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Hello Dakkafriends,

First of all happy 2018 to all and may you have lots of success in your hobby this year!

Now to the topic that gives me problems....stripping

I have read all the available stripping guides/videos tried Simple Green with very little success, got the Super Clean (CSC) everyone recommended as even better solution and dont really get the results writers of the guides did.

Either im really unlucky with my purchases and these minies are just beyond hope (cant be fully stripped or im doing something wrong), or there may be a different solution to my problem.

Im doing 2-3 CSC baths some of which have been 10 plus days long and this is what i end up with:




The recess stuff i can partially scrape off with a needle/toothpick but never fully. Question is what do i try next? Also, if i were to try to put primer on this and paint over i assume results would be pretty bad or would I be able to paint over this with fairly good success?

Thanks,

A cheap ultrasonic cleaner will help. Tie a few models down to the basket (twist ties) in the middle where the ultrasound is strongest and run a few cycles. This can be done after the Super Clean bath, or in a Super Clean bath - I tend to use just water because I don't want to decant the cleaner back into a container between uses and Super Clean can corrode metals over long periods of time.

That said, some paints bind chemically to plastic and you may well never get it off, it's a bit of a crapshoot that way. I haven't had this problem with anything that used GW, Reaper or Vajello paints (i.e. purpose made model paints), but stuff like automotive primers might cause this.

 John Prins wrote:
A cheap ultrasonic cleaner will help. Tie a few models down to the basket (twist ties) in the middle where the ultrasound is strongest and run a few cycles. This can be done after the Super Clean bath, or in a Super Clean bath - I tend to use just water because I don't want to decant the cleaner back into a container between uses and Super Clean can corrode metals over long periods of time.

That said, some paints bind chemically to plastic and you may well never get it off, it's a bit of a crapshoot that way. I haven't had this problem with anything that used GW, Reaper or Vajello paints (i.e. purpose made model paints), but stuff like automotive primers might cause this.

Priming and painting over these partially stripped models w paint in recesses will look really really bad I assume?

How much is a cheap ultrasonic cleaner anyway?

makiiie wrote:

Priming and painting over these partially stripped models w paint in recesses will look really really bad I assume?

How much is a cheap ultrasonic cleaner anyway?

From the photos, I can't tell how much paint is really in there. If it's very thin, it won't be an issue. Most finished models have 2-3 layers of paint in any detail and you don't notice that, and 4-5 thin layers might not be noticeable either. Thick primer or basecoats might fill detail to the point you'd notice. If it just looks like the plastic is stained/discolored, you're fine. If you can visibly see the thickness of the paint beside stripped areas, you're probably not fine, but that also really depends on how picky you are about smooth finish and detail on your minis.

You can get Ultrasonics for as low as $45 Canadian off Amazon, so decently cheap. If you're planning on stripping any volume of minis, I highly recommend getting one, especially if you have an airbrush, as it's super useful for cleaning up clogged gun parts as well. If I planned on stripping entire armies bought online, I'd get a not-so-cheap ultrasonic, as the more expensive it is, the longer you can run it without overheating and the more capacity it has (volume), but the $45 one can do a handful of minis at a time, but might have trouble fitting a Rhino or anything bigger. The great thing about the ultrasonic is you can do other stuff while its running, as opposed to scrubbing with a toothbrush.

I personally bought this one: https://www.amazon.ca/iSonic-P4820-WPB-Commercial-Ultrasonic-Cleaner/dp/B00HLBKNKI/ref=lp_11849791011_1_6?s=, which is $100 but a lot bigger and has longer cycle time and can handle stuff below land raider size, but if you're leery about the idea, spending the minimum to test it all out might be the right idea, and the larger stuff is easy to scrub by hand anyways.

also try buying a cheap sonic toothbrush for scrubbing.

From what I can see, you'd probably get a decent result if you started painting from here. Most of what is left is just a thin layer of primer. Hit it with a light coat of new primer and have at it.

Not sure about it myself but as I understand it DOT3 works wonders on paint. It peeled paint off of my firewall quite nicely on my Jeep (had a blown rear seal on my master cylinder and it leaked on the inside) and it literally peeled off primer and paint to bare metal. Not sure how it would react to plastic as I have never tried it myself.

 OIIIIIIO wrote:
Not sure about it myself but as I understand it DOT3 works wonders on paint. It peeled paint off of my firewall quite nicely on my Jeep (had a blown rear seal on my master cylinder and it leaked on the inside) and it literally peeled off primer and paint to bare metal. Not sure how it would react to plastic as I have never tried it myself.

If you're going to recommend something, please test it first. Also, keep in mind the OP is in Canada, so what he can get might not be the same as the USA.

Stuff I have personally tested:

Simple Green (meh, but does strip, harmless to plastic)
Super Clean (strips well enough, usually takes 2-3 cycles and some scrubbing, harmless to plastic)
99% Isopropyl Alcohol (not good but harmless to plastic)
PineSol (ONLY FOR METAL, and soak for a week at least, will eat plastic)

Other posters have recommended LA Totally Awesome and Dettol as safe for plastic in other threads about stripping, though LA Totally Awesome is hard to source in Canada, and if you're using Dettol you can't rinse in water (use either more Dettol when scrubbing or other Isopropyl Alcohol) or you get a paint/Dettol/water reaction that turns glue-y.

I recommend staying with Super Clean.

Stick with the Super Clean and use a cheap electric toothbrush to get the rest.

 Todosi wrote:
Stick with the Super Clean and use a cheap electric toothbrush to get the rest.

Exactly what I was thinking.
The "normal" areas stripped off fine, you only need to get in the pocketed areas that can be picked out or a cheap electric toothbrush should do it.
Ultrasonic I find works great on metal bits but not so much the plastic: it works, it just takes a a lot more time than a spin brush or dental pick.

Some times the ultra deep cracks will never get clean

not even acetone and metal models

it can be super stubborn.

for your models though, especially the leg and crotch area, you could probably do well with a pipe cleaner or even one of those cheap airbrush cleaning kits from the harbor freight.

(this is an example not the one from hf)

but overall asides from the obviously flakky bits and thick paint areas, you should be able to prime over with no issues.

Just a quick update.I found a heap ultrasonic cleaner on kijiji and after 6 cycles i was able to get minies 99.5% stripped. I used water with some F2F and dish soap. Most of paint came off w a toothbrush and some deep recesses i had to use a needle to dislodge the paint.Overall happy with the outcome!

Thanks for the tips,you rock!