pieces so that I can get in the tighter spaces.

I think Metals may need two cycles, and the plastics perhaps three cycles.

I put them all in a cat litter bucket, the big white ones with lids, as it was convenient. I may try painting the bucket black as was suggested above.

Wrexasaur wrote:I have heard that simple green is for the patient modelers who want to use something that is eco-friendly.

Or for those of us who don't wish to expose ourselves to chemicals.

Ironically I am taking the supposed patient route, when I am working on Slaanesh Chaos Space Marines. Go figure.

You can also use, i dont know the name for it in english but its 95% ethanol(pure alcohol) and its clored red (at least here in sweden and its caled T-röd. (röd=red)).

Putt your figure in it for an houre or two and then rubb it al of with a tooth brush.
You dont have to throw it away after your done, just store it and use the same liquid next time you strip a model.

Warning as its flammable!

And you can use it to for instans clean your electronics while you strip your model