Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Is there any way of getting Citadel Paints off plastic space marines without melting the space marines in question?

Apparently, Fairy Power Spray is awesome.

Go to Superdrug.

Buy some Acetone Free nail polish remover - it's about a quid.

Pour enoigh to cover your marine into a cup/bowl/poached egg bowl. Soak the marine(s) for about 5 minutes then brush off with a hard tooth brush.

Make sure you get the Acetone Free variety.

(Boots has it but its much more expensive, get the Superdrug own brand).

Fairy Power Spray. It's brilliant.

Apparently Dettol works too but I've never tried it to confirm.

"TESCO Everyday Value all-purpose cleaner", stocked in larger TESCO stores only 25p for a litre, comes in a white plastic bottle with a white and purple sticker on it. I've had an ebay Rhino in it for less than a week, it took off two coats of paint (Ultramarines and Space Wolves) as well as the black undercoat spray! Use an old toothbrush to remove the softened paint, takes a few goes, but doesn't harm the plastic, clearly the cheapest option around.

 CrashGordon94 wrote:
Apparently Dettol works too but I've never tried it to confirm.

Dettol works AWESOMELY. A few minutes in Dettol, and all the paint wants to peel off. But it's stinky as heck.

Isopropyl alcohol bath and a Sonicare toothbrush work really well too -- this is my preference. It isn't too noxious and IPA is cheap and not caustic..

I've used most of these.
They all work, some better than others.

The absolute best option I've found is 99.9% pure ispropyl alcohol. Is safe for months on end, and starts working within 5minutes, so is good for things you need now, or things theres no rush on. Can be reused many many times.
Removes tough primers that many of these strippers wont.

Unfortunately Fairy Power spray is no longer the fantastic paint stripping machine it used to be, as the recipe was slightly modified.

I've always used dettol, but I've heard the alcohol works better as Dettol both stinks, and if the dettol'd paint comes into contact with water it turns into a kind of glue which is extremely hard to remove.

FacebookJunkie wrote:
Make sure you get the Acetone Free variety.

And then test it before dunking everything in there, because some Acetone-free nail polish removers will still eat plastic.



Simple Green is still my stripper of choice, but I've been meaning to try the Isopropyl option as SG has been getting harder to get over here.

 insaniak wrote:

FacebookJunkie wrote:
Make sure you get the Acetone Free variety.

And then test it before dunking everything in there, because some Acetone-free nail polish removers will still eat plastic.



Simple Green is still my stripper of choice, but I've been meaning to try the Isopropyl option as SG has been getting harder to get over here.

Do it, I've never tried sg, as Im in UK and its not as common, I tried all the suggestions above, with moderate success and then tried the alcohol and it blew the others out of the water (also gets the dettol smell off )
Even better to use compressed air to blast it dry the moment its pulled out of the drink. The stops any dissolved residue from being left behind as the alcohol evaporates (particularly on re-used solvent)
Failing compressed air, rinse it off in water should work.