Simple Green for Paint Stripping?

[eagleboy7259]

Hey all, I've had some unfortunate luck with paint flaking off of unprimed mini's lately. However now that school's out I want to give them another go and I need a way to strip paint off some plastic minis and even some metal ones that won't melt my bases and my minis. My buddy and I were talking before break and he said that he had some luck cleaning up minis for resale using a Simple Green mixture. I haven't tried this before and I was wondering if anyone had some advice?

I have used Mineral Spirits and Break Fluid to strip minis before. Mineral Spirits is a household paint remover however I found it to be too weak to actually do anything to my minis even after being fully submerged in it for an entire day and night. Break Fluid is... melty marines. I am also open to using these if people have an idea of how to do it correctly as I obviously failed before and would need some input.

Thanks

[sangrail777]

I've used simple green on plastic and metal models to strip paint. I don't mix it with water at all. just let the models soak over night, then i took an electric tooth brush to'em and the paint came right off. some of these models had paint on them for at least ten years. I did not have any problems with melting our warping at all to the models. I've been using simple green for several years now with no complaints. it's reusable and one bottle can go along way.

[Snyderson]

Does anybody know if there's an equivalent to simple green available in Germany?

Greetz,
Sny

[FastEd]

I've had nothing but good results with Simple Green, both on metal and plastic.

I would, however, suggest priming your models as that's more then likely what's causing the paint to flake.

Snyderson, I know there is an equivalent that can be found through most of Europe, though I can't quite remember the name. That said it seems that Sangrail777 is in Germany, and he uses simple green so I suspect yes, or at the very least he may be able to clue us in on something similar if not the same and just re-branded.

[phoenix01]

I find that Simple Green works better on metal minis than on plastic and better on GW primer primed minis than on minis primed with other primers. It's still better than anything else out there. Make sure you get the undiluted (dark green) Simple Green from a hardware store rather than the stuff they sell in grocery stores that is pre-diluted (pale green).

[Atrocity]

I just recently tried Simple Green to strip models for the first time and it worked great! I suggest soaking for 24 hours, run it under some water and taking a toothbrush to it, and (not always necessary) doing a second 24 hour soak.

It will work better with certain paints types. Don't dilute it. Also your mileage may vary as my only experience has been with metal models.

Lastly, I'd suggest looking at CostCo or Sam's Club as I went to Lowe's and got a bottle for what I could have gotten a bottle and a gallon of the stuff for the same price at Sam's. It is cleaner after all and won't go to waste.

[joescalise]

Hey all, I've had some unfortunate luck with paint flaking off of unprimed mini's lately. However now that school's out I want to give them another go and I need a way to strip paint off some plastic minis and even some metal ones that won't melt my bases and my minis. My buddy and I were talking before break and he said that he had some luck cleaning up minis for resale using a Simple Green mixture. I haven't tried this before and I was wondering if anyone had some advice?

I have used Mineral Spirits and Break Fluid to strip minis before. Mineral Spirits is a household paint remover however I found it to be too weak to actually do anything to my minis even after being fully submerged in it for an entire day and night. Break Fluid is... melty marines. I am also open to using these if people have an idea of how to do it correctly as I obviously failed before and would need some input.

Thanks

That stuff is great, works wonders. I bought some Sternguard from ebay and the guy said he used a water based paint, he did not. I tried paint thinner and everything else to no effect. I tried green stuff, soaked them for about two hours, ran them under some hot water and they were like new.

[Mr. Black]

I actually just had an issue with my primer that caused me to have to strip some 100+ Tyranids.

It's on my blog if you care to see the stuff in action:

http://mrblackwarhammer.blogspot.com/2010/05/stripping-minis.html

On that note, I use Purple Power, the Wal-Mart equivalent of Simple Green.

[eagleboy7259]

Yeah I saw that pop up on the blog roll this morning, almost made me want to smack my head for opening up a thread about it. I do have one question though, I have some small amounts of green stuff worked into my minis, a horror who lost an arm and the normal gaps between small parts of plastic minis and metals guys and their bases. Will that be okay in the simple green?

[Mobynick]

Just don't use it on Forgeworld resin models it softens the resin.

[Mr. Black]

The Purple Power/Simple Green will unfortunately (usually) destroy most greenstuff bits. Or at least loosen it to the point of doing such.

[eagleboy7259]

Well I guess I should make the best of the situation, Bloodhounds look better on circle bases anyway and I don't feel like refilling the empty spaces in their cavalry bases. So will I be getting my guys back in pieces or does GW regular and their metal glue hold together good? Also, if this works out I might look at re-painted some of my old armies, what does that do to flock and sand?

[Mr. Black]

It will destroy some glue bonds. GW glue tends to actually fuse the pieces together so it will probably hold. Flock, sand and a like will more than likely fall off.

[eagleboy7259]

Last quick question before I head out to the store monday, do you know if the large oval base, the one used on the Valkerie flying stand, will fit a Soul Grinder?

[Mr. Black]

They will not.

[NamelessKilljoy]

Does anybody know if there's an equivalent to simple green available in Germany?

Greetz,
Sny

If nobody has responded yet, I heard that flash is just imported simple green