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Ive got an offer to buy a tyranid army off a guy. It comes all done and painted but with all the bits so I can redo the figs I like.

The metal figs will (most likely) fall to pieces when I remove the paint but the plastic ones wont.

So my question is: how difficult is it to take apart a plastic tyranid? Is it possible to take say a carnifex to pieces so I can reposition and gear it up some other way? New head, arms etc.

If it was put together with super glue you can take it apart by putting acetone in the joints.

If they were put together with plastic glue you will need to saw them, and it wont look good.

Clthomps has it right on the money, so take a look at the plastic nids and see if they were assembled using superglue or not. If they were, you're golden. Otherwise...

Depends on how well it was glued as well. Sometimes you can get away with pulling an arm off, even if it was glued with polystyrene cement, if the original owner has been stingy with the glue and the bond is weak. But as stated, mostly if you pull it, it will tear and look crap.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Append: Also, you can try getting a knife in to break the bond. I have a surgical scalpel that I use to break joints with, it's quite effective.

First question you HAVE to ask this guy- did he use super glue to assemble the plastics? Or did he use plastic cement? Hopefully since there are metal models he used super glue for all of them- but it always good to ask rather than getting stuck with figs that are ...well....stuck...

Please do NOT put acetone on plastic figs- acetone can eat though some stryrene plastic mixtures faster than super glue you want to dissolve(GW styrene plastic mixtures have not been consistant over the years)

The easiest- and safest way to remove the paint- AND- super glue, is SuperClean ( http://www.superclean.com/index.php ) This works better than simple green for stripping and dissolves super glue in a couple of days when cold, less if kept warm. Doesnt hurt plastic at all- and is safe for metal if its only left in there for a week or two (long term it stasrts getting nurglified). Drop them all in a bucket or large bowl for a soak and they all just sort fall apart when you brush the old paint off. I'd recommend keeping them sorted by bug type to keep their bits from getting all mixed up though.