"Stripping Paint off GW Plastics" Topic

Okay I know this question has been asked, like a ,thousand times, but I'm curious to know whether anyone can suggest something for stripping (badly) painted (and glued) 40K plastics? The paint some the figures is both uneven and quite thick. Last time I tried it was Epic-scale plastic Rhino's in Detol, which worked but did soften the plastic and I'd really like try and avoid damage to surface detail. I'm willing to accept they may be write-off as they didn't really cost me anything (a relative picked them up in a charity shop on the off-chance I was interested – they've been in cupboard for last 3 plus years)!

If you have it across the pond, I recommend Superclean (it's in a purple container, but it's not the "Purple Power.")

Will take off paint, break glue bonds and NOT harm/soften plastic at all.

Simple green is the best thing for plastics.

I use purple power, available at auto parts stores and walmart. Soak overnight and scrub with a toothbrush.
I have used it on plastics with no issue whatsoever.
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Simple Green. And let them soak for a good while, not another 3 years, :), but a few days to a week or so.

I have use this.

As Evil above has stated it does nothing to the plastic.

The OP is UK based so does anyone in the UK know of something better than Dettol?

I have used Dettol in the past on plastic figures with varying results depending on the type of paint. Car bodywork sprays seem to give a problem, might they be cellulose rather than acrylic or enamel?

I've also used Nitromors quite successfully.

Has anyone tried a product like this stuff?

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Dettol works for me… and I wouldn't use Nitromors on anything but metal… or your plastic mini will become plastic soup :)

easy-off oven cleaner.

Apologies, forgot to mention I was in the UK, so nothing banned in the EU…

@Jim, car paint is cellulose-based and I've had trouble getting it off metal miniatures. Generally I agree with Insomniac, but Nitromors was reformulated a few years ago and one of the principle solvents taken out. IIRC it was one of the dichloro's which is the culprit for turning plastic into soup (its used in liquid plastic cements). I have used the new formulation to strip some micro-tanks which had ancient plastic card, of unknown provinence, bases and side-skirts – it didn't seem to turn the plastic card into soup, but it did make it go very soft with some evidence of dissolution when left for days at a time! Don't know what the effect would be on harder plastics.

Anyone lived on both side of the pond able to comment on equivalecy of cleaning products? Or do they have ingredients lists on the bottles? I have seen simple green for sale on a UK website once, but they wanted £30.00 GBP for pot or some such.

Anyone in the UK tried oven cleaners? I do know some formulations contain some fairly nasty acids and degrassing agents, which probably would take paint off! But I have no idea what they would do to plastic.

simplegreen.co.uk

Hope this helps, seems a bit pricey, but it does have a ingredients list I believe. It's the all purpose cleaner I use undiluted.
Good luck to you…

Simple green is soap derived from pine oil I believe. Should be plenty of cheap options available in the UK.

If possible/legal find a cleaner near you that has 2-butoxethanol. It was the active ingredient in Simple green until they changed the formula a few years ago. It's still In Purple Power (my favorite, stripped 100's of figs with it) and Super Clean, both of which work well and are safe for plastics.

My guide for stripping miniatures with Dettol hope it helps.

Take care

Andy