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I am looking at purchasing large numbers of tactical squads online, and most of them will be prebuilt and probably painted.

1. I understand Simple Green is an effective paint remover, and safe for the models. But how far can it go? Primer, acrylic, etc, etc. I would like to know, just in case I wind up getting something that someone who painted something with the intent for the paint to never come off.
2. On the subject of bonding agents, does anyone know any tricks to removing them safely? I have no idea what half the mediums people use for bonding their models, but any methods that can remove them will save me the agony of leaving a method fully assembled and trying to paint it that way.

For waterbased paint, I use LATA. Works wonders. You can get it at the Dollar Tree too

Lucarikx

Simple green, and most striping agent will take off acrylic like it was nothing. primer may give you problems or just not come off, primer can stain plastic under neath so dont sit there and try to scrub it off. enamel paints i have no experience.

Simple green and most striping agents will weaken super glue, so slight pressure will snap joints.

plastic glue though melts plastic together so nothing short of a exacto knife or saw will debond those parts (though if your lucky a bad bond will allow you to snap bits off.

Edit: iv had issues with LA awesome, mostly that after 1 time use it will lose its potency really quickly as well as if you even slightly dilute it. also unlike simple green LA awesome will seriously burn your hand so gloves are a must.

TBH avoid Simple Green and either use Purple Power or Super Clean (both can be bought at Walmart on the cheap).

They strip better than Simple Green and do it in a shorter amount of time. I use Super Clean and i can remove primer and varnish as well as paint.

Super Clean also does a great job of weakening glues, CA glue especally becomes white and brittle and many models will just fall apart into their component pieces. Plastic glue will be the only real problem as it welds the plastic together.

Now, i use my Super Clean in an ultrasonic cleaner so any normal cleaning ability is just magnified by it.

I've used Super Clean, Purple Power, brake fluid, rubbing alcohol and acetone-free nail polish remover. My best results were brake fluid but I highly recommend NOT trying it. Other than the toxic issues and disposal problems, it will weaken plastics, so if you leave them in too long everything melts.

Purple Power, I swear you could soak your minis for a week and it won't debond super glue. Do a test try with the rubbing alcohol and the acetone-free nail polish remover first. They're cheapest and you can get them on your next trip to the supermarket. If they're not doing the job, then try Purple Power/Simple Green/Super Clean.

They all strip acrylic paint quite well, the difference is in how long it takes and their properties in de-bonding cyanoacrylate without damaging the plastic.

I have a two tier approach to stripping. I start with soaking the model in Super Clean for at least 24 hours, usually more. I follow up by scrubbing the model with a stiff bristled toothbrush/kitchen brush dipped in 90% isopropyl alcohol. It's very effective at simply dissolving off any remaining paint and primer with minimal scrubbing and it leaves the model very clean. Simply keep a small Dixie cup of alcohol nearby and dip the brush onto it and scrub.

Oh probably should add that for super glue, can also be weakened by freezing. probably should be careful though with resin parts as they get brittle in cold iirc

 Desubot wrote:
Oh probably should add that for super glue, can also be weakened by freezing. probably should be careful though with resin parts as they get brittle in cold iirc

But for metals and plastics.... Hey, that's a ]good idea. I'm going to test my freezer on an old crappy model.

If my understanding is correct, there's moisture in the cured CA glue. When placed in the freezer, ice crystals form and expand, breaking many of the tiny bonds that form the larger join. If so, multiple freeze/thaw cycles would do more to weaken the bond than snapping the parts while cold, meaning there's no danger to resin, since you can simply let it warm back up before applying any force.

Worked just fine when testing on plastics, at least, using that method.

So how long would you say it would take a model to thaw out from a freeze like that? And how long should it be frozen? Also, would this apply to most glues, plastics not included, or is this a one shot deal and I am back to square one if it isn't the games workshop glue?

Any CA (super) glue, at least. 2-part epoxies and solvent-based cements (GOOP, E-6000) are going to be a lot more resilient against both physical and temperature shocks, probably necessitating similar treatment to plastic glue joins (i.e. sawing/slicing). Just pray the previous owner used super glue, or at least did a crappy job of bonding with a stronger adhesive.

As for the timing, the whole process should only take a few hours, but extra time in the cold won't hurt anything. While the freezing rate is determined by the appliance, you can at least speed up the warming process by giving the model a quick bath (warm is better than hot, here). The sudden shock might actually pop a bit off, unexpectedly. I got an old plastic/metal Whirlwind secondhand that needed some TLC - tossed it in the freezer overnight, dunked it in tepid water the next day and I could hear cracks forming before it even hit the bottom of the bowl. A gentle tap on the counter popped the sides right off and the somewhat more troublesome missile rack came loose after another one-hour cycle and some gentle prying.

Well, I hope that most of the things I buy will be super glued and not melted. Thanks for the help guys!