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Hi chaps.

I have this week been stripping old metal Necro models with Dettol disinfectant.

The first batch stripped beautifully after being left in overnight. The paint sloughed of in pretty much one go leaving little or no residue.

The second batch also left overnight was not so successful. The pant was less removed and rather than coming of in "sheets" was sticky almost a bit gummy. Even after a good scrub and a second night in the vat the second batch still has allot of problems with bits stuck in tight nooks and some quite exposed areas as well.

Now this could be down to reusing the Dettol from one batch to the next or possibly down to the second batch having unknown paints on them (ebay auction definitely acrylic though).

Anyone had similar issues?

Yes possibly glue melting.
Had it on some orks last week.

Hey dude, I've had similar problems with the stripping of some models with Dettol, again like you I had bought them from ebay and didn't know what was used paint wise, I think some primers can sort of melt and gum up the model when you try and clean them, also having another clean bath of dettol to wash and scrub them in is handy too, that's what I did and it worked a bit better, after that i did hunt down some simple green and use that :-)

I've re-used dettol without any problems. Been sitting there for nearly a year when I messed up the primer on some jetbikes and rangers - came out all rough and grainy (think I was too far away and it dried before hitting the model).
Anyway, dunked them for around 4 hours and came off easily with some gentle persuasion from an old toothbrush.

I have had the gummy problem before when I added water to the dettol, made it nearly impossible to clean off. Any chance that water got into the mix?

WABTY

Try using fairy power spray, its been part of my arsenal for about 5 years. Leave it in for a few hours and grab your tooth brush, it even removes exterior glue runs without weakening the glued joints. It works really well on both plastic and metals too.

Metal figures will strip very easily in paint brush restorer, though the plastic bases will dissolve.

Thanks for the comments fellers.

I think some water must have got in there for the second batch as it was getting a little cloudy in the pot.

I don't think it was a primer problem as it was a mix or white, greens and blues.

In the end I put them all in hot water from the tap with the idea that it would dilute the dettol element of the gum. Then witha clean tooth brush (the other one was gummed up) gave then a scrub in the water.

I was doing this with a view to another dettol bath but it actually brought them up to a decent level. Ten minutes with a toothpick and they're pretty much there.

I''ve had the 'gummy' problem before with dettol, I ended up putting some white spirit on a toothbrush and scrubbing it all off.

This happened to me I think it's to do with how the Dettol reacts with water.

If it went cloudy, then there was water in there.

Here's my tips for using dettol;
1) Rubber gloves. These are essential unless you want to lose a few layers of skin off your hands, like I did.
2) Tweezers and a hard bristled paintbrush or toothbrush.
3) Pour undiluted dettol into a tub that has a sealable lid. Ventilation is vital; dettol is very bad for you. Try sleeping in a room that is reeking with the stuff. My dreams were very weird I can tell you!
4) Drop minis in dettol and leave for an hour.
5) (VENTILATION!) Hold mini in place while it is submerged with the tweezers. Gently scrub with brush(watch for splashes in the eyes! Like I did...). Go over entire mini with brush, wiping the brush clean frequently.
6) Once most of the paint has been removed drop mini in very warm water with some detergent; this deactivates the dettol. Note that cold water will make any paint cling to the mini, so don't do it!. Remove mini from this warm water and wipe with kitchen roll.
7) You may have to repeat these steps a couple of times.
8) There comes a point when the dettol is unusable; this is a dead give away when you can't see through the dettol as the paint has turned it black. Now is the time to ditch it safely and get some new stuff. If you continue to use murky dettol less paint will be removed and there will be much sludgy bits on your mini and much gnashing of teeth from you.
9) I've used many different strippers(wahey!) over the years and while dettol is good I'd recommend you try acetone free nail polish remover(as recommended by spud!) about £1.40 a bottle from superdrug. This stuff is lightning quick at removing paint(some of my minis were only submerged for 5 minutes and were completely stripped). Note that it has to be acetone free and that point 8 is also relevant to acetone.

Where the hell were you and your point #1 a week ago Slipstream? My hands are all dried out now!

My models are sorted though. Thanks fellers some really good tips here though.

The worst of it was that after the invetible skin peel my fingers turned all smoothe and I couldn't pick anything up for about 2 weeks!