Hello all
I have tried all of the following to clean the paint form plastic miniatures:
Brake fluid
simple green
acetone / superglue solvent
pinesol
isoprpyl rubbing alcohol 91% ( not the regular rubbing alcohol )
mineral spirits
fingernail polish remover
an ultrasonic bath/cleaner
I have to say that I was disappointed by all off the above and had given up for awhile on any miniature gamming.
That is until I went into a local hobbyshop that specialised in model railroads/cars and airplanes.
In there I found a wonderful "Plastic safe model paint stripper" made by a company named Chameleon ( www.chameleonproductsonline.com ).
I put a couple of gamesworkshop 40k space ork gretchin miniatures in an empty plastic prescription pill bottle and covered them up with this stuff and let it set for about 4 hours. I then took them out and used a regular soft toothbrush and was able to strip the paint from them as good as any of the above products ( except for the supper glue solvent which ruins figures ) . There was a little residue in some of the cracks but a second bath overnight and scrubbing made them come out pristine clean.
In my eagerness to try to get as many miniatures done as quickly as possible I then went and bought the large 16 oz ( 470 ml ) size and poured it into the ultrasonic cleaner instead of water. I then placed 15 wahammer 40K ork goffs figures in the solution and kept reactivating the cleam cycle until the solution had become not quite hot but more then luke warm . Once this was done I was able to start brushing them off and was able to clean most of the 15 to pristine in the first time through . a second time through for the others had them cleaned to pristine as well.
As a side note, there is one thing to consider. You may have the best cleaner but one of the limiting factors in how clean you can get you miniatures depends a lot on the brush you are using. You will need to find a brush that has bristles whose individual thickness is small enough to get into all the crooks and crevaces or you wont be able to get all of the details cleaned.It will also need to be the right blend of stiffness to force out the paint while have enough give to flow along the miniature.
I also last night used the ultrasonic cleaner/chameleon bath on 15 gretchin models. While cleaning them I would start on the back and by the time I got to the front I could just pull the entire paint job off in one piece !!! ( it was coming off in such large peices that at the end I had to gather them up and flush them down the toilet because they have covered up the gap between the push up sink plunger and the sink drain LOL )
For the chamelon "liquid" it was $10.00 us for a 8oz ( 240 ml ) bottle and $20.00 for a 16 oz ( 470ml ) bottle. I have recyled the cleaning solution ( only topping off due to loss ) at least 3 times for the large bottle in the ultrasonic cleaner and 6 times for the small bottle in the pill bottle .
Sorry to have taken so long with the post but I need to explain the BEST way I have found to clean paint from plastic models. This way is a little more expensive then the others but well worth it. I have gone from quiting the hoby to now looking for cheap auctions on ebay knowing that I can repaint any miniature now
Oh by the way the label says "Non-Caustic, Water soluble, Biodegradable and RE-USEABLE! "
I realise that this is an american product but you may be able to find out what it is made from and see if their is a more local manufacturer if you cant get you local shop to order it in for you.
