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Simply enough I recently picked up some "Equate" acetone free nail polish remover to strip paint off my old models. It worked great especially on the metal models. Some gubbinz become so soft it now has thumb prints on it. Didn't spot that till after i had finished.

So my Questions are :

1. Should I dilute it with water when using?
2. Is there a general time you can keep plastic pieces in the stuff.

Any general knowledge on the subject would be most appreciated.

Yes there is a general time to keep plastic in nail polish remover....NEVER!

For plastics you need Simple Green. Non Toxic and completely safe for plastics.

Acetone will literally melt your plastic models. It's fine on metal though.

I too use Acetone Free Nail Polish Remover, and have no complaints.

I don't dilute, and usually I don't leave anything submerged for more than about 20 seconds at a time and it seems to do the trick without too much softening of the plastic.

Todosi wrote:Yes there is a general time to keep plastic in nail polish remover....NEVER!

For plastics you need Simple Green. Non Toxic and completely safe for plastics.

Ive tried simple green before and was less than pleased with it. Kept them in for a good while and it did little.

Lonecoon wrote:Acetone will literally melt your plastic models. It's fine on metal though.

I got the acetone free as i believe I saw on here someone used it without hurting his stuff.

Reaper6 wrote:I too use Acetone Free Nail Polish Remover, and have no complaints.

I don't dilute, and usually I don't leave anything submerged for more than about 20 seconds at a time and it seems to do the trick without too much softening of the plastic.

That would be the problem then i leaft them in for about a minute. Part of the learning process then.
Thank you all for your quick responses.

The simple green treatment depends on what type of paint you are trying to remove. Enamel spray paints are really really tough, sometimes they won't all come off. Acrylic hobby paints like GW, Vallejo etc should peel right off. I never tried stripping anything with a clear coat sealer on it before, but that might be tough to get off too.

I've often used brake fluid on plastic minis to great effect. In fact, it's my go to stripping solution as I've never been happy with the results of simple green. It's stripped off enamel, acrylic, usually right down to the platic (removed the primer as well) with very little loss of details (sometimes the paint is caked into details so thick you just can't do anything about it)

Health warning: Always use gloves and wear a breather as I believe there's some fairly serious health concerns with the stuff.

Brotherjulian wrote: The simple green treatment depends on what type of paint you are trying to remove. Enamel spray paints are really really tough, sometimes they won't all come off. Acrylic hobby paints like GW, Vallejo etc should peel right off. I never tried stripping anything with a clear coat sealer on it before, but that might be tough to get off too.

it would get some stuff off but not enough for me even when using basic gw paint. but that could just be my luck. Also hate the smell of black liqorice. I did like i got a big gallon jug for like 6$.

king88mob wrote:I've often used brake fluid on plastic minis to great effect. In fact, it's my go to stripping solution as I've never been happy with the results of simple green. It's stripped off enamel, acrylic, usually right down to the platic (removed the primer as well) with very little loss of details (sometimes the paint is caked into details so thick you just can't do anything about it)

Health warning: Always use gloves and wear a breather as I believe there's some fairly serious health concerns with the stuff.

Where does one usually get brake fluid? auto shop i would geuss. The nail polish remover was also putting serious fumes off. Good thing i stopped smoking or it could have been bad!

I just finished a Simple Green and Super Clean test. Both worked well on metals. The Simple Green was the only one that affected the primer though and that was very little. Super Clean just took off the paint and didn't bother the primer.

Though these were not my models originally so I could not tell if GW primer was used.

I've always used Dot4 brake fluid (available form your local Halfords/Automobile Store).

A small tub (I use top of a spray can tin but make sure there's no pin holes in the lid to release pressure).
Soak models for at least 24 hours.

Toothbrush + soapy water for cleaning

In my humble opinion there is slight but negligible damage to plastic. No probs with metal models.

You shouldn't leave plastic models in acetone free nail polish remover for more than about 15 minutes max or they will start to be affected.

If you are going to use nail polish remover, put it on an old toothbrush and scrub the paint off. DON'T leave it in the remover or it will melt the plastic.
Also try to use some that is acetone free, it tends to work best

I just cleaned off a bunch of models using the Super Clean method detailed in the stickies for this forum. Worked really well, so I suggest you check that guide out.

I've used watered down acetone applied with soft toothbrushes to get the extra stubborn gunky paint out of the cracks & crevices before, but yes, if you don't rinse it off with hot water it will melt the plastic. It does make a good 1-2 punch with LA's Totally Awesome cleaner.

Not sure if anyone has brought it up. But i watched a video on Youtube from Buypainted where he uses brake oil? or something like that, I can't recall because i didn't understand and I'm not so interested at the moment. But he used it on finecast no problem. Look for him on youtube, it's a recent video.

and no, I used Pinesol for plastics and you have to time it right before it starts softening the plastic. I tried it on some necrons but the cleaning process was very dull and I just gave up. I rather buy more models slowly than having to cleam them up with pinesol and a toothbrush. Of course nail polish is a lot more aggresive than pine sol or simple green which I understand are equivalents.