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First up--I did a search but didn't get anything; if this has already been answered then I'd appreciate if someone could point me to the relevant thread(s).

I bought some second-hand Forge World tyranids, which I'd llike to strip and repaint. After being left in a bath of Simple Green overnight, much of the paint came off ok with a scrubbing (with a toothbrush), and the (black) primer underneath was exposed. Not much of this came off. I figured that this could have been because it wasn't directly exposed to the Simple Green, so put the parts in for another night after this initial scrub. However, I just finished the second scrub and that didn't remove much of the primer. I'm using the concentrated, dark green type of Simple Green.

I don't want to press too hard on the models for fear of snapping components. Has anyone else stripped resin? If not Simple Green, what did you use to get rid of the primer (specific brand names would be useful)? Do I just need to scrub harder, or does primer bond more strongly to resin than plastic/metal? (Note: I don't know the brands of paints or primer used on the model.) Any advice would be appreciated.

A quick bump in case anyone missed this, and has advice. The models have been in for two more soaks lasting the last five days and, unfortunately, the primer's still on there.

depending on what primer was used and what the model is made of will ultimately control what will come off. From what you have described, it sounds like it might have been the GW spray on plastic, and as far as I have found, it doesn't really come off. Thankfully though, the paint shouldnt be too thick...

I haven't used Simple Green on resin, but I can tell you that some black primers will actually "stain" plastic. The primer layer is gone; you can see it peel off if you are watching. However, some of the pigment of the primer will discolor the plastic. I would not be surprised at all if the same thing happens with resin.

If this is the case, good news and bad news:

Good News: the primer is gone and the black staining will not cause a loss of detail.

Bad News: I don't know of a way to bleach it out of the plastic, so it may require you to use a heavier primer coat if you are going with a white primer.

I've had this happen repeatedly with black primers on a wide variety of GW plastics (from single part plastic dwarfs to purple plastic genestealers to CSM bikers). It can happen if you leave the primer on there for days, or years, or even just a day (test model I immediately disliked). Sorry I don't have any insight into resin on this.

Thanks, guys.

I've now got the primer off on one of the models--but not the others. The one it came off was the yellow Forge World resin, while the ones it won't are in the grey kind, so I wonder whether that might have something to do with it. Or perhaps different primers were used.

I shouldn't lose much detail when I reprime, so I am not too worried--although I was going to prime white and they were black before.

I've used simple green (dark green, not watered down) on FW resin Dark Angel Termie Shoulder Pads. It took all the primer and paint off the resin, with no damage to detail. I was gentle with the scrubbing as well.

That being said, I've also had white and black GW primers resist all efforts at stripping (at least on plastic models). So it could be the nature of the particular primer that won't let them strip completely.

I've found that the 'faded primer' after stripping is fine to prime over, with no real loss of detail.

All that being said, I understand that FW often uses different resins at different times, so what works once might not work another time. Best to test it on a piece you don't need. (clearly, as you've already stripped them, that was just general stripping advice).

go to the dollar store and get a product called LA's Totally Awesome and never look at simple green again!!