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Hi all,

Nope, not a question about doing smokey effects on models sadly. It’s a new year and this year I am starting a new army and getting into AOS with Sylvaneth. In an attempt to be a bit less impactful on the environment (and wallet!) I decided to build my army out of second hand models that I would repaint.

My issue is that, amongst the models I now have, my Treelord Ancient from eBay clearly came from a smoker’s home and really smells really strongly. I was hoping the grey seer undercoat spay would have masked this but alas no. Has anyone had this issue before and are there any tips to get rid of the smell?

Thanks in advance!

The smoke residue is probably sticking to the surface of the models, base and paint et al. Maybe the usual paint stripping removal process of alcohol and scrubbing will get the majority off.

yeah get it stripped. the chemicals will remove the smoky smell.

Ah ok good tips. So warm soapy water and an old toothbrush wouldn’t quite do it then? I have some clean spirits at home (the less toxic version of white spirit from B and Q) - would that work? Or would it melt the plastic?

No, white spirits doesn't even strip acryllics in my experience. You want a nail varnish remover with no acetone. Or simple green aparantly, although I've never used that

Or use Dettol to strip with. Then it'll stink of Dettol instead

Haha anything but ‘old man’s garage’! Seriously, it’s so strong you can smell it when you walk into the room, and it’s in a cupboard at the mo!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
No, white spirits doesn't even strip acryllics in my experience. You want a nail varnish remover with no acetone. Or simple green aparantly, although I've never used that

Ah good tip. I’ll have to raid the wife’s (or my daughter’s!) supplies and see what I can find.

dettol will affect plastics though

Think I’ll try the non-acetone nail varnish remover first!

 Bhazakhain wrote:
Ah ok good tips. So warm soapy water and an old toothbrush wouldn’t quite do it then? I have some clean spirits at home (the less toxic version of white spirit from B and Q) - would that work? Or would it melt the plastic?

Oh, gods no. Even painting over with household paints won't do the job. Apartment owners have to use special smoke-and-nicotine removing chemicals to get the smell off the walls, and the carpets and padding are usually a total loss.

Strip it back down to bare... whatever... and that should at least cut the smell down severely.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
dettol will affect plastics though

Cant say iv ever heard of detrol effecting plastic unless they changed formulas

you can always do 95% + isopropyl alcohol. that will strip acrylic paint. and from my understand its one of the ingredients in detrol anyway.
iv left stuff in iso for 2 years with no effect on plastic
iso will effect resin though.
also 3dot brake fluid but as you are trying to be environmental conscious id avoid that.

It mightve been the nvr I used to remove the dettol that affected the plastic to be fair

If you are going to use dettol, you may as well just use isopropyl alcohol anyway - and your models won't stink like a koala's buttcrack as a bonus.

Dettol is 85-90% ipa.

I use dot3 brake fluid, but my used stuff (when it stops working - I usually get 4-5 uses out of a batch, filter out the paint crud and go again) goes into a mechanic's waste drum for processing (not just poured down the sink).