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You know guys, I never actually knew that you were supposed to wash your models with soap and water before you ever assemble them. What the heck should I do now that I've primed and painted a bunch of them?

supposedly there are models covered with "mold release"

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?categoryId=&pIndex=5&aId=2800001&multiPageMode=true&start=6

and I never stumbled across this article till my wife pointed it out to me, far AFTER I already assembled and painted things. So far, no problems with the models though.

Am I going to be OK? or should I just start buying a bunch of nail polish remover?

If you haven't seen any problems such as unwanted textures on paintwork that did not show up before priming you should be okay.

The release agent used on the sprues can cause a crinkling or small bubbles forming on the model when you prime them due to a chemical reaction happening.

Soap and water on the whole sprue before cutting anything off and then a quick wash of the model if you have handled it a fair bit (conversions etc) will see you hine in the future

Your painted models are probably going to be fine. If by bad luck something does show signs of flakey paint, you can strip it and repaint it. Otherwise I don't think it's worth the trouble.

The purpose of washing models is to remove any mould release agent and the finger oils you put on them during assembly.

I just run my figures through the cool cycle of the dishwasher. When you're painting 30 Termagants at a time, it's a complete PITA to wash and dry them by hand.

I've never washed my models, but then I wash my hands before handling models so oil isn't really an issue, and I've never had mold release problems.

It is usually better to wash metallic models, because they may have some powdery thing on their surface. It can hamper the gluing process or resist basecoat paint.

As for the plastic ones, I never wash them, being the lazy bastard I am. I have never had any problems with them. However, if the surface seems greasy or dirty, it would be best to wash them.

I wash mine. Partly out of good practice, partly coz im a little ocd about things like that.

It doesnt hurt and it can potentialy save you time and hassle down the road. As far as drying goes, if your not in a rush and have a tumble dryer place the sprues ON not in and set to go for 10 maybe 15 minutes. The combination of vibrations and warmth generated should dry the sprues quite nicely.