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In my experiments in paint stripping I bought a 3 dollar figure (including postage), a GW plastic space marine captain on ebay to sacrifice to the gods of painting.

Intending on leaving the figure in a tub of dettol for a few hours turned into 2 weeks of soaking (pure incompetence on my part, I simply forgot)

As i pulled the figure out i noticed
1. It was slimy
2. Some of the paint fell off
3. No surprise it smelled of dettol
4. It had not appeared to have obviously melted

After some scrubbing under cold running water I noticed
5. The paint that was sticking to my fingers seemed very oily and repelled water
6. The superglue fell apart (bonus)
7. That the figure seems to be tacky/sticky
8. The plastic did not seem to be very soft ( scratched at a mold line no problem) or leave fingerprints in the cape.
9. The paint won't come off my toothbrush

I then washed the parts in a detergent solution, then let them air dry and checked them out.
10. The sticky feeling has vanished.
11. The black stain is still strong but this could be down to whatever was used as the undercoat.
12. The dettol that was used was poured back into the container with a paper towel used to block the large lumps of paint that had fallen off the figure when it was in the solution soaking


I have since found from dakkadakka.com that instead of scrubbing under water I should have scrubbed under dettol then wash in warm soapy water due to a chemical reaction the paint turns tar like. *facepalm*


If interested I will add the before and after photos

Most aerosol primers will etch and stain the plastic. So trying to get them back to new looking plastic would involved removing layers of plastic from the model.

Shouldn't matter unless you plan to prime white but after many experiments I have found nothing I like to prime white. I prime desert yellow is the brightest primer I will use.

Often I have read people wondering if extended time in dettol would be fatal for a plastic figure. This was more for myself finding a safe(er) way to strip minis

When I think about it I might try some resin sprue/off cuts for the same length of time. I don't have any finecast but I suspect it won't survive the same experiment (I will look out on ebay for a finecast volunteer but am in no rush)

I can confirm that extended time in dettol does not damage GW plastics.

I actually forgot about my models in dettol for 4 months, pulled them out and scrubbed the paint off with no issues - plastic had not lost details or turned soft.

However I am now a simple green convert: cheaper, easier to use and doesn't smell anywhere near as bad.


edit: commas for the comma god

I hate to sound like a jerk. But why do people still use Dettol and Simple Green? Just use White Spirit or Turps same thing used for oil wash removal. Strips paint right off.

kronicpsycho wrote:
I hate to sound like a jerk. But why do people still use Dettol and Simple Green? Just use White Spirit or Turps same thing used for oil wash removal. Strips paint right off.

Unless the model is plastic, in which case you'll be left with a mini that looks like it came straight out of papa nurgle's nose...