Simple Green vs. Purple Power for stripping miniatures.

[PG_Electric Seal]

I thought I'd make this thread to talk about my experience with both products to add to the general knowledge pool.

Simple Green takes about a day to loosen the paint. It gets under the paint and kind of pushes it up in sheets allowing you to brush off large flat parts easily. It works *much* better on metal miniatures than plastic in my experience, and even then, expect plenty of work with a tooth brush and exacto blade. As you may know, Simple Green is generally safe to handle and non-toxic, but performance wise I'm not completely satisfied. Simple Green also has a tendency to weaken super glue bonds over time, which may or may not be a selling point for you.

Purple Power, which I just tried recently works much faster. It does better at actually dissolving some of the paint allowing you to rinse the majority of it off with hot water. About an hour's soak was all I needed. Purple Power is however pretty caustic and will irritate your hands and eyes, so gloves and good ventilation are recommended. You can however wash it down the drain like Simple Green, so elaborate cleanup procedures are not needed.

P.S. There are many brands of 'Purple' all purpose de-greasers and I'd imagine they work about as well as what I used. Check the active ingredients.

[Spume]

Yeah, Super Cleen is the same as purple power, both work much better/quicker than Simple Green, they are my preferred methods of stripping.

[hmk17]

Super Clean is stronger than the generic Purple Power though, but a good bit more expensive. I use the generic stuff from Walmart, cuz $4 a gallon is cheap and lasts awhile.

Simple green also works very well too.

[Baxx]

I'm only used to aceton. Gets the job done in a hurry, but melts plastic. Never heard of green or purple.

[Southern Troll]

I personnally have been using Simple Green for years for a few reasons. It takes a day, but I work 24 hr shifts so this has never been a problem. The relative non-toxicity of the product is very nice since i have small children in the home. Yes, I seal the containers I am using, and have not had an iccident yet, but kids are very resourceful (ask anyone who has them). I have tried Purple Power/ Super Purple/ Purple plus/ etc. I find it to work exactly as described above, but if left too long will start to create pock marks, so to speak, in your plastic. I have never had that issue with Simple Green. The little bit of extra work with a tooth brush is worth it to me to get a clean, smooth model. Just my thoughts.

[mactac]

Does anyone know of anything that will eat Plastic Zap?
I bought some minis from my LGS that were put together with the stuff and it seems to live through everything.
They are the newer plastic battle groups, so I cant acetone them.

[PG_ICleadpeople]

@ Mactac. you can get a cheap super glue remover from most .99 cent stores. Not sure what it will do to plastic. you may just be SOL

[jdelrio22]

Question:

I have a plastic kit for Retribution that needs to be stripped. I left it in simple green and the green could not take off a black primer coat on the mini. It wasn't able to strip most of the paint either - I got it secondhand so I have no idea what primer was used.

[PG_ICleadpeople]

This what happens with a good primer vs. a game company primer. Most game company primers are not a true primers, more like dull paint. A true primer will bond to plastic. Not much you can do to get it off with out scraping or sanding.

[Murkhadh]

super clean brand, not purple power works best, takes a few hours and gets the paint out of the noooks and crannies best

[kc7sbp]

Question:

I have a plastic kit for Retribution that needs to be stripped. I left it in simple green and the green could not take off a black primer coat on the mini. It wasn't able to strip most of the paint either - I got it secondhand so I have no idea what primer was used.

I used to use various brands of your standard spray can of automotive primer and super clean took it off just like it does everything else. Just use it full strength, let the mini soak overnight, and the primer is either dissolved or sloughing off. Take an old toothbrush to it, let it dry, and you're good to go. Stripped a good number of my Retribution models this way. Only once or twice have I ever had to put it back in to soak another day, but that was mostly me being lazy and not wanting to take the time to scrub the model down, so I'd keep soaking it until I could get the paint off just by rubbing it under running water. I haven't ever noticed any "pitting" on plastics, even on one occasion where I let a mini soak in the stuff for 3 months (I set it aside to soak and completely forgot about it until I went to strip a different model 3 months later), but maybe I was just lucky.