Old Tarnished Lead Minis

[thenightgaunt]

Hi there.
I just got my hands on a bunch of the old Grenadier "AD&D Gold Line" mini boxes. Most of these babies are older than I am and in most cases they look shiny and new, or at least fairly new. However a few are rather dark and look somewhat tarnished or like a darkish patina has formed over them. I'm worried about putting a primer on those ones incase the crud blurs some detail.

So the question is, does anyone have a way to clean up old lead minis to prep them for painting?

Not filing away the mold lines and etc, but actually cleaning the metal in preparation. If possible I'm looking for something along the lines of the "dip a penny in coke to make it shiny again" trick. Thanks.

 

[noneedforaname]

to be honest your probably not far off, when I did the garden in the house i used to live in, in bolton i found lots (bloody hundreds) of old coins and pewter spoons all of which where cleaned up in a mix of coke and vinegar, anything stubborn was polished off with brown sauce. So unleash the power of your condiments. I am however not a chemist.

 

[Donga]

You could just leave them in coke over night! It wouldn't hurt.

I've painted straight over tarnished old minis to no ill effect. You can give them a polish with a suede brush/soft wire brush, I tend to do that anyway. The primer seams to stck better.

 

[Einion]

Definitely a good idea to clean off the oxidation from the surface prior to priming.

I also tend to use a wire brush for this but if you want to try doing it chemically then ketchup is worth a shot. Warming the figures in hot water (or heating the ketchup) will help it work better if it works.

Then wash off under a running tap with a light scrubbing from an old toothbrush and you should be good to go.

Einion

 

[thenightgaunt]

Cool, thanks for the ideas. I'll give em a shot and see how it goes. Can't hurt with a few of them (1 or 2 are pretty bad off).

 

[Einion]

I just remembered, if these are old castings they may be lead alloys. In which case it might not be advisable to clean them with vinegar or anything containing vinegar, like ketchup or brown sauce, because it could lead to "lead rot".

If you don't have access to any mild acids other than vinegar you might try a hot solution of salt and baking soda instead.

Einion

 

[airhead]

A dark patina is generally not a problem. A white powder looking surface is a problem.

The patina generally protects the metal below from oxidation. I've got some very old minis that are dark - but fine. (as well as some lead sinker that I use fishing..)

The white powder looking stuff is lead rot and will work its way deeper and deeper into the metal. Chunk it and watch any metals that were nearby.