I thought I'd pass on a leassons learned tip on removing paint from figures.
I made the mistake of trying to undercoat minis with Armory black spray paint on a humid morning --> bad juju. The figures were a mix of SST metals and plastics and as well as 10 Warriors. They were coasted with powdery, non-drying paint that gave them a very rough and thickened coat, obscuring details.
After getting over the initial shock, I did some research and decided to try the Simple Green product recommended on the following link.
http://michael.casavant.us/Paint/strip.htm
Good news: Soaking for 24 hours allowed all the bad paint to peel right off the metal figures under warm water from a faucet. Vigorous scrubbing with an old toothbrush worked to get all the stubborn patches loosened.
Bad news: Plastic minis require at least 48 more hours. Even then, only the rough patches and upper surfaces could be removed. I got about half the warriors/SSTs relatively cleaned up although they still have black in deep crevasses. WARNING: The paint is very stubborn and scrubbing causes dislodging of glued bits.
As an experiment, I currently have the remaining plastics soaking for 96 hours in order to try and get the paint off completely. The good news is no melting or softening of the plastic has been noted. I'll update later today when I check on them. If they are not cleanable, I'll probably go to a 50/50 mix of water and Pine-Sol for a shorter period of time.
UPDATE: The 96-hour soak did not increase the paint-removal that much. Paint remains in the creases, but there are no clumps or thick paint remaining. It did not damage the plastic in any way, although some gap-filling putty had been attacked and will have to be reapplied. I am letting them dry to assess whether they are smooth enough.
Narlotep
I made the mistake of trying to undercoat minis with Armory black spray paint on a humid morning --> bad juju. The figures were a mix of SST metals and plastics and as well as 10 Warriors. They were coasted with powdery, non-drying paint that gave them a very rough and thickened coat, obscuring details.
After getting over the initial shock, I did some research and decided to try the Simple Green product recommended on the following link.
http://michael.casavant.us/Paint/strip.htm
Good news: Soaking for 24 hours allowed all the bad paint to peel right off the metal figures under warm water from a faucet. Vigorous scrubbing with an old toothbrush worked to get all the stubborn patches loosened.
Bad news: Plastic minis require at least 48 more hours. Even then, only the rough patches and upper surfaces could be removed. I got about half the warriors/SSTs relatively cleaned up although they still have black in deep crevasses. WARNING: The paint is very stubborn and scrubbing causes dislodging of glued bits.
As an experiment, I currently have the remaining plastics soaking for 96 hours in order to try and get the paint off completely. The good news is no melting or softening of the plastic has been noted. I'll update later today when I check on them. If they are not cleanable, I'll probably go to a 50/50 mix of water and Pine-Sol for a shorter period of time.
UPDATE: The 96-hour soak did not increase the paint-removal that much. Paint remains in the creases, but there are no clumps or thick paint remaining. It did not damage the plastic in any way, although some gap-filling putty had been attacked and will have to be reapplied. I am letting them dry to assess whether they are smooth enough.
Narlotep
