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Hey there, I have about 120 Sisters of Battle models that I painted up with a quick and dirty "overall effect" sort of scheme, and I want to start slowly stripping the models and redoing them at a much higher standard. Problem is, I'm not sure how to get rid of varnished paint. The models are all varnished with both matte and gloss, and nobody I have spoken to has had any definitive knowledge about stripping varnished models. I've tried brake fluid on varnished models (no gloss though, just matte) and it was pretty heinous. The stuff is nasty, and the models required heavy scrubbing even after long soaks. Even with scrubbing, the paint didn't come out of the nooks and crannies and would probably require 2 or 3 brake fluid baths. I was really hoping that Simplegreen would work since it's so much less harmful, but will it be able to take off the varnish? Also, paint has been chipping off my girls like crazy, mostly on the armor, even though it's sealed with matte varnish and again with gloss... Is there a better way to protect the paint on pewter models, maybe a better product than Citadel matte varnish?

Go with Simple Green. Plastics require longer soaks, but your metal sisters should see results after an overnight soaking. For best results, leave in longer. For the nooks and crannies, a straight pin will take care of most problems. Enamel paints require extra perserverance (though they should never be used in the first place).

As far as the sealers, I usually just use a generic hobby clear matte sealer--though Testors' Dullcote is really nice.