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Hi Dakka (once again, for those of you who remember me--for whatever reason, the site itself does not)

I picked up a couple thousand points of Dark Angels yesterday for quite a steal; the problem is, a bunch of the models have been assembled terribly, including a Dreadnought, landspeeder, drop pod, and Sammael on his jetbike. The issue with the Dread is that it has been assembled chapter-neutral, and I have tonnes of DA bits for its legs and whatnot. The landspeeder has been assembled very incorrectly (the front bit is even upside down), and the drop pod is a right mess. However, these plastic models have been assembled, I'm fairly certain, with GW Thick Plastic glue. This will probably render them permanently abhorrent.

My main concern is Sammael, though. He's been mounted on a custom base, unplayable in a game and he's riding too low to the ground (the bottom parts of the model were actually left off to accommodate). He has also been assembled partially incorrectly. He has probably been assembled with Gorilla Glue (as Plastic glue, the only other kind available in the collection, certainly could not have worked).

Ideally, what I'm looking for is some kind of solution in which I can submerge Sammy for a couple days and have him literally fall to pieces. Realistically, I want to be able to take him apart without damaging his components. He is an expensive model, after all, and almost impossible to find in metal anymore.

If such a solution exists for both plastic and metal, and I could just dump the whole lot of them into it for a while, I would be ecstatic. I'm not opposed to doing a little work, but I don't want to damage the materials. Cutting the chapter-neutral parts off the Dread is not a huge concern, but disassembling the drop pod or landspeeder in such a fashion would likely ruin them.

I appreciate any and all help and insight!

-Fiend

I would suggest brown detol, or any dissinfectant that has pine oil in it as the active ingredient. It eats through paint and tends to make plastic glue fairly useless when the models have been sitting in it for a few days.

It won't harm metal or plastic at all, i have left models sitting in it for weeks, even months, and they come out just fine.

Would PineSol fit the bill and destroy the bonds? Dettol tends to have a rather... distasteful lingering odour and I would rather avoid it. I've heard of PineSol stripping paint nicely, but I've not seen mention of models falling apart after bathing in it.

I use dettol for paint stripping, it dosent seem to break down plastic glue (may weaken it slightly), but it does a good job of breaking down super glue or multipurpose glue.

The active ingredient in Simple green, Purple Power, and Super clean will all break down superglue bonds in a couple days of soaking. I've stripped and disassembled hundreds of figs with the above products and it is completely safe for plastic and metal.

Pine sol is an ok alternative, but some folks have reported that it softens plastic a bit.

This is of course all dependent on the assembler having used superglue. If they used plastic glue/solvent the two pieces are essentially now one piece and your only choices are going to be to break them apart by hand, or take the time to cut them apart. I recommend the later, with careful use of a razor saw. Takes more time, but will give you a much more even cut.

Thanks, Eilif. I actually picked up some Simple Green a few days ago to strip paint. If it'll take apart Sammy as well, then that's perfect.

Sounds like the plastics, unfortunately, are permanently FUBAR.

Edit: I've just had a thought: what about Green Stuff? Will the Simple Green break it down and / or unattach it from a model?

I don't recall how green stuff interacts with simple green. I wouldn't be surprised if it separates from the model, but being a two part epoxy, it shouldn't breakdown. If it comes off, you should be able to glue it right back on.

The most reliable thing for taking apart metal is the kind of heavy duty paint stripper you get at a hardware store (for stripping paint from wooden furniture and the like).

You throw a metal model in a jar of that stuff and it literally falls apart within 30 minutes. It also obviously blasts the paint off, so it's a dual-purpose stripper/de-assembler. The main drawback is that its corrosive, so you will need nitrile gloves to work with it (it leeches through latex, so don't make that mistake).

The easiest way to take apart a metal model is to stick it in the freezer for a couple of hours and then just twist the pieces off. This won't work if there's a ton of glue, though.

Plastic is a much greater challenge, unfortunately. The best solutions are to either pop the pieces apart, or cut them apart. But this only really works for simple joins, like an arm to a shoulder, and wouldn't really be doable if you were trying to take apart a tank hull or something like that.

I was once able to restore a defiler ruined by huge amounts of plastic glue. Behold: here's before

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/2577/img0806a.jpg
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/3908/img0807ay.jpg
http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/3078/img0809ao.jpg

and here's after:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/2307/img0847ar.jpg

That is quite an ordeal though. There's no chemical way to do it, you just have to take it apart with knife, saw and such, then the parts will be all broken and you have to make them fit correctly. It is doable, but only if you kinda enjoy the process.

I swear I just bought a defiler from the same person that made that one. It looked to be assembled with JB weld. I had a hell of a time getting it apart and stripped. Not sure why anyone would glue parts that are meant to move with a half a bottle of poly cement....but it does happen, and I did get it apart and carved out so I can magnetize it. In a way it has been a positive experience, forced me to think outside the box and do things I normally would never had done.

Altruizine wrote:
The most reliable thing for taking apart metal is the kind of heavy duty paint stripper you get at a hardware store (for stripping paint from wooden furniture and the like).

You throw a metal model in a jar of that stuff and it literally falls apart within 30 minutes. It also obviously blasts the paint off, so it's a dual-purpose stripper/de-assembler. The main drawback is that its corrosive, so you will need nitrile gloves to work with it (it leeches through latex, so don't make that mistake).

That's definitely an effective method. I would make one addition though. Regular nitrile medical-type gloves are very thin and only reach the wrist. If you're going to work with hazardous materials it's worth spending a few bucks on a pair of sturdy "Sovlent Resistant" gloves. I use Solvex 37-175 gloves which are also nitrile, but much thicker, reusable and only about 4 bucks at your local hardware store.

For metals with stubbord paint jobs, the uber stripper I use is Methyl Ethyl Keytone also known as "Mek" or more jokingly as "Methyl-Ethyl-Death". It's the concentrated ingredient in some paint strippers and laquer thinners. Use it outdoors, only on plastic and obey all warnings, but it kills paint like nothing else. I get mine at Menards Hardware.

I've had good success stripping metal models by simply putting them in a ceramic jar and submersing them overnight in gasoline. You have to leave them outdoors of course, but they fall apart after a night of soaking. After that you just scrub em with a toothbrush and then rinse with water. The only reason I post this is that its easy and cheap if you have any small engine appliances like a lawn mower about, as you're bound to have a gallon or two of gasoline in the garage and this process just needs enough to cover the models.

Thanks for all the tips, folks!

I'm going to leave the models in the Simple Green I got for a couple days and see where that leaves me. If they all come apart, fantastic. If not, I'll work from there with some of the other suggestions.

Plastic glue melts/fuses the pieces together, soaking them wont affect that bond. That the exact reason I wont trade/buy anything thats been put together with plastic glue. Superglued stuff can be salvaged, but plastic glue is permanent :(

And simple green/purple power will take weeks to dissolve super glue, Superclean does it in about half the time. I've been stripping minis for years and have used all three, and Suprclean at 7$ a gallon is the one that preforms the best- and smells the best

Why not Acetone for metal models?.. It won't burn you and it will dissolve green stuff in minutes..

Drop metal model in Acetone.. Go smoke cigarette... Brush off paint, glue, greenstuff, Random unusual sticky thing with toothbrush (base will dissolve.....(NOT FOR PLASTICS) Rinse...

Takes like 10 mins barehanded...


Edit : (Use caution with Acetone. It will eat right through latex, nitrile and your laminate countertop) The worst it will do to your hands is give you some dry skin. They even sell some with Aloe in it in the form of nail polish remover..

^ That's precisely why I won't use acetone. I don't really want to dissolve my bases or greenstuff...

Update:

I bought a bunch of LA's Totally Awesome after reviewing some more paint-stripping articles here on Dakka. The results are more than impressive.

Not only did the stuff strip all that nasty paint quite handily, many of the models--including Sammy, and even the dreadnought--starting coming apart. Sammael is now basically NIB, except for a missing part about which I am quite displeased... one problem LA's could not solve, unfortunately.

Anyway, as LA's was not one of the suggestions in this thread, I thought I'd mention it to all of you in the hopes that you'll try it and be equally impressed.