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Hello Dakka!

This may sound a little odd, but I once read that toothpaste works as a paint stripper. Does anyone have any experience with it in this use? If so, how do you recommend doing it?I keep meaning to try but am worried it could damage my figures.

Will20017

Those crazy ass hair brained schemes!

Never heard of it, and I couldn't personally live with miniatures smelling minty fresh for all eternity.

Use the original brown bottle Dettol to strip plastic and metal minis.

Mix 50/50 with water, and wear gloves. Paint should start coming off after 30 mins or so though you can leave it in for longer. Scrub with an old toothbrush, using dettol mix to wash off residue. Soak in water and scrub with different clean toothbrush to remove dettol residue before re-painting.

ghosty wrote:Those crazy ass hair brained schemes!

Never heard of it, and I couldn't personally live with miniatures smelling minty fresh for all eternity.

Well, at least it would mask the smell of the plastic glue

SilverMK2 wrote:Use the original brown bottle Dettol to strip plastic and metal minis.

Mix 50/50 with water, and wear gloves. Paint should start coming off after 30 mins or so though you can leave it in for longer. Scrub with an old toothbrush, using dettol mix to wash off residue. Soak in water and scrub with different clean toothbrush to remove dettol residue before re-painting.

Thanks, would this work with the spray version? (That is the clear one)

Many Thanks

Will20017

Probably not, it needs to soak - the spray would pool in places on the model and you would not get a nice finish.

I have used toothpaste before, but you need a non gel version, like Colgate, the white paste is a very fine abrasive.

Toothpaste is used for a very type of specific stripping/smoothing. I would not suggest it for stripping entire paint jobs, other products work much better. However, if you are looking to smooth out entire flat areas and remove all sanding marks, toothpaste works well.

It also makes a nice polishing compound on Alcald II paints.


Ashton

Toothpaste is also commonly used in weathering when painting with an airbrush.

You base coat with a rust or metal underlayer, then smear toothpaste in the pattern that you want weathered. Paint the overlayer, then wash with water and some gentle scrubbing to remove the toothpaste - and you get a weathering effect.

It works for any water-soluble heavy gel-like substance. Like Marmite, for example.

Xarian wrote:Like Marmite, for example.

Although this will be unavailable to those of you gaming in Denmark...

... Marmite, not toothpaste.

BloodQuest wrote:

Xarian wrote:Like Marmite, for example.

Although this will be unavailable to those of you gaming in Denmark...

... Marmite, not toothpaste.

LOL, I was just thinking that. For those unaware, marmite is banned from sale in Denmark as it's an unregistered vitamin supplement or whatever crazy reasons the Danes came up with; maybe they actually ate it.

BloodQuest wrote: Although this will be unavailable to those of you gaming in Denmark...

... Marmite, not toothpaste.

Yep. Good save, thought that people in Denmark had bad breath for a second lol...

Yeah, I've heard EVERYWHERE about the Dettol (spelling?) strategy of stripping. I'm in the US, so I use the Simple Green method (mean green from dollar general, simple green, clorox green works, all excellent strippers), but I guess just let it soak for a bit (~30min), then scrub it up and boom: clean minis. Sweet...

SilverMK2 wrote:Use the original brown bottle Dettol to strip plastic and metal minis.

Mix 50/50 with water, and wear gloves. Paint should start coming off after 30 mins or so though you can leave it in for longer. Scrub with an old toothbrush, using dettol mix to wash off residue. Soak in water and scrub with different clean toothbrush to remove dettol residue before re-painting.

Sorry to rain on your parade Silver, but:

DO NOT MIX WITH WATER

If you use dettol diluted with water, the paint turns into this horrible sticky gunk that is even harder to remove than the original paint, trust me, use neat dettol, and don't let water touch the mini until you are completely done stripping, trust me, I've learned from experience that it needs to be neat dettol

Leigen_Zero wrote:Sorry to rain on your parade Silver, but:

DO NOT MIX WITH WATER

If you use dettol diluted with water, the paint turns into this horrible sticky gunk that is even harder to remove than the original paint, trust me, use neat dettol, and don't let water touch the mini until you are completely done stripping, trust me, I've learned from experience that it needs to be neat dettol

I have a giant tub of 50/50 stripping models right now that disagrees with you

The gunk just flicks straight off for me in big lumps.

Redfinger wrote:I have used toothpaste before, but you need a non gel version, like Colgate, the white paste is a very fine abrasive.

Toothpaste is used for a very type of specific stripping/smoothing. I would not suggest it for stripping entire paint jobs, other products work much better. However, if you are looking to smooth out entire flat areas and remove all sanding marks, toothpaste works well.

It also makes a nice polishing compound on Alcald II paints.


Ashton

Great tip - thanks for sharing!!

Toothpaste (at least the non-gels I've tried) will work for stripping paint, but it's probably not what you want to use for stripping entire models.

Toothpaste is a very fine abrasive, like a lot of polishes. So, it can smooth out scratched surfaces and scrape off thin layers of paint. I've used this before as a way to clean up a couple scratched CDs or to clean off paint applications on toys where other cleaners would harm the plastic (brake fluid, acetone), or when I only wanted to strip one part (e.g. the "Scion" brand name from a windshield).

So in short, no. Stick with Simple Green and Brake Fluid.