Paint Stripping

[Steve Jones]

Hi everyone

I am looking for advice on how to strip down some of my old models and repaint them please. What would be the best process bearing in mind they will have a layer of acrylic primer, acrylics, matt varnish, oils and then pigments??. Also how about just stripping off the pigment and oil layers back to the matt varnish and then repainting on the acrylics? Many thanks in advance

[PaulTRose]

Plastic Tupperware type box full of brake fluid will take it all off in 24 hours or so....wash well with water to neutraluse...use old tooth brush to scrub difficult bits....remember safety

[Steve Jones]

Will do. Many thanks

[simontie]

Detol will do the same in the same way

[KarlW]

Buy new kits......stripping paint is a chore, you never get it all off, and damage stuff in the process.

(Methylated spirits in a sonic bath, be aware it can combust.)

[JR]

VMS have a Paint remover out mate. Why do you want to strip them ?

[Guest]

I used to strip old wargames figures with oven cleaner, the foamy kind from an aerosol can (others may or may not work): put the stuff in a plastic tub with a lid, put the figures in, more oven cleaner over them, then put the lid on and wait for an hour or two before scrubbing them with an old toothbrush under running water. That worked well enough but was quite a chore, and not something I would want to do with much more delicate models than those intended for wargaming.

Dettol is also said to be a very good paint stripper, but you apparently need the old-fashioned kind that smells of hospital corridors, not the more modern ones that they also sell but which appear to have a very different formula. I bought a bottle of the latter once, because it was the only kind the local supermarket had, and found it didn’t do anything at all to the paint on the figures I used as a test.

[Neil Merryweather]

If you use Dettol be sure to remove it with neat washing up liquid first NOT water . Then use water with detergent. Otherwise you'll just have a sticky mess . Trust me....