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 Buttery Commissar wrote:
I've also been using Biostrip. Though my marines look a bit chalky after. It doesn't affect the prime, but I do suspect leaving them in long term would be a bad idea.

That's odd. I've left stuff soaking in it for about a week, without any problems. Had you tried stripping those marines in anything else before hand?

I did once have a genestealer arm break off in the biostip without my noticing, and then I put the jar away and left it for about 6-8 months. When I got it back out the genestealer arm was floating on top. It looked okay, but when I fished it out it had gone really floppy (like when you dip resin minis in hot water). After I took it out it hardened up again. All the details were still there and stuff. Obviously, I don't recommend leaving minis in it for months on purpose, but I think it proves, somewhat, that it isn't destructive. Unless they changed the formula? That seems unlikely. I'm pretty sure that they are aware people use it to strip miniatures, they have an account here. A while ago someone from the company PMed me and asked if they could use my before/after picture on their blog. They said they had had a lot of interest from Warhammer players since I posted a review here a few years ago. So go figure...

I have bought almost all of my minis off E-bay and then stripped them clean with Dettol and SImple Green. I find the Dettol works great to get even the worst paint glop off minis, then a short soak in the simple green and they scrub clean afterwards. Sometimes I end up with little hard to reach bits of paint stuck deep in cracks but it is quite acceptable.

I avoided buying the old snap fit marines and aimed for figures that were from the poseable sets. I also bought a ton of bikers and am nearly done with a group of 20. The higher quality models are also easier to convert yourself after cleaning since bits are readily available online. Shoulderpads, head swaps, new weapons and anything else I felt like changing up.


Metal minis stripped with dettol and Simple Green clean up very well.


Plastic minis leave a weird black film, but otherwise clean up just as good as metal.

Ah, I love the 'this plasma gun is getting hot!' conversion! Every marine army needs one. Are you going to keep it as it is?

 Smacks wrote:

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
I've also been using Biostrip. Though my marines look a bit chalky after. It doesn't affect the prime, but I do suspect leaving them in long term would be a bad idea.

That's odd. I've left stuff soaking in it for about a week, without any problems. Had you tried stripping those marines in anything else before hand?

I did once have a genestealer arm break off in the biostip without my noticing, and then I put the jar away and left it for about 6-8 months. When I got it back out the genestealer arm was floating on top. It looked okay, but when I fished it out it had gone really floppy (like when you dip resin minis in hot water). After I took it out it hardened up again. All the details were still there and stuff. Obviously, I don't recommend leaving minis in it for months on purpose, but I think it proves, somewhat, that it isn't destructive. Unless they changed the formula? That seems unlikely. I'm pretty sure that they are aware people use it to strip miniatures, they have an account here. A while ago someone from the company PMed me and asked if they could use my before/after picture on their blog. They said they had had a lot of interest from Warhammer players since I posted a review here a few years ago. So go figure...

I have around 120 SM I've taken on for a charity project (ultimately 365), and they gave all come out faintly chalky.
If my Biostrip needs a stir or something I am unsure. I can show pictures later.

I did my leman russ with it, that was primed a cool grey and the same happened.
Turret is stripped in this photo. This was an hour to the minute.

I live with a development chemist for a cleaning product company and he isn't happy with me having the stuff laying around due to the smell of what's in the formulation, so I follow the bottle instructions in my spray.
The short and fuzzy is that packaging can claim anything on products (like when a certain product on tv claimed "no harsh chemicals!" And got their ad pulled after 4 months) until it's called out in a formal complaint.

 Buttery Commissar wrote:
I live with a development chemist for a cleaning product company and he isn't happy with me having the stuff laying around due to the smell of what's in the formulation, so I follow the bottle instructions in my spray.
The short and fuzzy is that packaging can claim anything on products (like when a certain product on tv claimed "no harsh chemicals!" And got their ad pulled after 4 months) until it's called out in a formal complaint.

Oh! Do you have it in spray bottle? Mine is from a tub, and it doesn't really smell at all. Perhaps it really is a different formula, the one I have seems way too gloopy to go through a spray bottle. I have seen that kind of white dusting before when I've cleaned miniatures in white spirit. As they dried a white powdery layer formed on the surface. Perhaps the spray has some kind of thinner in it?

From my experience both Dettol and Biostrip are good,just not as good as acetone free nail polish remover. I found with Biostrip that I needed to keep repeating and to be honest I got fed up! Dettol;I got fed up of the fumes and the skin being stripped from my fingers!. With Acetone free stuff it strips in about a minute which is handy if you have a load of minis to remove paint from.

I was excited about acetone free nail polish remover until i read up on it and saw the active ingredient is isopropyl alcohol

Well if you want to build army on a budget ebay hunting can do wonders, but be prepared it is a long term project to get what you want for the price that is acceptable to you. Most of my CSM are salvaged from poorly painted previous owners.
Look for a bulk deals you usually get ton of stuff with extra bits etc. If you want to I can PM (not sure is it allowed to post it here in publicity because of dakka dakka own rules) you with some sellers I follow which often have good deals on used stuff.
And about striping agent, I wonder why nobody mentioned car brakes fluid. Since I couldnt get my hands on Dettol, simple green and similar stuff I heard somewhere about that method and in my case it proved extremely efficient. It doesnt hurt plastic (didnt try resin) or metal and it needs a little bit more scrubbing but since in some countries its difficult to get those 20-25% percent discounts and shipping is too high I think its well worth it.