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I used Dettol (other antiseptic liquids are available, I think it's the pine oil constituent that makes it work) on my metal, plastic and resin-part minis.

It's removed Quickshade dip, paint and primers, but has dissolved the Liquid Green Stuff I'd used to fill gaps and make details, so be prepared to have to replace that if needed.
Let the mini soak for a while (24 hours is usual), take it out and scrub the mini with a firm toothbrush. Most of the paint should come off, but for a clean finish use soapy water (water with washing up liquid added - not plain water) and scrub some more.

I've used acetone nail polish remover on plastic models and it started to soften some of the details, so I couldn't recommend it, but your experience may vary.

Whatever chemicals you use, you will need to wear gloves when paint stripping. Dissolved paint is messy stuff and the smell gets in your pores.

I use Diall paint and varnish remover which I get from B&Q. Cheap, doesn't smell and I use an old toothbrush to scrub it off in some warm soapy water after one night and if the paint is a little stubborn I just throw the model back in again for another night (or until I remember to take it out!).

Perfect for metal and plastic (I used an old goff ork from the 2nd Ed. box to test and it came out perfect). Don't recommend it for resin though, I tried it on a model and whilst it was still solid and the detail was fine, the outer surface seemed, 'softened' somehow - it made a dull noise when I tapped it on the table when it would be quite a sharp sound usually if that makes sense.

Ok so just to be clear about the dettol because that's the only thing listed in the thread I can get my hands on - for plastics do I leave it to soak over night and it will be ok? Use warm water with soap to scrub off paint after the dettol soak with a tooth brush? Lastly what dettol to use there are 2 different ones I think - is it the all purpose one? Thanks

The Dettol I use is the antiseptic liquid, you can get it from the healthcare aisle in the supermarket.

http://www.dettol.co.uk/products-for-your-family-personal-hygiene-liquid

I submerge the mini completely in neat Dettol in a closed container (I use a big yogurt tub with a lid) and leave it till I remember to get it out again - usually about 24 hours, but I have left if for two days (probably longer) with no ill effects.
I fish the mini out and start to scrub; most of the paint will slide off the flat surfaces but you'll need a bit of work to get paint out of the faces, weapon details, fingers etc.
When you've got most of the paint off you switch to the soapy water and repeat the process.

If you still have some paint left on the mini you can try and pick it off with a pin or a knife tip, or chuck it back in the Dettol for round two.

I haven't had any problems with Dettol on GW's plastic, or with the metal or resin parts I've used for conversions, but if you have any doubts as to compatibility, test it with a non-valuable mini first.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
I was going to say Simple Green, but now that I've read in this thread that it is reformulated, I will have to try something different.

I still have luck with the concentrated form, but I also let models soak for a pretty long time too.

 Chrissy_J wrote:
The Dettol I use is the antiseptic liquid, you can get it from the healthcare aisle in the supermarket.

http://www.dettol.co.uk/products-for-your-family-personal-hygiene-liquid

I submerge the mini completely in neat Dettol in a closed container (I use a big yogurt tub with a lid) and leave it till I remember to get it out again - usually about 24 hours, but I have left if for two days (probably longer) with no ill effects.
I fish the mini out and start to scrub; most of the paint will slide off the flat surfaces but you'll need a bit of work to get paint out of the faces, weapon details, fingers etc.
When you've got most of the paint off you switch to the soapy water and repeat the process.

If you still have some paint left on the mini you can try and pick it off with a pin or a knife tip, or chuck it back in the Dettol for round two.

I haven't had any problems with Dettol on GW's plastic, or with the metal or resin parts I've used for conversions, but if you have any doubts as to compatibility, test it with a non-valuable mini first.

Great I'm going to give that a yo as obviously my concern is them plastics rather than metal models

Fairy Power Spray here. Been pretty successful, removing paint as far back as Rogue Trader.

 Daba wrote:
Fairy Power Spray here. Been pretty successful, removing paint as far back as Rogue Trader.

On plastics too???

Ok here is how I managed to get a shine from my metal models so far. My own technique is a little unorthodox but it worked for me and I'm happy with the results.

Ok so step 1 - I picked a bottle of cheapo antiseptic cleaner. Poured in about half of it in an empty large yoghurt pot.

Step 2 - dumped my metal minis in and left them in for about a week.

Step 3 - with a very thin scraper tool ( pin like tip) I started to pull carefully the paint and just rolled off like bad skin. The crevices were a b***h but the tool scraped them out.

Step 4 - toothpaste. I quickly rubbed some paste over each model after cleaning the paint and washed insanely in water.

The result - brand new metal like minis. That shine is almost like I've seem in new boxes for sale.

My attempts to salvage those really old looking metal space wolves were spent well in the end of the careful hours trying to remove some kind of epoxy glue from t he model. I soaked it in a week and it wouldn't clean, I used heavier chemicals and even dumped them into bleach still no change. Acetone didn't shift it either so by now my hand become a wizard with the scraper tool and slowly but surely I cracked open that crap gunk from the models.

I have 4 of these in total and wanted so badly to get the shine out from these as I had done before with the others. I even dumped them in coke in hope of the penny trick to work. Still nada. The models are now fine in their detail but they look dull and grayish instead of chrome/silver. Have these minis become oxidized or something of were the older metals just a dulling colour. I must say if I scrape a bit of thud surface metal I can see shiny chrome underneath so what's the deal here????