Removing paint off minis

[kojibear]

Hi all

Could you tell me a good way to strip paint from and prepare a plastic mini for new painting?

Thanks in advance for the tips and help.

[Mike the Pike]

Can't beat 'Simple Green'. You can get it at Kahma too.
It's a tad expensive, but a little goes a long way. It is also a good general household cleaner and is reasonably eco-friendly too.
What type of paint are you trying to remove and how old is it?
Cheers
MTP

[kojibear]

Cheers Mike

Umm...I bought some cheap used galde guard off ebay so I actually don't know what paint they used. Will the simple green be effective for most paints and vinishes?

[Primarch]

Cheers Mike

Umm...I bought some cheap used galde guard off ebay so I actually don't know what paint they used. Will the simple green be effective for most paints and vinishes?

Plastic models are a pain to clean. Most "strong" paint removers will melt the plastic model as well. Simple Green is good, but it works better on metal minis. It will certainly clean up the plastic ones too, but they wont come out looking brand new. It also has different effects on different types of paint. On GW paints it usually removes most of the paint, on Tamiya, it strips it all right off. However it wont shift spray paint at all.

To use it:
Get a sealable box (like the kind you put food in when you put it in the fridge), Daiei has them for 100 yen.
Put the minis in the box and pour in the Simple Green.
Seal the lid.
Leave it for a day or two (at least), giving it a shake every now and again.
Put on rubber gloves as SG can irritate your skin.
Get an old toothbrush and scrub the models one at a time.
Rinse with warm water and scrub again.
Spend 3 hours cleaning your bathroom as the paint you scrubbed off has splashed everywhere.

Having something small and sharp like a pin will be helpful for digging the paint (carefully) out of the crevices in the model. a hobby knife and pair of tweezers will also help.

[AndrewGPaul]

My paint stripper of choice is Fairy Power Spray, but I doubt it's worthwhile importing it from the UK. There's probably a local equivalent; you can see the ingredients here.

I used to use glycerol-based brake fluid. It works, but it has a horrible sickly-sweet smell, and you probably can't just pour it down the drain when you're done (depending on what Japanese environmental regulations are like).

[The Other Dave]

I used to use glycerol-based brake fluid. It works, but it has a horrible sickly-sweet smell, and you probably can't just pour it down the drain when you're done (depending on what Japanese environmental regulations are like).

Yeah; one of the big selling points of Simple Green is that it's environmentally friendly. It really does work a treat, too.

[kojibear]

Thank you everyone!

I shall pick up some Simple Green tomorrow!