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My current army (Black Templar) is kinda painted in a hasteful fashion because I just wanted to get a army on the table. I want to go back through and re-paint a good chunk of my army and I wnted to know what was the best way of going about that?

First strip them with Simple Green, then paint them. It's that simple.

75% Simple Green
25% Water

Let sit for about 30 minutes. Check every 15 minutes or so after that untill the paint starts to fall off with a light touch. then scrub with a toothbrush to get the rest. Be careful because the green can somtimes soften some types of glue. Also, dont just let it sit overnight or anything. In theroy (i guess...) the chemicals could soften the plastic as well.

After you strip them rinse the model with water. Give it a good rinse. Any residue left over will screw up your new paint.

Let us know how it turns out

I just go 100% SG. If it's been cleared you'll want it to sit overnight.

I've had plastics sit for weeks in SG and nothing noticeable happened to harm the plastic.

What is Simple Green may I ask?
Is it a GW product?
Can it be purchased in Europe? under a different name perhaps?

Simple Green is nice to plastics. I've had models floating in the soup for months, now, and they're still ok. You don't have to dilute it, either. I'm not sure if you can find it in Europe, but it would probably be in the automotive section of whatever department store you regularly shop - if anywhere, that is.

http://www.simplegreen.co.uk/haushalt_01.php.htm

I believe this is the stuff.

I've never used it but I had the link from when I was considering it.

Hope that helps mate.

Buy the simple green concentrate. It comes in a big jug and isn't very expensive. You can pick it up at any hardware, or automotive store. Soak it at 100% concentration, then get to work. I have a wire brush, a very stiff bristle scrub brush and a tooth brush depending on what surface I'm cleaning as well as a small pick for getting paint out of small crevases.

Simple green will loosen superglue and some other glues, but not a good bond made with plastic sovent glue. I find that it's ability to loosen superglue bonds is great for when I'm stripping 2nd hand models with too much glue on them, or when I want to repose the figures anyway.

As to durration of soak, I've left stuff in simple green for weeks with no adverse effects on the plastic. Note that this does NOT hold true for other chemicals. Pine sol will soften plastic, Brake fluid, acetone and oven cleaner will melt plastic, etc, etc....

Assuming you painted with acrylics like GW, Vallejo, Craft paint, etc. it should all come off fairly easy. If you basecoated with an enamel or solvent based spray, the basecoat will never come completely off, but that's not really a problem.

One other thing, If you're soaking inside, I'd put a plastic bag over whatever you're soaking in. SG is completely non-toxic, but you don't want your entire house smelling like simple green.

For those outside of US/UK, or anywhere that doesn't have Simple Green, here's something I posted in a different thread.

The active ingredients in Simple Green are:

Butoxyethanol, Mixed Alcohol Ethoxylate, Tetrapotassium Pyrophosphate, Sodium Citrate, Fragrance, Colorant

I'm pretty sure the first three are the important ones. I'd compare this list to the cleaners around you and see what you can find.

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I have tried simple green to clean models. It took a soaking of about a day to get the results I wanted, I don't know what paints/sealer the guy I got my orks from used but it was tough.

As noted above pinesol can soften/discolour plastic models. I have used it though and had good results, took 15 minutes - 1/2 hour to get the paint off. It did do what was just warned about. I wouldn't recommend it if you do not have the time to watch your models as (do not leave them in there and go to work) or if they have lots of detail you are worried about. I used it on some tau crisis suites that were pretty gnarly looking. If it ruined them I wouldn't have cared much.

I sit my models in pure simple green for at least two weeks before I take a brush/finger to. It all comes out, save for a bit of primer, and doesn't ruin glue bonds unless it is poor quality stuff. For me, this has worked and I've never had a ruined figure...

That reminds me. I've had nids in Simple Green for five weeks in need of a good scrubbing.

Cool stuff thanks for the tips. How does SG work on metal?

Rc1987 wrote:Cool stuff thanks for the tips. How does SG work on metal?

Exactly the same as plastic, if not better, because the paint bonds are easier to break from metal.

Um, I've found that SG is incredibly hard to find outside the US....

There you go.....

Mr-_-Flidd wrote:http://www.simplegreen.co.uk/haushalt_01.php.htm

I believe this is the stuff.

I've never used it but I had the link from when I was considering it.

Hope that helps mate.

Rc1987 wrote:Cool stuff thanks for the tips. How does SG work on metal?

As was said, it works as good or better. For metal, I often use brake fluid or oven cleaner because it's so fast, but SG is so much safer and easier so it doesn't require ventilation, gloves, etc.

ArbitorIan,
If you can't find simple green, check your automotive store for cleaning products with similar ingredients.

Other similar products that may or may not be available across the pond are Purple Power, and Super Clean. Both are slightly more toxic than simple green, but still very safe.