Stripping GW Primer

[NiallCampbell]

Morning folks,

As per the post on Stripping Plastics in the Articles section can anyone advise if UK Household Dettol type bleach works without harming the plastic miniature as an alternative to brake fluid?

Sadly my GW Skull White primer was reaching the end of it's use and rather than spraying the mini it sort of leaked out and clogged up the fine details of the model :S

Cheers,

Niall.

 

[cassar]

nail polish remover and elbow grease

 

[Einion]

Niall, if you already have Dettol then give it a shot, as you know it won't harm the plastic so you'll only have lost a bit of time if it doesn't work on the primer.

Mr. Muscle oven cleaner and Fairy's Power Spray are other options that are reliable and of course have an original use like with Dettol.

@cassar -

...the plastic miniature...

Einion

 

[Wicksy]

I can confirm that dettol works. I use the std orange dettol. There's a knack to using it. Soak your mini's for a day in the stuff. I use a jam jar. Then hoik eack out and have a small jar of dettol and a tooth brush on standby. Scrub the paint off rinsing both mini and tooth brush in dettol. Dont use water. The two are immiscible and you end up with a sticky mess. Scrub until no more comes off then just resoak and repeat. Once all the paint is off, wash in soapy water. I put mine in the dishwasher. The cutelry basket works well. I have stripped both GW black and Halfords white car primer so it'll wor on anything GW make.

 

[Da Sub]

If you want you can also use Simple Green Concentrated, soak overnight in raw Simple Green and scrub with a toothbrush. As it is a household cleaner all you have to do is rinse with water. If you want tips for stripping check the following articles listed in the From the Warp Tutorial archive:
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2009/03/stripping-metal-minis.html
http://templarvanquish.blogspot.com/2009/03/stripping-paint-facts-and-fiction.html
http://thelamentofbavematha.blogspot.com/2009/07/striping-models-with-pvc-cleaner.html
http://www.imperiusdominatus.com/2009/07/patin-stripping-models.html

I'm also nearly finished an article on paint stripping, with wet chem tests for all the stripping agents I could get my hands on. I should be able to get time to take the photos for next week.

 

[DarkSideGames]

I have never had a problem using Dot 4 brake fluid on plastic or metal...just NEVER USE IT ON RESIN!
Nail polish remover and a lot of time with a toothbrush and a tooth pick will work.

Da Sub's links are great- Bang and the paint is gone!

 

[freakinacage]

i can confirm that dettol works but it does knacker greenstuff. i ruined a sculpt that i did for gduk this way earlier today. paint had gone grainy so decided to start again. been working on him for 2yrs on and off, what a waste

 

[Da Sub]

That is one thing that you need to be careful with Simple Green and Greenstuff, some mix ratios and brands of Sculpting Epoxy are eaten or broken down by Simple Green. If in doubt test first as usual.
I have yet to see it eat Milliput however.

 

[Einion]

@freakinacage - ouch! My condolences.

Einion

 

[freakinacage]

indeed

@da sub, yeah the tiny bit of milliput was fine....

 

[freakinacage]

oh and thanks einion, nearly cried!!

 

[NiallCampbell]

Guys many thanks for the advice, I'll get this mini sripped down!

 

[NiallCampbell]

Hi folks,

Thanks for all the advice, I now have a nice and clean GW plastic miniature! I used Dot4 in the end, left it for approx 24 hours and the primer came off np.

I'm now going through all my old badly painted minis and soaking them to start my new chapter!

Btw, once I've used a batch of Dot4 can it be re-used to take off paint or does it lose some of it's potency? I imagine I can use a cup of it 2 or 3 times before I have to change it out for new stuff? Presumably it'll just take a little bit longer each time to work.

Also slightly off topic but I notice a lot of online tuts display techniques using a near fully assembled mini, what are your thoughts on this? I tend to try and paint each piece individually then glue together as I find detail work gets harder the more assembly is done before hand.

Cheers.

 

[Einion]

Btw, once I've used a batch of Dot4 can it be re-used to take off paint or does it lose some of it's potency?

I think you're good for a number of uses at least, but keep it tightly covered as it'll absorb water from the air given the chance (and other ingredients are volatile and will evaporate).

The main active ingredient(s) in brake fluid in terms of its stripping power is hard to determine from the breakdown but if it has basically a solvent action it could last nearly indefinitely, most of the paint or primer settles out into a sludge on the bottom and there's not much left in solution.

Also slightly off topic...

Hey, it's your thread, hijack away!

...but I notice a lot of online tuts display techniques using a near fully assembled mini, what are your thoughts on this? I tend to try and paint each piece individually then glue together as I find detail work gets harder the more assembly is done before hand.

I think for most people this is a case-by-case thing. I like to paint in subassemblies nearly always, unless I foresee some problem gluing together at the end.

A simple figure, particularly in a pose where it could have been cast in a single piece, is pretty easy to paint after assembly. But sometimes the limbs, weapons etc. restrict access to the main body or even inside surfaces on the limb or weapon (and this can be major restriction in some cases, not just a slight hindrance). Not only can you not get a brush to anything you can see - despite the phrase that says otherwise - sometimes you really do want to get a brush to something at a particular angle to be able to paint it right, which is of course impossible if it's behind a shield for example.

Einion

 

[nels0nmac]

Also slightly off topic but I notice a lot of online tuts display techniques using a near fully assembled mini, what are your thoughts on this? I tend to try and paint each piece individually then glue together as I find detail work gets harder the more assembly is done before hand.

Cheers.

As Einion states it is really up to the individual and the mini in question. My take on it is that I stick together as much as possible providing that it does not create areas which would be hard/impossible to paint when assembled. For example with a GW marine holding a bolter 2 handed across his chest I would assemble the whole lot but leave off the bolter - hides the chest - and the backpack - nigh on impossible to paint between it and the marines back.

 

[Avelorn]

@freakinacage: What mini? we could make a RIP page.

 

[matt15595]

Back to the topic a second.... do other oven cleaners work just as well? Like have any of you had first hand experience with 'Oven Pride!' oven cleaner (the one that you put it in a huge bag thing with a real cheesy advert).

Thanks for the help!

 

[Einion]

Back to the topic a second.... do other oven cleaners work just as well? !

Check on the label, see if it mentions the active ingredient(s). If it's based on caustic soda like the original Mr. Muscle then it's almost sure to work.

Even without that, one really easy way to find out if something strips paint...

Einion

 

[matt15595]

Thanks. I just checked and im not sure if it would work because its based on Sodium Hydroxide and it might destroy the plastic lol. Well I have checked prices online and Mr Muscle only costs something around 3 pounds or less.

One more question, how long should I leave the Mr Muscle on for.. because I have heard various different opinions/ideas on this matter?

Thanks once again!

 

[matt15595]

Being the complete idiot that I am, I have just realised that caustic soda IS sodium hydroxide! But still... I might buy Mr Muscle anyways... just to be on the safe side.