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I got some marines cheap, they where a right mess, I knew they where but with abit of effert with a scalpal, old file, and such they came clean.

But some have it all in the details, pads, and such more delicate parts. Any tips to clean them with out doing too much damage to the model itself?
And nothing too expensive please.

Nope

Im fairly sure even freezing wont get them out of the details

you are probably stuck scraping it out with a needle.

I'll second that; needle or razor blade, lots of careful scraping.

OK, thanks was just seeing if there was a magic or unknown way that might be effective.

I got 16 marines for 8 pounds so not a loss in any way but just wanted to get the most out of them.

Depending on the kind of superglue, Simple Green (or its more caustic companion, Purple Power) may be effective.

Soak in water for a bit (little bit hot water helps...not boiling, but like something from the coffee pot). After the water cools down, take them out...toss them in a zip lock while still dripping wet and into the freezer. Let them sit till fully frozen solid.

Remove from freezer, find a cheap tooth brush (the hard nylon bristle kind that will make your gums bleed just by looking at it) and give them a quick brushing while still frozen.

The glue should flake right off from pretty much everything.

Alternatively...oven cleaner. Will dissolve super glue no problems.

Try rubbing alcohol. I've always had great success with it. Takes off the paint and most of the glue without causing too much harm to the models

OK, thanks everyone I may have to try a few, but I'll try the freezer first as requires no real additional cost, and if works I've just saved them for next to nothing. :-)

Hekpful as ever painting and modeling forum, cookies for you all.

If the freezer doesn't work, then I'd recommend Purple power. It strips paint and breaks downsuperglue well. It works better than simple green and is cheaper.

The key seems to be "2 butoxethanol" it used to be in simple green until they dumbed-down formula a couple years ago. It's still in purple power and any industrial strength degreaser that has 2 butoxethanol should do the trick.

Best of luck.

As you are in the UK, I recommend Dettol. This makes superglue quite brittle and easier to remove, in my experience. Also, to get rid of the smell after that, a once-over of Fairy Power Spray will help remove any last little bits AND remove the Dettol smell.

This is a great combo for removing paint anyway, so it is now my go-to method.

I will second the alcohol. 99% rubbing alcohol will dissolve cheap superglue (aka GW thick superglue).

it wont do anything to hurt plastic models, but it will destroy resin so be careful.

Question: By "99% rubbing alcohol" do you mean Isopropyl Alcohol ? (If so I've got a bottle and a really badly super glued Leman Russ waiting for attention).

yeah 99% Isopropyl alcohol. it strips acrylic paint like a champ and eat the super glue. for really thick glue you may need to let it sit for a day. for just paint a few hours is enough. got a bunch of terribly assembled and painted eldar stuff and after a 24 hour soak the dire avengers fell apart to components and so did the wraithlord.

 Boyz "R" Us wrote:
Question: By "99% rubbing alcohol" do you mean Isopropyl Alcohol ? (If so I've got a bottle and a really badly super glued Leman Russ waiting for attention).

Acetone free nail varnish/polish remover works really well but don't make the mistake I made with a bunch of Tau -I put them in a glass jar and poured over the NPR- and left to steep- I returned about an hour later to find a glass jar full of grey gloop! They were gone-a few solid unrecognisable lumps remained!
I then tried -very cautiously dipping a cheap toothbrush (the kind Sean_OBrien mentioned above) in the NPR and quickly brushing the paint off the minis with excellent results- it also helped remove the glue. I also tried the Dettol method but the NPR is much better imo.

Fairy Power Spray (usa version ; dawn power dissolver)

Seemed to loosen super glue for me. Spray, soak for 15-20mins, scrub with old toothbrush... repeat.

Should get you there after a few goes.

Soaking in ipa might work? does cyanoacrylate dissolve in isoproyl?

HairySticks wrote:
does cyanoacrylate dissolve in isoproyl?

Not the superglue used on my Leman Russ, had some parts soaking in isopropyl for 24 hours, no change whatsoever, most dissapointing
I've stripped metal minis using paint thinners, it turns superglue to jelly which then can be easily removed, obviously you can't use paint thinners on plastic though.

 Boyz "R" Us wrote:

HairySticks wrote:
does cyanoacrylate dissolve in isoproyl?

Not the superglue used on my Leman Russ, had some parts soaking in isopropyl for 24 hours, no change whatsoever, most dissapointing
I've stripped metal minis using paint thinners, it turns superglue to jelly which then can be easily removed, obviously you can't use paint thinners on plastic though.

Which paint thinners are you using? I'm pretty sure that turpentine (aka, Mineral spirits) is relatively safe for plastics though I've not used to strip paint it since I was a kid.

 Eilif wrote:


Which paint thinners are you using? I'm pretty sure that turpentine (aka, Mineral spirits) is relatively safe for plastics though I've not used to strip paint it since I was a kid.

Rustin's Cellulose Thinners (100% Pure Solvent) proper paint shop stuff that will mix with any cellulose laquer for automotive spray paint applications etc. This will basically dissolve anything other than metal if used for stripping purposes. I've never tried Turpentine on minis.

 Boyz "R" Us wrote:

 Eilif wrote:


Which paint thinners are you using? I'm pretty sure that turpentine (aka, Mineral spirits) is relatively safe for plastics though I've not used to strip paint it since I was a kid.

Rustin's Cellulose Thinners (100% Pure Solvent) proper paint shop stuff that will mix with any cellulose laquer for automotive spray paint applications etc. This will basically dissolve anything other than metal if used for stripping purposes. I've never tried Turpentine on minis.

Yeah, that kind of stuff will kill plastic. I use MEK (one of the main ingredients in "Japanese" thinner I think) for tough paint on metal models. It will kill any paint and turn plastic into a shapeless blob.

Turpentine works ok for some paints, but in general, it's not a good stripping agent for paints on models.

HairySticks wrote:
does cyanoacrylate dissolve in isoproyl?

Alcohol really doesn't work by dissolving anything (paint, glue...). It's function is as a very good wetting agent. The alcohol gets at the edges and works its way underneath the surface. Once in there - the paint or glue can become a bit easier to lift off (has a bit of added oomph due to vapor pressure as the alcohol wants to evaporate and expand). How easily really goes to how well they prepped before hand. If it was a tight joint, with the right amount of superglue - you could soak it in pure iso for months without having any impact.

Luckily, most joints don't fit that well. We usually add a bit too much, or a bit too little glue. This makes iso and other similar materials useful for removing the glue. You will normally still need to apply a bit of elbow grease, and I haven't found it to be any more useful than water (though a bit faster since you don't have to wait for it to freeze).

The acetone free nailpolish remover has always been an odd recommendation to me. Things like those have a lot of variables in play - so much so, that I wouldn't get into it without a lengthy discussion regarding the particulars. One of the most common solvents used in those is ethyl acetate. One of the most common solvents used in "safe" plastic glues is also ethyl acetate. It will dissolve acrylic, ABS, HIPS and quite a few other plastics. I actually ran out of acrylic cement a few years ago and used some of my wife's acetone free nail polish remover to glue in place a bulk head for an acrylic aquarium I was building. Worked like a charm.

If it is a low concentration of ethyl acetate, on for a short period of time (say...rubbing with a q-tip) - things probably won't go sideways. If you soak or use a high concentration brand - you may find yourself with a puddle of plastic in short order.

 Mecha_buddha wrote:
yeah 99% Isopropyl alcohol. it strips acrylic paint like a champ and eat the super glue. for really thick glue you may need to let it sit for a day. for just paint a few hours is enough. got a bunch of terribly assembled and painted eldar stuff and after a 24 hour soak the dire avengers fell apart to components and so did the wraithlord.

 Boyz "R" Us wrote:
Question: By "99% rubbing alcohol" do you mean Isopropyl Alcohol ? (If so I've got a bottle and a really badly super glued Leman Russ waiting for attention).

This. Also, don't skimp on it. I tried the 50% recently and it did squat. 70% did alright, but really anything less than 90% is just pathetic and a waste of $$.

 Eilif wrote:
Yeah, that kind of stuff will kill plastic. I use MEK (one of the main ingredients in "Japanese" thinner I think) for tough paint on metal models. It will kill any paint and turn plastic into a shapeless blob.

Do you still have a sense of smell? I got one brief whiff of MEK once; it was the worst thing I have ever smelled and it stuck in my nose for a while.