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I keep seeing on the GW site that they advise you to wash the plastic prior to painting. Is this truly necessary?

It's debatable. I've got plenty of figures painted that I didn't wash beforehand, but nowadays I do. It also gets rid of any flakes of plastic that tend to stick to the models. Hot water and washing up liquid will do it.

I think its for dust

I could be wrong, I never heard of washing plastic

You get release agents on plastics too, its helps to wash before undercoating but I regularly don't bother.

It's not necessary unless the plastic has a weird kind of shine to it. That usually is an indicator that there's mold release agents on it, but that will generally be washed off at the factory itself.

It doesn't hurt to do it anyways though, because of the oils and accumulated grease on human skin(even if you're well-groomed and have dry skin, you can still leave smudges on the surface of the plastic) which sometimes can throw oddities into the plastic surface. Nothing major, but sometimes it's noticeable enough that you want to strip the model.

metals and failcast will need to be washed though, those have a much higher chance of having release agents left on them.

Kan does also make a good point. If you've played your unpainted army... should probably give them a wash.

I'm gonna go Pascal's Gambit on this one: Believe that you need to wash them, because when your belief is wrong you lose nothing. But if your belief is correct, then lucky you!

Just be real careful to avoid dropping anything down the drain, *!grumble#%, it happened to me once and only once. A cheap drain screen will work real good for this, available at just about any store in the kitchen supplies area.

Our sinks come with them built in (screens).
They are the push down to plug the sink and pull up slightly to open the flow kind.

Then again, I wash stuff in a plastic tub with no drain hole. Can't lose stuff that way.

It's a very good idea, but I tend to forget. To make it really easy, just give it a light scrub with an old toothpaste and dishsoap while everything is still on the sprue.

I always wash models in warm soapy water, after cleanup and assembly but before priming. Given how much models cost, and how long it takes me to clean them up and later paint them, the last thing I want is dust and gunge ruining a paint job.

You wash plastics for dust more than you do release agents. Most (if not all) injection molded plastics are made without release agents, plastic doesn't stick to stainless steel...

I've heard stories of spray undercoat paint having undesired effects when applied to un-washed plastic models.

I've heard stories that Elvis Presley and Adolf Hitler are still alive, doesn't make it true

Actually I think he might have a point. All these precautions seem to be connected to spraying.

Does this have any merit? Does spraypainting unwashed plastic really ruin the detail?

I haven't sprayed much, but what I have sprayed was pretty well used after building, and the undercoat went on fine even after a few months of handling.

Might just be the exception though, so wouldn't base it off my experience alone.

CthuluIsSpy wrote:Does spraypainting unwashed plastic really ruin the detail?

What unwashed models risk is poor adhesion, leading to bubbling and flaking of the paint. In my experience, GW plastics don't have issues with residual mold release, but that's not true of all products - I've gotten plastic kits (some scenery from Pegasus, for example) that felt downright greasy and left a residue on my fingers. Nothing a soak in soapy water and some love from an old toothbrush couldn't handle, though. At the very least, a quick clean prior to priming can't hurt, even if I wouldn't consider it a general necessity.

starsdawn wrote:I'm gonna go Pascal's Gambit on this one: Believe that you need to wash them, because when your belief is wrong you lose nothing. But if your belief is correct, then lucky you!

Its kinda like this one guys theory.

It went along the lines of "you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by believing in God, so why not?".

Pointless Tangent Alert!

forruner_mercy wrote:

starsdawn wrote:I'm gonna go Pascal's Gambit on this one: Believe that you need to wash them, because when your belief is wrong you lose nothing. But if your belief is correct, then lucky you!

Its kinda like this one guys theory.

It went along the lines of "you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by believing in God, so why not?".

All very nice, Blaise, except it doesn't tell us anything about which god to believe in, now does it?

Now back to washing plastics!

I have greasy fingers, so I always wash models before priming. It also removes any dust or shavings from cleaning up mold lines and the like.


Plus, I use holy water, so that they can go to plastic soldier heaven and be with plastic baby Jesus when they die. NOT A FACT!