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Hello all. This is my first post in the Painting & Modeling sub-forum, so excuse any naiveness. I seem to have messed up quite badly when stripping old miniatures which I can't replace easily.

While visiting my parents house last week I dug through my drawers and found some old WHFB and Mordheim stuff. There's squid herds, Night Goblin Shamans and one of the older metal giants (I have a Night Goblin army in AoS which is useful) and a full human Mordeim war band (I'm about to set up a local Mordheim league). After leaving the models in Dettol for roughly 24 hours, I went to wash off the models. Having already done this with a number of plastic and metal Eldar models with ease, I was confident this wouldn't be any different. It turns out the old giant model had a significant amount of superglue that had dripped down inside the torso, which I had missed when cleaning up the model before soaking. As a result, all of the models are coated in a slimy, sticky good that isn't coming off.

It's late, so I washed the models off with warm water and soap, and then placed them to soak over night in a soap/water mix.

I was wondering if this sort of thing has happened to anyone else on here before, and if so, is there anything I can do to get rid of this slime?

Thanks in advance!

I'm not sure if it's the superglue doing that.... I've never read anything about superglue reacting with Dettol in that way, it sounds more like you've taken the models from the Dettol and just washed off with water... which is a nono as it turns the paint into some slimy evil sticky goop that's nigh on impossible to shift.

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?267786-Paint-Strip-Miniatures-UK-Guide-(Dettol)
Is the guide I read for Dettol stripping, but it's easier for me to use Isopropyl alcohol so I don't really know how to go about fixing your batch =(
I read in the comments on that link that someone tried using boiling water to get it off, so if your models are all metal, it might be worth a try? Or dumping it back in the dettol for a while?

Edit because I can't spell at 2am.

Yep, Dettol will do that to superglue. the answer is to put them back in and really allow them to soak again in Dettol or another stripper. Then scrub with a toothbrush in the liquid, don't mix water in and don't rinse with water. It will lift the substance given time.

You can troubleshoot by washing with with swarfega if necessary.

Rest easy slowclinic, as BC says a longer soak should help.

I too made the mistake of using water to rinse the mini when I first used Dettol to strip, but beleive me that when you have done it once, you won't do it again!

Well, a longer soak seemed to have sorted the issue. It's strange, as I'm sure the instructions called for the models to be rinsed after…

Following the second soak over night and a day of drying they were still a bit goopey. 20 or so hours next to an open window seemed to sort that out.

Thanks for the help!

Stop using Dettol, Dettol sucks. It takes ages, turns paint into evil goo, and it stinks forever. For plastic Biostrip 20 or Fairy Power spray would be much better, you only need to soak stuff for about an hour, and it's much rarer that paint turns to goo. For metal it's hard to beat Nitromors, you can strip a metal model in 10 mins.

I've been using "Super Clean" degreaser to strip my miniatures. It does an amazing job on FW models I've purchased from eBay.



If I need superglue removed, I hit those areas with fingernail polish remover.

But don't use acetone fingernail polish remover on plastic minis

(the result is goo)

 Smacks wrote:
Stop using Dettol, Dettol sucks. It takes ages, turns paint into evil goo, and it stinks forever. For plastic Biostrip 20 or Fairy Power spray would be much better, you only need to soak stuff for about an hour, and it's much rarer that paint turns to goo. For metal it's hard to beat Nitromors, you can strip a metal model in 10 mins.

Dettol is safe, which is why we tend to migrate to it.

Many cleaners can work... Just be careful not to use anything that lists Limonene as a prominent ingredient, being that it destroys plastic.
Tamiya sell Limonene based plastic glue as a safer alternative to solvent, if you'd like an idea as to why it might be a bad move (and for some reason don't believe me).

I saw some posts recommending Tesco cleaners on the P&M forum recently, which both lists Limonene as an ingredient and states on the container not to leave soaking on plastic.

To be honest I don't mind Dettol as I use it in large jars. But when I did a bowl of it.. Ergh.

 Buttery Commissar wrote:

 Smacks wrote:
Stop using Dettol, Dettol sucks. It takes ages, turns paint into evil goo, and it stinks forever. For plastic Biostrip 20 or Fairy Power spray would be much better, you only need to soak stuff for about an hour, and it's much rarer that paint turns to goo. For metal it's hard to beat Nitromors, you can strip a metal model in 10 mins.

Dettol is safe, which is why we tend to migrate to it.

Many cleaners can work... Just be careful not to use anything that lists Limonene as a prominent ingredient, being that it destroys plastic.
Tamiya sell Limonene based plastic glue as a safer alternative to solvent, if you'd like an idea as to why it might be a bad move (and for some reason don't believe me).

I saw some posts recommending Tesco cleaners on the P&M forum recently, which both lists Limonene as an ingredient and states on the container not to leave soaking on plastic.

To be honest I don't mind Dettol as I use it in large jars. But when I did a bowl of it.. Ergh.

Superclean and simple green both work better than Dettol in my experience (length of time, amount removed...smell, lol). And they are both biofriendly, so can be just poured down the drain when finished.

Simple green is different formulation in the UK, according to the pet detergent chemist. Unfortunately it does not work half as well here, as reported in the USA.

I love how effective Dettol is. I hate how smelly Dettol is, though!

99% of the time, I use isopropyl alcohol and a sonicare toothbrush. If I'm lazy, I'll put it in the ultrasonic cleaner to get off some of the easy stuff first.

I only use this now: https://www.lastotallyawesome.com/shop/all-purpose/awesome-all-purpose-concentrated-cleaner-128oz/

It works on all materials. Just let is soak a few days and I run it under water and brush with a toothbrush. Its about $3 a gallon! You can buy it a dollar stores.

I can not recommend it enough. I used to use purple power (generic of simple green) but this is way cheaper and very good!

 Talys wrote:
I love how effective Dettol is. I hate how smelly Dettol is, though!

99% of the time, I use isopropyl alcohol and a sonicare toothbrush. If I'm lazy, I'll put it in the ultrasonic cleaner to get off some of the easy stuff first.

You know, I actually like the smell of Dettol. I think it's delicious.

The reason I try and avoid it is that it warns about ventilation, and I have lounging cats. I don't want them to end up high or sedated because I enjoy the smell of paint stripper.

I've been working with my pet chemist to do a stripping guide for Dakka, but without access to the USA products I'm not sure how useful I can be.

Yeah I've had problem with the dreaded Dettol goo before. Horrible stuff.

I'm intrigued by the Biostrip 20 that was mentioned earlier, anyone have experience using that? Is it good?

D

Improper dettol usage.

I have stripped minis with dettol before and there is one major thing to remember; dettol breaks down acrylic paint and water will cause that paint to become sticky. If you have soaked a mini in dettol and then that mini came into contact with water while there was still trace amounts of acrylic on it then you will have the mess you are describing.

The best way to use dettol is to water it down about 70/30 (mostly dettol). When stripping use the dettol to wash the parts again, ensuring that all the paint is gone before rinsing with hot soapy water. Also, wear gloves and maybe even a paper mask or a bandana. Dettol can put off a powerful fume and its best not to inhale too much of it.

As for how you would fix this mess you're in... Well you could try other chemicals but who knows how they will react with the residue. I would try the dettol again and be really careful to make sure you've got all the residue off before trying to rinse.

 Talys wrote:
But don't use acetone fingernail polish remover on plastic minis

(the result is goo)

You don't soak the model in fingernail polish remover. You apply fpr to the spot where parts are glued together so the superglue is weakened and you can remove the parts. Then you clean the parts in warm soapy water to get rid of any remaining acetone.