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We all know the drill for stripping paint: Greenstuff for a night or three, toothbrush until the paint is gone. Well, I was painting an intercessor squad from my Dark Imperium box. The paint had come on a little lumpy from using a bad brush on a black base coat over black primer, and the mixed Black Templars/Imperial Fists look I was going for (like Forgeworld's Templar Brethren) just didn't feel bright enough for my Primaris marines. Seeing as I ship off to Fort Knox for some ROTC summer training on Friday, I wanted to get the suckers stripped fast. So I soaked them in simple green last night and let them sit until this afternoon before giving them a scrub. The trick I picked up here was not using a toothbrush for the first round of scrubbing. The brush wasn't making much progress, so I asked my little brother, a car mechanic, for something with stiff bristles. He save me one of his metal brushes, was too big and scrape-y, but it gave me an idea. My gun cleaning kit had come with tools for many calibers, including a .17 caliber brush that only tools who are too hipster for a .22 need. So I took the gun cleaning brush, and made a set of quick scrubs in one directions and it made some serious progress on stripping the paint, including primer, and didn't damage the minis.

Stripping Paint From Primaris Marines by Charles Behrens, on Flickr


Repurposed Cleaning Tool by Charles Behrens, on Flickr

TL;DR: You can get faster results stripping paint in simple green using a .17 caliber metal barrel brush, just make sure to scrub in one direction.

Now my marines need to soak a little longer to get all the crannies, but the process should be done tomorrow morning and my minis will be ready to prime up again when I'm back home in a month

Ultrasonic cleaners are where its at.

The cheapo chinese one I bought off amazon for 20$ has performed wonderfully. A larger more expensive one that has various features mine doesnt would be nice but for what I paid it beats the hell out of using a toothbrush.

xevv wrote:
Ultrasonic cleaners are where its at.

The cheapo chinese one I bought off amazon for 20$ has performed wonderfully. A larger more expensive one that has various features mine doesnt would be nice but for what I paid it beats the hell out of using a toothbrush.

I thinking about getting one of these when my airbrush was being a dick to clean, but changing up the cleaning regime changed my mind as it worked better. I hadn't thought about using one to strip minis though what kind of fluids do you use to actually break down the paint?

alamandra wrote:

xevv wrote:
Ultrasonic cleaners are where its at.

The cheapo chinese one I bought off amazon for 20$ has performed wonderfully. A larger more expensive one that has various features mine doesnt would be nice but for what I paid it beats the hell out of using a toothbrush.

I thinking about getting one of these when my airbrush was being a dick to clean, but changing up the cleaning regime changed my mind as it worked better. I hadn't thought about using one to strip minis though what kind of fluids do you use to actually break down the paint?

I use purple power or simple green, Im sure anything you normally use to strip them with a brush will work just fine though.

Any of the machines works great, the big differences are- size, timer duration, and some have a heat option.

Now mine gets plenty hot after youve run it for a bit so Im not sure how big of a deal that is, but a longer timer (mines 10min) would be nice, It depends what youre stripping but you will easy have it going for 30-60min +. Going and hitting the button every 10min isnt *that* big of a deal but for some I could see it being annoying.

My small one also isnt the greatest to clean since its just one piece, the tank doesnt come out and it doesnt have a drain valve. Also the top gets alot of moisture on it which sort of spills around the machine when you open it (which I do every 10min reset to sort of stir the stuff around with a stick)

Personally if youre going to be doing alot of stripping, Id consider one closer to the 100$ range if you can afford it since it solves all the minor gripes I have with mine. (youll need a bigger one than what I got for 20$ anyway if you want to do any tanks or anything else too big)

Never heard of an ultrasonic cleaner, fascinating.

My solution:

Pre-soak in Dettol

then into Dettol bath in ultrasonic cleaner

rinse in water

Paint and glue just floats away

Chuck in iso propal alcohol for a month then forget about them and buy new models :X

but really a few minutes in iso and a toothbrush will take most models down to primer.

(purple) Castrol Super Clean, not Simple Green.

Assuming you're serious about stripping paint off plastic.

Isopropynol is the best. No residue. Evaporates at room temperature. Doesn't damage plastic or break down glue. Will break the bond on green stuff though.