"Stripping, not the pole kind" Topic

I know it's been asked before, I think I even did once, but Hell I can't even remember what I had for breakfast so there's no hope there. Here goes, what is the best to strip paint off 15 mm figures and still keep the sculpted details? Don't ask me whether it was acrylics or enamels, I can't remember, but I hadn't worked on these figs for quite some time so I'm guessing back when I used them both, so probably a little of both.

i used pine sol. it seems to work great on metal.

Yup, pine sol. Let em have a good soak. I left mine for two days (sealed tight) and they came 90% clean under running water. A toothpick and old toothbrush took care of the rest.

We seem to be of one mind.

Pine-Sol for metals. But "Simple Green" for plastics.
The smell of either should be avoided.

For glossy enamels, try

TMP link

(50:50 isopropyl alcohol/vinegar)
Be sure to read my warning about lead minis… ;-)

Purple Power is your friend. Super cheap at Walmart and it works a charm for metals or plastics.

link

for metals only nothing beats lacquer thinner

Metal miniatures, right?

I've used both Pinesol and Simple Green (not at the same time), and both have worked well on acrylic paint. I would usually let them soak overnight, but I did leave some for weeks, and they came out OK.

It may not get every little bit of paint off, so you may have to use dental tool or something.

That being said, it's worth reading about lead rot (including elsewhere on TMP).

I haven't tried to strip paint off any kind of plastic miniatures.

If you use Pine Sol, please use gloves when cleaning the figures. I did not do that a number of years ago and had it strip the outer layer(s) of skin from my hands.

I've switched to Simple Green for metal figures, leaving them to soak for several days to a week. That, coupled with scrubbing with a used toothbrush, gets almost all of the paint off the figure.

Jim

I still use Pinesol, but I find it doesn't work as well as it used to since they changed the "original" scent and, from what I understand, the strength of the product. I'll give the Purple Power a try.

Simple Green did nothing for me but LA's Totally Aweaome (from the dollar store) has worked well on both plastic andmetal minis.

Anybody using a sonic cleaner?

Db

Sound advice from Col. Campbell about gloves!

Well, since I didn't have Pine Sol and not enough Simple Green, I used Purple Power. Wow, why doesn't it clean my white fence as well? of course, I can't soak my fence for 24 hours.