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I've seen a lot of discussions here on DD about the use of Dettol to strip plastic figures but does anyone know if this will remove enamel paints (Humbrol, etc)?

While I'm happy with my conversion abilities returning after a break of 25 years I'm not so happy with my painting and want to start again.

Aren't the enamel paints oil-based? In which case you'll have a hard time cleaning them off with dettol. Nail polish remover or turps would do the job, but would severely impact the plastic, if they are metal then they would be fine.

Most successful i have with enamel paint is pinesol.

As effective as it is at removing the paint ( the layer just comes right off )

It also damages the plastic... I dunno maybe you can check back and forth often before it eats the plastic >.<?

Yup, thought that might be the case!

Think I've decided to just give them all a light re-spray of white primer before repainting them.

The first figure will be a trial of GW acrylics, as I've never tried acrylics on model figure before so watch this space...

The one and only... brake fluid.
Trust me. It works wonders.
You get it at every gas station for a few bucks. Just incubate the miniatures in it for two days or so and then just brush the colour off with an old toothbrush.

Brake fluid is highly toxic and must be disposed of carefully to avoid environmental damage.

As an industrial chemist, and an environmental manager, it's not going to be the first choice for me...

They're in the process of being re-primed.

You're pretty much restricted to the more dangerous chemicals for stripping of enamel paints.

Unfortunately, most of those will also dissolve polystyrene on contact.

You are pretty much left with brake fluid. I've found the (dot3) stuff works well, but I've also been using the brake and transmission fluid (dot3) blend which also works - but tends to permanently soften resin as well.

It WON'T harm the plastic.
It WILL remove the paint.
You WILL have to use gloves.
You WILL have to dispose of it carefully (find a mechanic and ask him if you can put it into his waste fluids - which should be being picked up and disposed of properly anyway - that's what I do. I have four of them in my street. Most towns have at least ONE mechanic in them.)

Ari Refskegg wrote:Brake fluid is highly toxic and must be disposed of carefully to avoid environmental damage.

As an industrial chemist, and an environmental manager, it's not going to be the first choice for me...

They're in the process of being re-primed.

If you are a chemist as you mention, then you will probably know that you can dissolve enamel only with (mostly toxic) detergents.
Of course this stuff is not the most healthy thing to use.
But as a biotechnologist let me tell you... You should have the knowledge to handle and dispose it properly.

Enamel and problem solved.

I do have the knowledge, but even better is avoiding it altogether!

A test model will be painted with acrylics and then I'll decide which route I'm taking...

Overpainting the enamel will obscure most of the detail.

And about the brake fluid. Put it in a small jar. 200ml and you can strip the paint off about 100 models. You don't need liters of it.


But hey... I appreciate you're opinion concerning environmental issues.

LunaHound wrote:Most successful i have with enamel paint is pinesol.

As effective as it is at removing the paint ( the layer just comes right off )

It also damages the plastic... I dunno maybe you can check back and forth often before it eats the plastic >.<?

Yup use pinesol if you can get it. It is particularly good against enamels, some of my plastic marines that were painted in enamels came out looking like new after a soak in it (not even any paint trapped in the crevices).

I wouldn't worry too much about it damaging plastic. It will soften plastic eventually if you leave it in there for a long time. but you shouldn't have any problem if you're only soaking them for a couple of hours.

Enzephalon wrote:Overpainting the enamel will obscure most of the detail.

And about the brake fluid. Put it in a small jar. 200ml and you can strip the paint off about 100 models. You don't need liters of it.

Precisely. I've used about 500ml of the stuff in the last 5 years (one bottle). I've stripped around 240 models with it. 2/3 of that were plastic. Some were even RT plastics (RTB001s and guard).