"My magical Testors enamel paint stripper" Topic

YMMV ;-)

I'm starting a project to refurbish my nearly 50 year old 1/35 miniature collection. (Poorly painted & assembled.) The other night I decided to try an experiment in paint stripping. I put a test figure in a film canister with a mix of

(half & half) 70% isopropyl alcohol : vinegar (5% acidity)

After a night of soaking, the old Testors enamel scrapes easily off with a dull hobby knife blade (brushing it off should work too, if I can find a stiff bristle brush. Be sure to do your cleaning with your soaking solution, not separate soap & water, as that combination can bond the paint to the mini(!)
This is paint that wouldn't come off in other 'popular' strippers, and I hesitated to use mineral spirits & such because it would damage the plastic (as happened in earlier experiments.)

Needless to say, I am pleasantly surprised with the results. ;-)

I now have a batch of paint-abused DAK soaking (the 8th Army have sky blue uniforms and will have to wait their turn. ;-)

I would recommend for those that soak lead minis to, after you clean them, soak them in a saturated solution of water and baking soda to neutralize any acidity (the cause of the dreaded 'lead rot'.)

My next project is to discover something (easy) that will loosen or dissolve that old Testors model glue. Wish me luck… ;-)

Thanks for the great tips!

For a "stiff bristle brush" try an old toothbrush. That's what I use to clean metal minis after a long soak in Simple Green.

Jim

I wouldn't have guessed that formula would take off enamel. That's good to know. Thanks for posting it.

- Ix

I didn't know if it would work either (hence the experiment.) A chemist I am not… ;-)

I've found that if you keep the mini wet while scraping, the paint stays rubbery. If it dries, it flakes off (with some slight effort), but a dip back into the soak softens it up again. I think I'll trim an old credit card into a scraper (less likely to scratch the mini than a metal blade will.)

As an aside, I tried a bleach/vinegar combo, but it didn't do anything (except smell… :-p)

Mixing bleach and vinegar makes chlorine gas. I would imagine it smelled!

You are thinking of bleach and ammonia (definitely a no-no!)