| Winston Smith | 14 Oct 2015 9:33 a.m. PST |
I took down a tray of 15mm Cossacks to do some touch up. To my horror, they were swimming in a quarter inch of brownish water.
Only about 20 stands of Flames of War Cossacks….
I checked all the pipes around it, no leak.
I did use brown Testor's enamel for groundwork.
I have no idea where the water or liquid (Pepsi?) came from. No smell at all. First thing I did was to wash them off under hot water. Naturally a few figures came loose.
My next worry was that there may be some, ahem, organic origin.
Knowing that it can't strip paint at all, I poured 91% isopropyl alcohol over them, since it's a cheap antiseptic.
So now, they are sitting in a tray, wet with rubbing alcohol. Any suggestions?
I am thinking of one more ablution with alcohol, rinsing off, and setting to dry on an upside down tray to let the alcohol evaporate.
Naturally all the terraining ran off.
I'll probably have to pop them all off their stands and re-glue everything. |
| tberry7403 | 14 Oct 2015 9:58 a.m. PST |
Where are you storing them that they would come in contact with "organic" fluids? |
 John the OFM  | 14 Oct 2015 10:14 a.m. PST |
Under pipes. Normal hot water, though. Pipes are bone dry though.
It's a mystery, but I still have to clean them.
Nothing else got any water in them. |
 The Virtual Armchair General  | 14 Oct 2015 10:47 a.m. PST |
Rats' Piss? (The Beer of Champions!) TVAG |
| vtsaogames | 14 Oct 2015 10:56 a.m. PST |
Perhaps the HMS Incontinent sailed through? |
| Bashytubits | 14 Oct 2015 11:15 a.m. PST |
If there is a sink or counter over them maybe there was a spill and it seeped under the lip. If you are worried about bacteria or mold get a spray bottle and add some water with some bleach. Spritz them and it will kill ANYTHING that might be habitating on your Cossacks. 1 cup (240 mL) to 1 gallon of water is the proper ratio. |
| Sysiphus | 14 Oct 2015 11:19 a.m. PST |
Do your pipes "sweat" in the summer? If they do, condensation might drip into the tray. |
| dBerczerk | 14 Oct 2015 11:21 a.m. PST |
Sounds like them Cossacks got into the vodka again. |
| Timbo W | 14 Oct 2015 2:49 p.m. PST |
Try tying rags or tissue around the pipes to see if they get wet at some unusual time, otherwise blame the cat…. |
 Editor in Chief Bill   | 14 Oct 2015 3:25 p.m. PST |
Punch holes in the tray for the future?  |
| rmaker | 14 Oct 2015 4:05 p.m. PST |
Ogdenlulimus probably has the answer. I know how damp my basement gets in the summer, and having cold water running through pipes that are surrounded by warm, humid air definitely leads to condensation. |
| Winston Smith | 14 Oct 2015 6:44 p.m. PST |
It could. That makes sense.
There's a few copper pipes running right over them. And it does get humid in my basement. |
| Winston Smith | 15 Oct 2015 5:02 a.m. PST |
Punch holes in the tray for the future?
Great! Then it will leak to the drawer below!  |
| Winston Smith | 15 Oct 2015 1:01 p.m. PST |
Update.
First thing I did was to rinse the whole base off in hot water. About 5% of the figures popped off the base.
I put them in one of those tray drawers and poured 91% rubbing alcohol over them.
Next day I again rinsed them off under hot water. Figure pop-off is now 15%.
They are almost all dry.
I am obviously going to have to pop everything off the bases and scrape goo and gunk off the bases before I glue the Cossacks back on them. Heck. It's not as if I had other things going. |
| TamsinP | 16 Oct 2015 4:23 a.m. PST |
OFM/Winston – you remember that time when Smokey visited and went missing for an hour or so after several tinnies? Well… |
