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Hello everyone,


Before I start, I should note that I have looked into this through several forums, and no one seems to have any consensus. What I'm trying to do is two-fold:


-Strip thick crappy paint jobs off plastic and metal minis.
-Dissolve the crappy superglue joints, to replace with plastic weld.



Does anyone know of a product that can do this? I'm in the USA, Oregon. I've heard good things about LA's Totally Awesome, and I have some minis soaking in it right now. Seems to get the paint right off after a week with no ill effects to the minis, but I have not tested it long-term, nor does it seem to have any affect on the superglue. Is Totally Awesome bad for minis? I plan to do my own experiment but I'd love to hear veteran experiences.


My idea chemical is something cheap. I have a LOT of minis to redo. Totally Awesome seemed great because it's a liter per $1 at the Dollar Tree. Nothing else even seems to come close to that.

Superglue doesn't like being frozen (it weakens the bond - due to the way that the molecule cures, it traps water within it. When the water freezes, it has nowhere to expand to ... ) - it may take repeated freeze/thaw cycles to break a particularly caked bond, though.

There's a variety of paint removers that are safe on plastics, and they vary by country (several of those named on this board can't be got down under, for example, so I leave that to someone closer).

The Yellow Version undiluted of LA's totally awesome is what I use to strip any mini (so far to date have not found one that is adversley affected) Soak scrub re soak and scrub (baby type tooth brush)..this also weakens superglue joints but has zero effect on any kind on plastic weld type glues. Make sure the final step is to rinse with lots of clear water and a screen on the sink drain to catch little parts..then place mini in freezer on a flat pan setting perfectly flat for about an hour and the superglued sections will come apart easily ..use a dental pick to restore detail by gently prying little bits of superglue out.

Note plastic welded joints will not come apart from any of this.

In reverse order:

-Morfydd: Ok, how long have you left minis in the chemical? My three year-experiment starts later this afternoon, but I'm curious how long you've gone.

And not to worry about plastic weld; I don't tear apart minis that don't need it, if someone cared enough to use plastic weld chances are they cared enough to take their time. It's the collections I get that are caked in superglue and painted like some kid was ignorant of the difference between 'modelling paint' and 'house paint' that I need to fix. Those are all superglue. Excellent advice; so Totally Awesome does not affect the mini then? Because it still needs to be frozen, at least, that's the implication.


--Chromedog: Thanks for the input; I will definitely be trying both sets of advice and letting you know what I find out.

For paint off of plastic, if you dont have la awesome available from the dollar store you can try purple power from autozone. otherwise 99% isoproponal alcohol should get it off.
non of these items will hurt plastic. not sure of resin or metal.

for metal (with no attached plastic, sculpting, or anything you dont want to lose) you can chuck it in acetone and it will remove paint in minutes.

both still require a little bit of scrubbing especially in the corners.

desolving superglue i dont think will happen without melting the plastic. as above the best you can do is freeze it to snap. for light joints you could also just snap them by hand. afterwards you will probably be stuck scraping the glue off with a knife or file.

Veteran LA's Totally Awesome user here. I have personally left plastic minis to soak in LATA for over a month, with no harmful side effects. Generally I let them soak for 24 hours minimum, then pull each one out and give it a scrub. This will remove 90% of the paint usually; if the old paint was particularly stubborn, I toss it back in the soak for several more days (or a week, or whenever I get back to them). Do not dilute the LATA with water. Wear gloves while scrubbing so your hands don't dry out.

LATA will not dissolve glue in my experience*. Try the freezer as suggested above. Depending on the kind of glue used, the plastic might be fused together, in which case your only option is to cut them apart.

Hope this helps!


* LATA very well might soften some glue; I haven't conducted rigorous scientific tests on all glues. YMMV, grain of salt, void where prohibited, etc., etc.

acetone should remove superglue. On metal minis, dunk it in and leave it for a while. With plastic, I tend to try to file, sand or scrape off the superglue if possible. If not, you could try using a Q-tip or something to carefully apply acetone to soften glue. You'll need to be careful not to let it affect the plastic, though.

I use simple green on mine because I got it super cheap at Costco, but it doesn't get stuff totally off, and has been messy. Some has always been stuck in the corners still. I did notice super glue bits popping off in it though so probably the same with the LATA, maybe let it soak awhile then pry a bit.

Exalbaru wrote:
I use simple green on mine because I got it super cheap at Costco, but it doesn't get stuff totally off, and has been messy. Some has always been stuck in the corners still. I did notice super glue bits popping off in it though so probably the same with the LATA, maybe let it soak awhile then pry a bit.

Ditto - in my experience a Simple Green soak breaks superglue bonds really well.

Well I've got metal/plastic minis sitting in simple green/easy off/LATA, so we'll see which is the best overall. But thanks for the info everyone, super useful.


Cheers!