strippers (not that kind)

[MQP]

I've recently fallen in love with using black primer as an undercoat for my minis - it makes outlining so much easier, giving my figs a crisper look... anyway, having only recently discovered this, I have scads of minis with *blech* white primer, half-finished paint jobs, etc, that I'd like to strip down. What is a good agent to use for stripping down acrylic-based paints?

MQP

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

funny, I started painting a few months ago with black, but now prefer to do most primed in gray.

I saw this thread a while ago that has some interesting suggestions for stripping minis, from break fliud to Pine-Sol. Check it out:

http://www.privateerpress.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8546

and oh yeah, welcome to ENWorld!

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Pine-Sol! Mix 50-50 with water, let figs sit over night or a few days, and attack with an old toothbrush under running water. if thats not enough, soak again over night and repeat. I took 15 year old oil paint off a bunch of minis a few months ago with no problems. And its much less toxic than brake fluid (not that I'd drink Pine-Sol either...). There was a thread here on this a few months back, it may be in the archive. I'll see if I can find it and post a link to it.

 

[Alchemist]

I'm a oven cleaner kind of guy. Find a nice, well ventelated area and hose them down. Let them sit for a few hours and all the paint just flakes right off with some scrubbing.

I use brake fluid as a pre-soak for particularly tough subjects which have had unusual paints applied.

 

[shouit]

A product called Simply Green I have found to be the best..
EDIT: Forgot to say, soak in the green stuff for about 2 days, won't hurt plastic. Can start to disolve epoxy putty that I use, if in it for more than 3-4 days.

 

[frankthedm]

WARNING
Most compounds that can take off paint are toxic in some way or another. If you are using these chems do take care with their use and disposal.

Pine sol: soak a day or so and it removes paint from metal minis and softens plastic minis and bases and then melts them. Not too toxic and some may equate the scent to cleanliness.

Brake fluid: One of my favorites cause It won’t eat the plastic minis[for the first few months]. if you soak the mini in the brake fluid for a few days you can toothbrush away the paint. It does have an odor and can be difficult to clean off completely

Simple Green. Strips acrylic paint and fresh primer won’t eat Games workshop plastic [or Fortress figure’s resin[I think].

Acetone [Nail polish remover’s main ingredient]:
Pro: Potent, fast, eats glue and epoxy, can strip latex paint off a mage knight in 30 seconds.[pinesol takes days.]
con: Toxic, fumey, flamable, smelly, bad to skin, Devastates normal plastic, to get full strength you have to go to bueaty or hardware store.

BTW

1. If the mini has some very small crevasses you may need a toothpick to get in the small openings

2. Avoid mixing these chemicals together. I got no Idea what may happen if you do mix them. ....ok rubbing alchohol and amonia = lung burning fumes

3. If at all possible put minis into a glass jar and let them soak OUTSIDE your home. Few things eat glass and the possible fumes are best kept outside your dwelling. { I had to use a Gallon pickle jar to clean the tire glue[ a THICK black cyanocrylate based glue in the superglue/crazyglue/zap-a-gap family of glue] off of the WotC Black dragon I bought from a friend who had NO modeling experience and tried to put it together.}

4. Wash minis thoroughly after cleaning them of paint.

5. If the Mini has a lot of glue / epoxy putty work taking the paint of will likely dissolve the putty and glue off.
or hardware store.