53 replies to this topic

[Joe Kutz]

Castrol Super Clean will remove very old oils and enamels (I have used it to strip 28 year old enamels off Grenadier minis from way back when). It doesn't seem to harm the metal at all. Super Clean has moved into my go to position for stripping both metal and plastic minis since it handles all the paints I have come across as well as being safe on the plastics. Toss it in and wait overnight - rinse and enjoy. Very rarely you might need to use a tooth brush in order to get into deep crevices.

[rgtriplec]

I just stripped 70 Warlord minis and 15 big Cavs that had auto primer, paint and 2 coats of Testors gloss and 3 coats of Testors Dullcote.

I used a product I got for $4 a pint at Big Lots. It was called BIX Natures Own Paint Remover. It looks like a lavender pudding. I'd dip the mini about 1/3 into the pudding, and then set them on a cardboard boxtop. I'd leave them to set overnight. You can tell when the remover is ready to remove, because it turns grey but will still be slightly wet. I'd run them under water and toothbrush the hard to get areas. I did all eighty in a combined time of maybe 2 hours actual work i.e. dipping, washing, scrubbing.

It works on water and oil based paint, enamels, laquer, varnish and polyurethane. It will strip metal, plastic, wood, glass and veneer. I know it works on metal and plastic.

Very easy to use, and apparrently its somewhat better for the eco system than other paint strippers. Great product. I saw it in pint, quart and gallon sizes.

[Pyreos]

I must say I'm fairly dissapointed with how ineffective rubbing alcohol is as a stripping agent. I let a pewter mini soak for a couple days, and it got MOST of the paint off, but there were a number of stubborn spots. That was Reaper Acryllic. Next I tried soaking some plastic minis with nothing but a rough car primer on them, and after about 3 days, it still hasn't loosened it up in the least.

[Marla Al Vutha]

I know it has been a while since anyone has posted to this thread but I wanted to share my stripping agaent as I did not see it on the list, altho I am not familiar with Simple Green.

I use Xtra Strength Oven Cleaner, preferrably lemon or unscented.

I spray the mini, let it foam and leave it to set about 30ish min.

A hard spray of water (hose or sink) takes 90% of the paint off. A Good scrub with a tooth brush removes the rest.

Rarely had I ever had to soak the item with the oven cleaner more than once.

This works wonderfully well on my metal minis, ceramics, and plastic model horses. The oven cleaner cuts through acrylic, matte/gloss finishing spray, oil paints, pastels, and primer.

After I strip my mini I prefer to give them a good scrub with baking soda (mixed with just enough water to form a paste) and a clean (ok cleaner than the one I used with oven cleaner) toothbrush. This just makes me feel a little better in my mind that the mini is thoughly clean before I primer it again.

I hope this helps someone!
Brightest of Blessings!

[tinkerbell]

ok rubbing alcohol works but you have to rub hard and takes a long time and strips your nails but gets the job done

[oppy]

Does anyone have any experience stripping pre-painted "HeroClix" figures?

I don't know anything about them, however a friend of mine was complaining earlier tonight that he's tried to strip them, and has found it nearly impossible to get the paint to come off without taking some of the plastic figurine with it!

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[tallyrand]

Does anyone have any experience stripping pre-painted "HeroClix" figures?

I don't know anything about them, however a friend of mine was complaining earlier tonight that he's tried to strip them, and has found it nearly impossible to get the paint to come off without taking some of the plastic figurine with it!

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Let me second this request, for the life of me I have yet to successfully strip Heroclix, or other WizClix, D&D Minis or Dreamblade Minis without damaging the mini itself, and beintg the cheap bastard that I am, I want to use these as a resource for minis, but I have to repaint them to get them to any kind of acceptable standard. The paint seems so thick on these at times, that simply priming over them is a poor option.

[Nathaniel]

Does anyone have any experience stripping pre-painted "HeroClix" figures?

I don't know anything about them, however a friend of mine was complaining earlier tonight that he's tried to strip them, and has found it nearly impossible to get the paint to come off without taking some of the plastic figurine with it!

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Let me second this request, for the life of me I have yet to successfully strip Heroclix, or other WizClix, D&D Minis or Dreamblade Minis without damaging the mini itself, and beintg the cheap bastard that I am, I want to use these as a resource for minis, but I have to repaint them to get them to any kind of acceptable standard. The paint seems so thick on these at times, that simply priming over them is a poor option.

I've heard about and seen pictures of people using Goof-off to strip the miniature. I've also seen people post and say that Goof-off did nothing. Perhaps there are differing Goof-off formulas? Perhaps they vary by country for environmental law reasons? Or perhaps different prepainted miniatures use different paints? It's worth a shot.

[joshuaslater]

Simple Green is still my all time favorite, but get the brand name. The knockoffs don't cut through the paint in the same time. I've got some soaking and even after about a week, they will take some effort to get stripped.

[scubamatt]

For those of you who have tried rubbing alcohol on HeroClix figs, perhaps you should try 'denatured alcohol' instead. I work in a place that does printing, and that's what they use to remove inks, screen print color, and some acrylic paints. It *instantly* destroys any sort of common ink printing, so be careful where you spill it. It has no effect on the various plastic substrates we print on, so I doubt it will hurt a HeroClix (etc) type figurine.

Come to think of it, I have tons of 'junk' plastic D&D minis in a box. I'll take one to work tomorrow and see what happens if I give it a swim in various chemicals. We have all kinds of stuff, maybe something will strip the paint off without eating the mini. If not, I'll at least have the satisfaction of watching the little skavens melt.

I shall test this and report tomorrow.

[scubamatt]

Well the denatured alcohol didn't have as much effect as I hoped. It very definitely removed some of the paint within a minute or so, but not much after that.

Upon close examination of the fig that I cleaned with the DA, I see that where the 'hard finish' was scratched, the paint came away very easily. But the rest of the mini has some sort of hard sheen to it, and the DA did not have any effect on it in the short term. I did not soak them very long however, just a dip and swish for about 10 seconds the first time, then about 1 minute the second time. I left one in a cup full of DA to soak over night and will check it in the morning.

Everything else I tried (Head Cleaner, MKT, Acetone, etc) was fatal to the plastic minis in one fashion or another. I did try some of our industrial orange cleaner in a cup and left the fig to soak over night next to the other one.

[morganm]

I tried brake fluid because I had plenty laying around. Even after days of soaking then hours of scrubbing it barely removed half of the paint and primer.

Bought some Citristrip gel and after only 2 hours of soaking in that stuff the paint just wipes off! AMAZING!

This was on metal minis only.

[Eric]

Will Citristrip damage older lead minis? Guy at Home Depot didn't seem to think so, but I figure I better ask for a second opinion before I start soaking.

Thanks.

[Loim]

Just a heads up for anyone interested. I know some of you use super clean for stripping minis. Every Wal-Mart around here has Super Clean on clearance right now, so it's likely on clearance at all the stores. Might be worth checking if you use it.

[Krolik1519]

I'm glad this board has so many good ideas for stripping. I got a metal mini from a co-worker that was dipped in some matte black paint, I'm going to start with some oven off since it's what I have at home... if that doesn't work I'll buy some Simple Green.