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I've looked at internet tutorials and the most in-depth explanation I've ever seen was "use Simple Green soak your model"

Is that all there is to it or am I missing something?

It's a little more in depth than that.

Put the models in, wait for however long you want (if going with simple green), and then go in with a brush (hard bristle at most, no steel wool like stuff) and get the paint off.

Besides Simple Green, I see you're in the US so another thing would be something called Power Clean (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that you can buy from an auto store such as Autozone. I heard it's pretty good.

Will Simply Green dissolve the glue on the models or should I be ok with putting 10-20 models in the same container?

Use isopropyl alcohol 91% proof, ziplock bag with small holes to put your squads of minis in, a lidded container such as plastic gallon of ice cream bucket. 4 liters of isopropyl and let it go to work for 30 minutes, wear gloves and use a brush to scrub the models in a fresh pot of water.

Make sure to keep the lid on the container as the isopropyl alcohol evaporates quickly. It is safe for all plastic and metals, it will make resin rubbery if soaked, so I suggest soaking brush in alcohol and scrub with it or use simply green. Resin being rubbery isn't always a bad thing, especially on thin parts that broke, once glued it will be flexible rather than brittle. On thicker resin parts it will let out the air bubbles and cause cracks, so avoid soaking thicker resin pieces, scrubbing like I mentioned above is fine, just rinse with water and wear gloves.

Here is some simple info:

http://myminiaturemischief.blogspot.com/2016/04/stripping-models.html

In general most chemicals people are using will solidify and break super glue, but nothing will undo plastic cement (plastic cement melts and chemically bonds the plastic). If you have a chemical which will break the plastic cement it's probably going to eat the plastic pretty well also. Stripping models is easier with metal models simply because of that minor issue. If someone has hamfisted some models together you can probably remove the paint, but they'll still be badly assembled!

And general rules of thumb for pretty much any chemical you use:

-Don't breathe it in.
-Wear gloves.
-Use a toothbrush and protect your eyes when brushing them etc.

Regarding isopropyl alcohol, does it have to be 91%? ...I can't seem to find that locally...will 100% work, or will that murder models?

 ZoBo wrote:
Regarding isopropyl alcohol, does it have to be 91%? ...I can't seem to find that locally...will 100% work, or will that murder models?

I suspect it should be fine, but you should test on a single model rather than whole sale.

Skip Simple Green. The forumula has been modified and no longer contains 2-butoxethanol and doesn't work as well.

"Purple Power" on the other hand still has that particular chemical, is cheaper and can be found at almost any auto parts store. It will break down superglue bonds, and you can leave a whole batch of plastic models in a tubl of the stuff as long as you want. Usually a day or two soak is enough to make the paint come off with a toothbrush scrub. It's been my experience that "Super Clean" cleaner is about the same thing as Purple Power, it just costs more.

I have one big tub of Purple Power that everything goes into, it's pretty dirty, but I use it until it stops being effective. I have a second smaller tub of cleaner Purple that I put minis into if they need a second scrub. I've stripped several hundred minis this way. It works for almost everything. Occasionaly I'll come across a metal model that resists Purple and then I'll break out the MEK, but that's not something I recommend trying at first.

Also, wear gloves with Purple Power though because it is a pretty harsh cleaner and can dry your hands out REALLY bad. I use Green "Solvex" brand Solvent-Resistant gloves. They're pretty cheap (a couple bucks) nice and thick so they last a while and they're long enough to protect your forearms.

How does one strip models?

Sensually of course

but yeah purple power is my general stripper,

alcohol when i need a little bit more oomph

The problem with stripping minis is getting the bills into their tiny g-strings.


I use simple green, a long soak, and a lot of work with a toothbrush. One tip was to trim back the bristles so you got a firmer scrub out of them. That and never use The Wife’s toothbrush.

I did a tutorial on Isopropyl here for your disclosure

Hope it helps you out

G.A

First you get to know them, and then you ask them nicely on the third date or so.

I'm looking to strip some plastic models that include green stuff, and I'd prefer to preserve the green stuff if at all possible. I've heard that Super Clean melts green stuff, so that's out. it looks like Fairy Power Spray and Dawn Dissolver have been reformulated, as has simple green.

Will any of the alcohol-based options be safe for green stuff?

swarmofseals wrote:
I'm looking to strip some plastic models that include green stuff, and I'd prefer to preserve the green stuff if at all possible. I've heard that Super Clean melts green stuff, so that's out. it looks like Fairy Power Spray and Dawn Dissolver have been reformulated, as has simple green.

Will any of the alcohol-based options be safe for green stuff?

They should be, as it's all very nonreactive to anything other than paint. However, I'd dry some green stuff on a bit of undercoated sprue as a test before going ahead and dunking your sculpting work into some. My guess however is that you'll have no problem at all stripping them.

G.A