stripping problem

[Hacksaw]

I was wondering if anyone has ever had trouble stripping a miniature. I soaked pIrusk in simplegreen for 3 days, scrubbed 3 more days. scrubbed and still had significant paint left on him. so he spent 5 days in acetone. he still has managed to keep some on him. has anyone ever had similar troubles with a particular figure?

[Kaptain Von]

It's happened to me sometimes with some solutions. I have yet to find anything that NitroMors can't shift, though.

[rvrchamp]

nail polish remover works well also... just make sure to wear gloves, and remove any plastic bits before soaking in the nail polish remover.

[maxxev]

Hi, soak it in brake fluid for 24 hours.

[Abyss]

ELO by testors seems to work also

[MetalsMike]

nail polish remover works well also... just make sure to wear gloves, and remove any plastic bits before soaking in the nail polish remover.

Acetone is the active agent in nail polish remover. The OP used the full power version.

[JTY]

Lots of things are good, but NitroMors will outdo anything.

It'll eat plastic bases as well, so don't put them in.

[Decade]

I've had good experience using pure acetone. But, its true, it will liquify the bases if you get it on em.
If using acetone, make sure to cover it with an airtight seal while soaking the figures, because the stuff has a low volatilizing temperature, and will evaporate on you. The good news is, all you really have to do is soak the mini in it for a few minutes and the paint comes right off with a little scrubbing.

[freedoom]

Nothing is going to strip the paint perfectly. the best i've had was acetone. a few hours and i had a clean mini. not drug store nail polish remover but a can of acetone i got from home depot.

simple green has also done well for me but tends to leave paint in crevices. I have purchased a small wire brush for getting the paint out of such places, works fantastically.

[Kenjiro]

Clorox Green Works natural dilutable cleaner works wonders. Its thick and does the job. Soaked a mini overnight in it and with the help of a small toothbrush all the paint just melted away.

[Capsfan34]

I use Super Clean, I found it at wal-mart it comes in a big purple bottle it cost five bucks for a gallon jug. I soaked my minis over night and with a toothbrush the paint just fell off. It is safe for plastics as I soaked my Hydra in it and it came out unharmed. Just ware gloves as it will tear up your hands (I speak from experience LOL) It will unbond the glue from metal so be prepared to re-glue your metal minis.

[CeltKhan]

When I strip minis, there's usually a little paint still stuck on, but the binder's gone, so it isn't actually still "on" the mini. I just pick it off with an Xacto.

[Loitering, Inc.]

I've found a brass wire brush is the perfect companion to stripping minis. Actually, they are pretty darn nice for prepping bare minis as well. I got mine from Lowes in the section where they have welding equipment. They are stiffer than nylon tooth brushes, but don't seem to mar the detail of PP's alloy. Just make sure that it is an actual brass brush and not a steel brush.

[Omenbringer]

Pine sol has always worked well for me.

[Yurimow]

It would be interesting to know what primer you used.

When i was using cans, i used nitro solvent. A few hours and the minis was as good as new (and the first time i used it, the base was gone... vanished).
Nowadays i use plain vanilla brush on acrylic color as a primer and surprisingly it's resistent to nitro solvent. The way i strip nowadays is to put the mini in the fridge. After a few hours i drop it into boiling water with some floor cleaner in it.
After that start brushing with a old toothbrush (the hard ones do slightly better) or a soft wire brush.

PS: the thermo-shock method works also great for disassembling minis ;)

[Capsfan34]

Pine sol has always worked well for me.

That's the power of Pine Sol baby...

[teejayv]

I've used simple green and lacquer thinner numerous times, and I have to admit, SG works ten times better, but like you all said, there's stuff left in the crevices, but I DO have a wonderful remedy that won't harm the mini in any way at all like some metal brushes or xacto knives will. I have a waterpik power flosser that you just put water in and use to "waterpik" your teeth, but I've found that when you have the extra paint left behind in the crevices, you can use it to "POWER WASH" the crap out of there!

***WARNING*** To all the kids out there that choose to do this, make sure you clean up the bathroom after you do because you will have one REEEEALLY angry mother afterwards if you don't, it does make a mess!

********EXTREME WARNING******* TO ALL THE MARRIED MEN OUT THERE.... USE YOUR OWN TIP, NOT YOUR WIFES, AND YOU TOO CLEAN YOUR MESS OR YOU WILL FEEL THE WRATH OF THE MENSTRAL ONE!!!!

[Oldgrue]

I'm going to have to support Super Clean. Between Capsfan and Celtkhan's advice you should have no troubles at all.

[CMikeHardy]

It would be interesting to know what primer you used.

When i was using cans, i used nitro solvent. A few hours and the minis was as good as new (and the first time i used it, the base was gone... vanished).
Nowadays i use plain vanilla brush on acrylic color as a primer and surprisingly it's resistent to nitro solvent.

Yeah, I too had mixed results with Castrol Super Clean (my stripper of choice) with differing priming methods.
With those primed with the old GW Chaos Black primer- they came clean fast and easy.
With Duplicolor Sandable Primer- they come clean but not as easily as the GW primed stuff.
With Army Painter Colored Primer- Very much tougher to clean than the other two and the flecks of paint that CeltKhan describes is much more evident.

Best of luck to you!

[Mod_Plarzoid]

Sometimes paint can actually stain a model. The metal or plastic will actually absorb some of the pigment and it can look like paint is left on, but it really isn't. Make sure that there really is paint left on before you bang your head against the wall trying to get the stuff off when it's really impossible...