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I bought a bunch of mini's second hand and decided to strip them... well, some of these models were primed, painted, reprimed, repainted, i have no idea wtf this person was thinking.

So I soaked them in super awesome, did what I could, and the majority of the paint pile models are still coated with unnecessary amounts of paint.. I even soaked them again in more LASA, but nothing changed. Should I have soaked them for longer than 1 day? I am nervous the plastic will get messed up if I soak them too long....

Does anyone have any recommendations on what to do next?

I know dawn power degreaser has gotten good reviews, and I'm wondering if brake fluid will loosen up some of the paint to the point where i can actually get it off. has anyone experienced this before?

Some people say you can damage the plastic by soaking models too long. I've never experienced any change in the consistency of the plastic soaking in Superclean, Simple Green, or LATA for well over a week at a time. Some have gone months when I forget about them.

Now, I will say, that I have found LATA to lose it's effectiveness after a couple models. If the ones you were stripping had a TON of paint on them, you may just need some fresh LATA to strip them more. Or it's possible that someone sprayed them with an enamel primer in the first place and lost some detail that you'll never get back. I've got 2 razorbacks and a predator that are about to hit the trash for that very reason. Good thing I didn't pay that much for them, but man... it sucks.

hmm... you say that it loses effctiveness after a couple of models.... is it possible I am just putting too many in at once? I guess i could try stripping them 1 at a time just for giggles. I wish i could laugh.

Iv never had any problems soaking miniatures in just about any generally suggested solution for a long time

(iv tried LATA, simple green and purple power for a soak lasting longer than half a year each with no problems)

Personal experience. LATA is great for only like 1 soak and it will lose all its striping strength for some reason. it might of been the way i closed off the container it was held in but i dont know.

SG is ok too but also loses strength eventually

Purple power is my go too currently, cheap and damn powerful without losing any potency for half a year now.

Also dont dilute any of these 3. it already has water in it.

Try 99% ispropyl alcohol. Its round about the strongest thing I've found that wont damage the plastic, or finecast, or resins.

If that wont shift it, theyre likely done for

I do find that different stripping agent work better one some types of paint than others;
My usual go to is fair power spray, this is pretty good with all citadel, liquitex and Windsor and Newton acrylics (the bands I have at hand to try)
But usualy leaves a bit of stubborn primer left behind.

Thats when I go to 99% IPA,and a paint brush, then air dry it with compressed air. Which eats all the primers I've used in seconds,leaving a brand spanking new looking figure almost every time.


Purple power.. im not 100% sure what that is; but it sounds like an industrial degreaser, I've had some success with car panel degreaser (the stuff a paint sprayer uses to wipe down a panel just prior to spraying) which might well be very similar.

ISO can melt plastic no? probably best to be careful with that.

Purple power is a brand of degreaser that you can get in auto stores in the US. very readily available at like Auto zone.

Edit: Also purple has basically no issue with finecast plastic or metals.

Last time i tried ISo my plastic was 100% fine, so was finecast. To test it I left a piece of sprue submerged for over 6 hours.

Considering you only need 10 seconds I think its fine (infact is the best possible stripping agent we have access to)

Just the other week I threw over £100 worth of terminators in it with no fear. Its absolutely fine. Wouldn't recommend it so strongly if I hadn't tried and tested.

I had this happen once. Bought a dreadnought multimelta that had some kind of insane primer on it. LA's did nothing to it after days. I ended up getting it clean with brake cleaner and a sonic toothbrush.

Dawn Power Disolver will usually strip even primer off of plastic if the models are left in for a few days. It won't damage plastic (I have left models in it for over a month) but it will weaken super glue bonds (a good way to get models to fall apart if you want to reassemble) and I have heard that it will eat green stuff.

Super clean, the purple stuff. It's all I use, because it works.

Currently testing: Denatured alcohol (basically pure ethanol with some crap thrown in so you can't drink it) and 91% Isopropyl Alcohol.

I mentioned above about some vehicles sprayed with some nutso gloss primer crap that I couldn't get off with LATA, Simple Green, Purple Power or Superclean. I had some scouts the same person had done. I tested 2 scouts simultaneously. One in a bath of Denatured Alcohol and one in 91% Iso. They both got around 5 minutes (non-scientific). But they went down to bare plastic with minimal tooth brushing. Again this is after trying to strip them with LATA, Simple Green, and Superclean on separate occasions. And the plastic is unharmed.

I have a whole razorback in a bath right now that I'm going to leave for over an hour and see what happens. I've already written this tank off as "lost" anyway.

I've found LATA works great, I have some metal figures soaking right now, been in over two weeks. I keep forgetting to clean them off, they only have a bit of paint on them, so won't be an issue. I've cleaned metal, plastic, and finecast in LATA, no issues what so ever. I have found that it might not work on heavy paint or some primers, but some ISO and it will get what LATA doesn't. Same thing, have left stuff in ISO over a week and no issues with the model on all three types of materials the figures are made out of.

Pretty much it comes down to how much you want to spend, and what is in your local area that you can purchase.

I have left models in simple green for two weeks at a time in the concentrate with out any problems for the models.

Just throwing this out there: until recently I had models soaking in LATA for almost a year, with no damage whatsoever to the plastic or pewter models.

I use a fine sand blaster my brother has at his work. Works AMAZINGLING on Metal/pewter and doesnt really damage plastic at all. Never put a finecast model through it, but i have stripped 6+ raveners, 50+ goblins from the Island set and vehicles galore via this method. No soaking, just a sand blaster if you have one available or know someone.

I've never come across any paint that wouldnt shift after a 6 hour soak in Dettol and a good scrub with an old toothbrush. If you have any way to get ahold of it in america give it a try.

I've had about 15 Imperial Guardsmen soaking in Simple green for about 2.25 years now... I can remove that paint with my fingers! No damage to the models (that I can tell, I should probably pull them out )

Last spring I bought some LA super awesome and put 2 speeders and about 10 bikes in it. Left it in my garage ... and promptly forgot about it.

A little over two months later I noticed the bucket in the corner and realized the liquid had dried out. So, I took one of the speeders and ran it under water while brushing the paint off. The paint was like oil but almost all of it did come off. I went ahead and soaked a few of the models for another day and was able to get almost all of the multiple coats of paint off of them. Enough that when I primed them none of the features were hidden.

The models were plastic and all of the CA joints came apart, which was fine by me.

I didn't read a lot of the responses, so I'm sure people have said this as well...

I've used LATA many times and usually for 72 hours or more (up to 4 weeks). Never had it reform the plastic at all. It does eat through the glue though, so you will have to re assembly most minis after they come out.

Well, after a lot of trial and error and ruining a handful of these minis, I have to say, 1.) Thanks for all the responses and suggestions. I appreciate I'm not the only one to ever deal with this type of thing.

I will forever swear by Dawn Power Degreaser. I finally bit the bullet and spent 15 bucks getting a small bottle shipped to me. Soaked these disgusting disgraces of paintjobs for 3 days and FINALLY got the paint off.

Not every single bit of it, but enough to at least make them respectable. I'm re soaking in LA's just to try and get the last bit out of the nooks and crannies.

But seriously, Dawn Power Degreaser is worth it if you ever have an experience like this again. Super impressed.

SBG wrote:
Super clean, the purple stuff. It's all I use, because it works.

This is what I use too! I think its the best thing you can buy to strip models in Canada

Now to the OP question...defiantly soak them for more than 1 day, by more than 1 day I mean like a week or two and put them in small batches so the stuff is powerful enough.
The plastic won't melt at all so don't worry about that. It's what I do so don't worry

I have soaked models in LA's for over a month, Plastic remains undamaged. LA's tends to gel and eventually evaporate. Minis remain unharmed.