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What is the best way to remove paint from a mini without damaging it?

Many thanks.

I use engine degreaser. Safe on plastic and metal, and it works great, and it's cheap.

Simple Green, always a good option.

Simply Awesome or Simple Green


If one doesn't work then try the other.

He's in UK, no simple green in UK unless things have changed... engine degreaser work better anyways and can be bought anywhere.

Engine degreaser melts plastic models though, doesn't it?
I haven't used it before, so I don't know.

Also, don't know if he's stripping metal or plastic in the first place. Or resin, for that matter.

I use Super Clean brand degreaser (purple container) and it's fine on any substrate (metal plastic resin)... I am using some right now to strip down some marines as we speak. The process will destroy any basing you've done, and a bolt gun or pack might fall off, but that's easy to glue back.
Other than that, no detail is hurt. I usually let them sit in the chemical for about 4-6 hours, then brush then off with a toothbrush, and let them sit in water, brush again, and rinse the model off until all of the chemical is gone, and all the paint and primer comes off and the model is back to it's old GW gray. Two considerations. Wear gloves, and also make sure all of the chemical is rinsed off before you re-prime as it will cause bubbles and strip the new paint before it can bond.
Other than that, it's a win win. It's cheap, and works fast. Testors makes a striper which I use mid-job for a shoulder pad or bolt gun, but it's expensive. However it works in seconds.

As Britain to Britain, my absolute favourite is Dettol, which you can pick up in a Co-Op for about £2.50 for 500ml, leave in there for about 6 hours, and the majority of the paint just flakes off, put them back in, leave them overnight, quick clean up and voila! The smell is aweful though, so I would recomend cleaning them up with washing up liquid to get rid of it.

winnertakesall wrote:As Britain to Britain, my absolute favourite is Dettol, which you can pick up in a Co-Op for about £2.50 for 500ml, leave in there for about 6 hours, and the majority of the paint just flakes off, put them back in, leave them overnight, quick clean up and voila! The smell is aweful though, so I would recomend cleaning them up with washing up liquid to get rid of it.

Seconded

I have heard good things about dettol from the Brits...

Thirded

Fourthed. Dettol is great, it works on metal, resin & Plastic fine And is cheap. Downside is it absoloutely stinks. I use the brown stuff to clean and then soak it for an hour in a scented dettoll to take away the stench.

Im looking at removing the paint of some plastic minis. Got some eldar guardians cheap, but the color scheme isn't the same.

Thanks for all the replies. I shall look into this dettol malarky =]

I've recerntly used Dettol as well, it works brilliantly.

The miniatures in my sig were originally painted as Ultramarines before I removed the paint. Dettol won't remove all of the paint though. I found that the original black spray paint had stained the plastic a little, but since you'll probably respray it the same colour it won't make any difference anyway

Here's a Terminator I used Dettol on to remove the paint:



You'll want to use a tooth brush for scrubbing and I recommend wearing some latex gloves as well, otherwise your skin will be a little peely for a few days

There needs to be a sticky on this subject as it comes up like twice a week.

The best product I have found for stripping plastic in the UK is Biostrip20. Which can be bought on ebay, and which I reviewed here...

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/373819.page

And which was also review by GBDarkAngel here...

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/374698.page

It does a very good job, and can strip a model back to new in under an hour. Here is one of my own before/after photos.

Smacks wrote:There needs to be a sticky on this subject as it comes up like twice a week.

The problem is that no one ever actually reads the stickies

Hey guys, fellow Brit here. Fortunately there is a brilliant alternative to Simple Green for us called Fairy Power Spray. An overnight soak and the paint comes off fairly easily with an old toothbrush. It's also plastic friendly.