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So I'm trying to strip all the paint off my metal miniatures... and its not going well to be honest...

I soak them in my gf's nail polish remover (she was upset) then scrape the paint away with a toothbrush and toothpicks....

Any tricks on this subject?

Definitely.

Over here in the UK, a disinfectant cleaner called Dettol is utterly perfect for stripping both plastic and metal minis. Fairy Power Spray also works wonders but is best used on metal minis as I'm told plastic sometime softens a bit.

I've heard the states usually rely on cleaners called Simple Green and Pine Sol. The usual soak and brush method you're using is the general idea.

Hope that helped.

Pine Sol for metal. Simple Green for plastic. Let em both soak for about 12-48 hours. Plastic models may soften up with simple green but will melt with pine sol.

For metal, I use paint stripper from the hardware store. It was like a gel, and the paint was coming off before I'd finished putting it on.

Simple Green is my go to for stripping most any models. For metals you CAN use nearly any paint stripping agent at Home Depot, but many are toxic and you cannot pour them down the drain.

Pick up a jug of Simple Green, dunk the models in for a day or two, scrub with a toothbrush under running water and let them dry. Sorted.

Simple Green + Ultrasonic Cleaner + Stiff-bristle Toothbrush

Do a few cycles with a model in undilluted simple green, brushing between. The cleaner makes a huge difference over static soak.

metal mini's are fine in really strong solvents. Plastic ones not so much, theres tonnes of advice on that subject.
Perhaps yoyr nail polish remover is of a low strength of acetone (or even acetone free) ... look for some lacquer thinners, pure acetone, ipa (rubbing alcohol), or other nail polish remover thats maybe not so kind for hands.
I use lacquer thinners and its clean in seconds with an old paint brush let alone tooth brushes and picks...

I just toss Metals into brake fluid (dot4). STRIPS everything (acrylic/enamel/primer - you name it, all gone) off them - and leaves the plastic bases intact, too. Doesn't take more than 30 minutes and uses maybe a cupful to do a dozen figures.
(the solution is filtered with a funnel and a coffee filter and reused for stripping) afterwards. The paint crud is tossed (with the filter) into the bin.

I wear gloves when cleaning models anyway - regardless of whether it's ethanol, dettol, brake fluid or whatever.

Dettol WILL burn your skin if used undiluted.
Brake fluid WILL stuff your joints if used for long periods on exposed skin.
Simple Green can't be got reliably in my area - and most of the stuff I get second hand has been undercoated in spray autoprimer - which it can't touch anyway.

depends on the paint.

Simple Green is what i normally use but its not helping that much with the recent Tau models i pillaged off of ebay. The paintjobs were so rancid i couldnt even field them as i painted other models, just so i had the correct model on the field. I dont know what crap this guy used on his models but its like glued on or something, i have soaked them for 3-4 days, stiff-bristle brushed them, resoaked, repeat for like 3 weeks now and its still not fully off lol.

However for normal Citadel paints, it comes off like a breeze. Soak for a couple days, brush it, done!

detol detol detol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I swear by brake fluid or nail varnish remover.

Get the acetone free version. leave soaking for 15-20 mins and rub off with toothbrush. rub most of it off before rinsing in water otherwise the paint will turn into weird gunk. seems fine with metals,plastic and resin.

Brake fluid I find can take a while, leave it overnight usually and effect does vary with brand. metals and plastic is fine. I've not tried this with resin but I think it would melt it.

Hey there.

This isnt so much an answer as a question.
(Just asking here since its relevant and theres not much need to start another thread )

Some people here, from the UK at least, having been saying to us Dettol to strip paint. I have a couple of miniatures that I want to paint strip, but I am unsure as to how exactly. I understand the wait time, brushing the model afterwards, but is there anything I would need to do to the miniatures or consistency of the paint stripper? I would hate to loose the models haha!
(Ps. All my models are plastic, not Citidel finecast or metal)

Thanks for your time.

~ Nidception

Funny enought i just come from cleaning models not five minutes ago haha. I used to use simple green to do mine but i tried LA awesome that i got from the dollar store and the paint literally melts away. I use a electric tooth brush to get in the tight spots. It literally only takes a few hours. It works on metal and plastic without messing up the plastic.

I did an experiment a few months back and i used simple green, pine sol, break fluid, la awesome and a few other things that are known to strip paint and LA awesome was the fasted and cleanest of all the things i tried. Hope it helps and good luck.

Nidception wrote:
Hey there.

This isnt so much an answer as a question.
(Just asking here since its relevant and theres not much need to start another thread )

Some people here, from the UK at least, having been saying to us Dettol to strip paint. I have a couple of miniatures that I want to paint strip, but I am unsure as to how exactly. I understand the wait time, brushing the model afterwards, but is there anything I would need to do to the miniatures or consistency of the paint stripper? I would hate to loose the models haha!
(Ps. All my models are plastic, not Citidel finecast or metal)

Thanks for your time.

~ Nidception

Dettol is pretty much harmless to all miniatures. It will dry mercilessly the skin on your hands if you don't wear gloves. On acrylics like citadel it can be effective in pretty sort periods of time (20mins or so) but I tend to leave bits overnight to be certain.

No prep is required for the minis, it is as simple as filling a glass jar and dropping the minis in. Ensure you do not get any water in the dettol; if it is anything but clear throw it (the dettol) away and start again. I have done this before and even slightly diluted dettol will not be completely effective (it turns the paint gummy and is a pain to remove).

As for other things I have used Nitromors before. Bloody quick, literally seconds to strip a metal mini but toxic as hell. It will disolve latex gloves as well. I stick with dettol now.

i do not know why people insist on using Simple Green, it is such an inferior product. Use Purple Power or Super Clean, they do a better job of stripping damn near anything off your model (varnish, paints & primers) and they do it faster and they are safe for plastic, metal and resin for loooong periods of time (i had stuff soaking for nearly a year with no problems)

I would not doubt that Super Clean and Purple Power are closer in formulation to industrial cleaners than Simple Green.

They are industrial strength de-greasers.

If they can take an oil stain off concrete (super clean CAN), then even enamel paints should be a gimme.

Simple green is enviro-friendly and all - but often that means using a less aggressive solvent, and this will often yield less than satisfactory results.

The previous formulation of Simple Green worked great. The new one blows to the point of being essentially worthless. Purple Power is what I've used on the last several batches that are getting he "extreme makeover" treatment and with a couple day soak the GW black primer is removed in addition to the paint with minimal scrubbing and no softening of the plastic.

I have tried paint stripper, Simple Green, and some other things, but I settled on a cleaner called "LA's Totally Awesome" which has worked much better for me. Plus it is from the dollar store here in Washington so it is much cheaper than Simple Green which is a plus. Here is a link so you can see what it looks like:

http://www.dollartree.com/20-oz-Totally-Awesome-Cleaner/p8056/index.pro

I soak the models in a 50:50 mix of cleaner and water (you can have it more concentrated if you want) and soak the models overnight. After that, just pull them out and scrub them with an old stiff toothbrush. If it isn't quite clean, you can soak it again. Since this stuff is pretty strong (even after diluting) you may want to wear gloves because it really dries out your hands. And make sure you are very through in rinsing the models so you don't leave any soapy residue on them. Overall it is the best one that I have tried, and it is very inexpensive. I'm not sure how well it cleans other things, but it strips paint like crazy!

LA's Totally Awesome:

Pros:
-Super cheap ($1)
-Cleans better than other things I've tried (Simple green/paint stripper)
-Works on plastic and metal models (haven't tried it on finecast, but I can't see why it wouldn't work)
-Safer than paint stripper

Cons:
-Takes some extra rinsing to get all the residue off
-You may want gloves, but that is no different than any other product.

I've stripped over a hundred figures using LA's Totally Awesome, works great, and if you leave them in for more then a couple of days, it doesn't do anything to the plastic figures. Like cpyke said, use gloves when using this stuff, will dry your hands out quick, and it is cheap at only a buck at the dollar store.

Something else you can use is Isopropyl Alcohol, really gets in the tight spots on the metal figures.

The best stuff I have used was purple stuff. It's an engine degreaser you can buy from Walmart for about $10 a gallon. It takes between 2-4 hours to strip paint. According to the label, it also works as a drain clog remover. I would just avoid putting the paint chips that slough off down the drain as they might stick to your pipes after the degreaser has gone down the drain. It's the best stuff I have ever used. I've done the simple green, pine sol, nail polish remover, dot3, etc. this stuff works fast, is cheap and non toxic. Even still though, it works by drying the paint up so wear gloves otherwise you will dry your hands out and your skin may get irritated. You can leave the stuff in for hours or days. It works on plastic and metal with no issue. I've tried it on fine cast but I haven't let any fine cast soak for more than an hour before I clean and rinse it. My models have been fine and I can rinse the cleaner off and prime when dry.

+1 for Super Clean.
It works great on metal and plastic. I had a SM Rhino in a tub of it for about 10 months and it did nothing to the plastic. Overnight is usually enough to get most paint off; outer layers usually just fall off in a gloopy pile and primer usually takes a stiff bristle brush to come off. It's pretty cheap and will last a long time if you reuse it, which is doable.

It looks like this:

Pine disinfectant/dettol has worked for me every time.

Don't mix with water or use on green stuffed models as it goes a bit weird

 reiner wrote:
Simple Green + Ultrasonic Cleaner + Stiff-bristle Toothbrush

Do a few cycles with a model in undilluted simple green, brushing between. The cleaner makes a huge difference over static soak.

This although I use diluted simple green and water in my ultra sonic. You don't need much simple green in there and the stuff is expensive. Essentially though the ultra sonic is doing 99% of the work and if its heated that's even better.

 TheLionOfTheForest wrote:

 reiner wrote:
Simple Green + Ultrasonic Cleaner + Stiff-bristle Toothbrush

Do a few cycles with a model in undilluted simple green, brushing between. The cleaner makes a huge difference over static soak.

This although I use diluted simple green and water in my ultra sonic. You don't need much simple green in there and the stuff is expensive. Essentially though the ultra sonic is doing 99% of the work and if its heated that's even better.

I haven't used those for models, but I use them at work and they clean things like crazy!

I just picked up some LA's Totally Awesome to test out. Tossed in a Barracuda that I've been trying to strip with limited success in other stripping media, and a FW Chaos dread TL lascannon arm that I bought a good long while ago on ebay that's not hit any stripping media before...After about 20 hours soak, it outperformed EVERY other fluid I have tried (Isopropyl Alcohol, Simple Green, Pine Sol). Everything just fell off of the dread arm, just a tiny bit of primer in the deep crevices that I'll go at a bit harder and more thoroughly in a bit. Paint and primer that has stuck persistently to the 'cuda is coming off nicely with some scrubbing.

I'm a believer in the stuff, now.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
+1 for Super Clean.
It works great on metal and plastic. I had a SM Rhino in a tub of it for about 10 months and it did nothing to the plastic. Overnight is usually enough to get most paint off; outer layers usually just fall off in a gloopy pile and primer usually takes a stiff bristle brush to come off. It's pretty cheap and will last a long time if you reuse it, which is doable.

It looks like this:

Third/fourthed?

Super Clean is fine. Just wear gloves. It takes paint off metal or plastic pretty damn well.

Super Clean all the way. Works great and works pretty quickly.

 RavensNestPainting wrote:
Definitely.

Over here in the UK, a disinfectant cleaner called Dettol is utterly perfect for stripping both plastic and metal minis. Fairy Power Spray also works wonders but is best used on metal minis as I'm told plastic sometime softens a bit.

I've heard the states usually rely on cleaners called Simple Green and Pine Sol. The usual soak and brush method you're using is the general idea.

Hope that helped.

I've never had any issues with Fairy Power spray softening plastic minis myself personally