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I just received the a trade in the mail today and the paint quality is either not in my color scheme, badly painted, or both. I don't have the steadiest of hands so I don't like repainting assembled models. Is there a way to disassemble them without destroying them in the process? Thanks.

What kind of models? and what kind of paint?

Do you mean disassemble the actual model or just stripping the paint away?

If it's just stripping the paint, there's a number of tutorials online but most of them recommend something along the lines of Simple Green or Acetone (I prefer Simple Green cuz Acetone sometimes melt plastics).

If you mean actually taking them apart back into their bitz...well it depends on how they were glued. If it's super glue, you can put em in the freezer then try to pry them apart after they've warmed up a bit (GW plastic can stand a bit of temperature change but most superglues can't).

If it was glued with plastic glue/cement, you're outta luck. You can only put them under the knife.

Simple Green is great for removing the paint, I know. As for the glue..is the model plastic, metal, or finecast? Can you tell/have you any idea what glue was used? Normally I'd say that you leave a model in simple green long enough and it'll take apart the glue as well, but there are likely better options. I used to just use diluted dish soap and soak the models in them overnight (usually a 3:1 ratio of soap:water). but that was a long time ago.

 Atropus wrote:
What kind of models? and what kind of paint?

I'm not sure on the paint. The models are all plastic/finecast.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
If you mean actually taking them apart back into their bitz...well it depends on how they were glued. If it's super glue, you can put em in the freezer then try to pry them apart after they've warmed up a bit (GW plastic can stand a bit of temperature change but most superglues can't).

Thanks for this info, living in a colder climate it's nice to know!

Soak them in dettol if you can get hold of it and that will weaken the glue and you should then be able to gently pull them apart with no damage, as they will come apart along the joins. The dettol will also strip the paint, and the dettol will do no damage to the models.

As a North American resident from what i can tell. purple power works really well at lifting the paint off. soak it for a day then scrub with a hard bristled brush. so does 90% + isyoproponal alcohol though not sure of its effect on resin yet.

It wont get rid of primer staining or enamel paint IIRC.

as for pulling the parts off. if you are careful with your hand you can usually snap off pieces. especially if its GW plastic glue.

if its super glue and it feels like its going to break in a bad way, try chucking the lot into the freezer and freeze and thaw it a few times. doing so should make the super glue brittle from thermal expansion.

you will need to figure out the tension you need on your own though.

all general tips iv learned over the years.

In the uk we have a product called fairy power spray , i find coating the model in this for a day or two weakens all manner of glues, Maybe you could try to locate that or a similar cleaning product ?

One thing that you have to keep in mind about disassembling a fully assembled model to repaint is the amount of time required to put it back together, rather than just painting it as-is.

A lot of times, scraping off the glue and everything, and then getting a fit that's close to the original condition is not worth the effort, relative to just working around the assembled model.

In other words, sometimes, an original model that came in 14 pieces that you would have painted in 4 intelligent subassemblies -- might be easier to separate into just 2 subassemblies for repainting.

As far as stripping models, LA Totally Awesome (available in dollar stores) is the best, most consistent stripping agent I've found (tried simple green, tried purple power, etc).