This is a strange hobby. A couple of days ago I found myself wandering around in my flat, with a rubber glove on one hand, a toothbrush in the other and a faint whiff of antiseptic in the air. The reason for this behaviour? Stripping paint from miniatures, but we'll get onto that later...This week, gaming has been a bit slow, I managed to play a quick game of Blood Bowl with my daughter and she seemed to really enjoy it (I won, but she's only Six so it may not count). I was also impressed with how well the game played and I'm looking forward to a few more 'serious' games in the future. I also managed to get in my first game of 40k this very afternoon, which I really enjoyed. I was in charge of 2000pts of borrowed Imperial Guard against a mixed force of Chaos and Orks under the control of Matt and Kenny. Needless to say I lost, but I had fun and I'm already looking forward to my next game.
I've also added a couple more links to the terrain items I'm selling on ebay, you can find them on the right hand side of the page.
The best thing that happened this week was that I received a parcel through the post, a chap by the name of Chris got in touch a couple of weeks ago and said that he had some Cadian Infantry models that he was keen to get rid of and was happy to send them through to me for the cost of postage. I gratefully accepted and I now have 20 Cadians to act as the start of my Guard army! I'd just like to take the opportunity to say thanks to Chris for his generousity, cheers Chris!
Which brings me onto the subject of stripping miniatures...
Stripping Paint from Plastic Miniatures.
A lot of substances can be used to strip acrylic and enamel paint from miniatures, with varying degrees of success and various effects on the miniature. Generally the ones that work best are the strongest chemicals and are likely to have a negative effect on plastic models. Metal is pretty tough stuff, so a lot of substances can be used, this week I'll be looking at the best methods for stripping paint off plastic.
After a bit of research, the best advice I could find on the internet suggested two substances that would strip paint off plastic without damage; Car Brake Fluid and Dettol. Being a bit of a tree hugger, I thought I'd better go for the substance that I could pour down the sink without killing any Polar Bears. I chose the Dettol.
It's not a difficult concept so I won't make it any more complicated here. Take your painted (in my case, primed) miniature and stick it in a sealed jar with some undiluted Dettol.
After 24-48 hours, the paint is starting to come away...
Give it a bit of a scrub with a toothbrush and it's done! I'd recommend wearing gloves at this point, the Dettol won't do you too much harm, but the smell will stay on your skin for days, uck! It's worth giving your models a good scrub with soap and water as well, to get all traces of the Dettol off, this will make sure that any future paint will stick on.And there you go, one clean mini, with no damage, ready to be painted up!
I'd like to think this is a good Frugal tip, it can help you get the best out of any second hand minis you buy, or you could even give your existing figures a brand new paint job. Give it a go and let me now how you get on.
Happy gaming!
11 comments:
Never thought Dettol would be so good. I use Mister Mucsule Kitchen cleaner. 48 hours in that suff and plastic is stripped, though it is generally stained and not as clean as your dettol. Metal however can be stripped after a 6 hour soak, well worth it.
Surprised at the dettol too. For metal miniatures I use acetone. Put this in a metal or porcelain container and do this outside!
Yeah, I couldn't believe it myself. I've used all sorts on metal figures before with mixed results. Dettol is definitely my top choice now for both metal and plastic.
That's excellent mate, great results, thanks for sharing.
I'd recommend leaving them to soak in water for a couple of days after stipping, which should remove the pine oil and give a better surface for paintign on.
Beware of leaving plastics in the Dettol too long; they eventually melt!
Can I ask which type of Dettol people are using? They seem to have a whole load of different products. Are we talking the kitchen cleaner, or the antiseptic?
The antiseptic is the one.
I was told yesterday (and I even saw it myself) that Morrison's make their own version of Dettol, which is apparantly just as effective. It's only half the price though... very Frugal.
Thanks, I'll try the antiseptic out soon! :)
It works beautifully, although the mess took a while to clean up. I've also got severe prune fingers!
Did you let the miniatures dry up before you used the tootbrush?
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