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I recently came upon 17 bezerkers, a metal chaos lord, two mystery figures (CSM marines with banner posts and no icons), a land raider and old metal termies.

Most of them are ok, but some are...not so.

The land raider specifically was seemingly assembled by a child. The tracked arent even put in place right and seam lines are obvious in various spots. Now the seam lines I csn just green stuff into, but what about the tracks? Or the fact a lasgun is stuck out on a 90 degree from the raider making it even bulkier than it has to be?

What is a good method for weakening a glue bond so I can give this Land Raider a proper fix up?

Acetone dissolves glue to an extent. There are few models that aren't salvageable, but your best bet is to calculate whether or not it's financially worth the several hours of your time it may take.

Also, I spent 70 dollars. The 5 termies are all fine and at least 12 of the 17 Zerkers dont need mending at all. Considering a new box of 5 termies where I live is 60 dollars, even if this land raider doesnt pan out too good, im not gonna cry over it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ketara wrote:
Acetone dissolves glue to an extent. There are few models that aren't salvageable, but your best bet is to calculate whether or not it's financially worth the several hours of your time it may take.

Will this also remove paint? The guy i bought it off primed over the original paint, so it looks...a bit lacking in detail after a 3rd coat.

I've found models left in a car overnight on a hard winter become brittle at the joints.

Suggested action: Set the freezer to cold and leave the model in there for a while.

When considering whether it is worth your time or not over buying new model, don't forget to factor in whether or not you enjoy saving models. If it's going to be fun, you may as well try it anyway!

There is a decent thread in the hobby sections atm about rescued models.

First off, get yourself a gallon or so of any quality degreaser. Here in the states Super Clean (auto parts store) or Purple Power (Wal-Mart's version) is great. Sometimes Simple Green works though they've diluted their latest formula so it's not as effective as it used to be. These will strip paint very well in 24-48 hours (longer if it's stubborn) and will solidify and easily allow breaking of super glue. Use gloves obviously and don't huff the stuff --- but soak the miniatures in a tub and when you see the paint sloughing off, give them a good spray down and a scrub with a toothbrush or something similar. Plastic models will frequently "stain" a bit from colour, but you should be able to easily save any metals or plastics.

Superglue can be brittle if placed in the freezer for a while - it'll pop right off (honestly it'll normally pop right off without freezing -- but it does help).

Actual model cement? You're hosed - that stuff works by chemically bonding the two pieces of plastic --- literally melting them together. There is no good way to break these up.

 Elbows wrote:
Actual model cement? You're hosed - that stuff works by chemically bonding the two pieces of plastic --- literally melting them together. There is no good way to break these up.

Cement bonds are more porous and weaker than the surrounding plastic, you don't necessarily need to weaken them.

I've found that you can often break up plastic cement joints by carefully wedging a knife in from different angles until it breaks apart. It's not doable in all cases, and much easier when smaller amounts of cement were applied in the first place.

If he used Plastic Cement, it depends on how much was used.

A tiny bit with no visible leakage? It's basically like cutting through softer sprue (yes, you need to cut it. There is no dissolving the "glue" because it wasn't glue to begin with).

It has visible overflows and has gotten over some details? Unless you're good at resculpting those parts, you're boned. Not only is there enough cement that the two pieces are largely fused together (requiring what is essentially surgery with a jewelry saw to separate, trust me I had to do this once) but the part is likely now warped as well. Whatever it is, unless you have a good conversion in mind, it's probably only useful for terrain modelling now.

Also be warned that Acetone can remove paint, but it will also melt the miniature if left in there too long. I personally use Simple Green for miniatures and Goof Off for metal ones (which won't damage their respective materials no matter how long you leave it in) to avoid this, but it takes significantly longer for plastics.

Acetone will remove superglue and is great for dismantling metal models. Can affect plastic given time.

Biostrip 20 is the bees knees for stripping paint from plastic without damaging it. Available from Amazon and other places.

Dismantling models assembled with polystyrene cement or plastic weld is a lot harder as these glues physically melt the plastic and then allow it to set in the new position.

If you're handy with green stuff, I'd recommend breaking out the dremmel tool with a fine cutting bit and buzz through any seams you need to disassemble the model. You can use acetone to remove some of the paint, but be very careful as it can dissolve the plastic if left on too long or if used in great amounts.