I don't think this'll be the most exciting post in the world, but it'll be short (so that's worth something (I hope)). At the start of this week I
pulled a bunch of old metal models out of a week long soak in acetone and discovered the ancient paint job wouldn't budge. I ended up tossing the lot in Biostrip-20 (these guys should just get over it and start sponsoring this blog ;) ). That is the environmentally friendly (but don't let that fool you) and extremely efficient goop that
safely strips paint of metal and plastic miniatures. This was the result of the acetone (warning re-used picture):
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| I don't know what paint was used on these models (I know some have very old (Coat d'Arms tub) GW paints). As you can see acetone did not make an impression on them. |
After a single evenings soak in Biostrip-20 I could just lightly take an old toothbrush to the same miniatures and these are my results.
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| I can't wait to get started on the Nightmare Legion. They will form a proud unit of Skeleton Warriors and return to the battlefields (albeit in the Mortal Realms) as soon as I've painted them. Still quite unsure whether I'll sell or paint the Undead Horesemen.... |
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| A plethora of High Elves.... |
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| Skarloc's Wood Elf Archers, the banner bearer is missing for now but has already been localized. I'm a bit worried I don't have the skill to do these guys justice. |
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| Two chariots, I wonder what insipid red paint managed to colorize a grey plastic wheel (and lucky escape these didn't fit in the acetone pots first time round).The dragon is missing a wing, no idea how I'm going to solve that problem... |
Now if painting was as easy as stripping unpainted armies would be a thing of the past :)
I've been using acetone for 25years now on metal models and I love it but every once in a while there are some paintjobs that resist it, many enamels do I've seen. In this case they go straight into Dettol. Acetone either works remarkably well or not at all I've found.
ReplyDeleteI was rather surprised by the utter lack of reaction to acetone (and briefly considered an exorcism as this paint obviously turned evil over the years). I have to admit disliking Dettol due to its general goopyness and stink, Biostrip has a slight fermenting garbage pit smell during use, but it disappears after washing (for some reason I always manage to puncture my gloves while working with Dettol (making it a good thing I never became a chemist ;) )).
DeleteYes, painting should be as easy as stripping... sadly not the case, as easily testified by the night goblin fanatics that have been on my painting desk for five plus years (kept good company by everything else on it)
ReplyDeleteAnyway loads of amazing miniatures in that pile, and hopefully you get to some of the most sexy figures soon!
Fairy power spray is hands down the best paint stripper for minis I have used and as a bonus it's water based.
ReplyDeleteI've heard about it before, maybe I'll get a bottle of it and have a 'scrub off' someday. I'll just have to acquire some fresh badly painted miniatures.
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