Quick Tips - Stripping Miniatures
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 พ.ค. 2018
- Sometimes, you just want to start over on a miniature. For whatever reason you want to get down to bare metal or plastic and begin completely fresh, and all you need is a glass jar (an open window) and some methylated spirits!
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Returning to the hobby after 10+ years, old Marine army can be saved!
Thanks, mate. You’re the only one I found that got straight to the point without ten minutes of crap and told me the useful information, which was that I can use this with metal too. Cheers.
This method is fantastic for stripping models, I have personally been using this myself and it's helped me change space rings from one chapter to another and to save some miniatures that I did a terrible paint job over. One tip that I would give other viewers is to make sure that you are going to be brushing it someplace that you don't care it's going to get super messy because even doing over my sink I had a lot of small little paint particles all over the sink that were kind of tricky to get out if I didn't get to them right away
Denatured Alcohol worked marvelously! After only 5 minutes...FIVE minutes....the paint started coming off! Now I had to scrub pretty good and I would set my model back in for another brief soak and I'm telling you, after a total of 20 minutes of soaking and scrubbing, my model was about 90 - 95% back to it's original state! THANK YOU @Sonic Sledgehammer for your awesome videos and for this really handy and useful tip!
Finally, I can reprime my horribly primed terminators
This is extremely useful, thanks for uploading this! I've been wanting to convert my old ultramarine army into my own homebrew chapter, and this was a God-send!
Cool...I have a few I would love to redo and my son is still learning to paint so this will make his attempts less permanent. See occasionally alcohol IS the answer.
Straight and to the point
Great video
For sure going to do this on some of my first time works.
Perfect, thanks for the quick and to the point info !
for anyone wondering as i was tonight: if you used too much spray primer and thats why youre stripping your minis, expect a lot longer and some staining. after a few hours of scrubbing a soaking repeatedly at longer soaking increments each time, the paint is well and truly gone, but the primer is still clinging on, but gradually stripping. be cautious with your soaking periods, and prepare to be in for the long haul
Goddammit :/ I don't care how long it takes as long as it can be saved. I guess I'll have to keep you updated
@@LadyDeadness oh ill update you in turn if that suits you! i accidentally overprimed an entire 40k craftworld start collecting box - five 32mm base minis, one 26mm mini and two large mech minis in case youre not familiar. the 26mm base mini was unsalvageable (the primer was too thick and gave it a really ugly texture that i couldnt fully strip), but i saved the rest and they all look fantastic painted up!
Great tip! Thanks for sharing this.
First time stripping miniatures at the weekend. Through my testing and a few melted plague marines I've concluded that a 12 hour dettol bath with periodic scrubs with washing up liquid, followed by a final hour or two in meththylated spirits to be the most effective paint removal method with no damage to plastic miniatures. Tried isopropyl which barely took any paint off but melted my miniature after a 12 hour soak. White spirit, hardly took any paint off and melted my miniature after a 12 hour soak. Methylated spirits, 12 hour soak, some decent paint removal, scrubbed a few times to get at other layers but still not great, i used the purple stuff from b and q and can't get the same results others are showing with it. Dettol, stripped all the paint after a 12 hour soak, brushed with fairy in beween soaks to avoid any residue, rinsed then done a final dip in methylated spirit to ensure all dettol residue was removed, though some staining from my primer still remained, all paint layers were removed with no loss of detail. Other than a couple of blight grenades I snapped off due to hitting them with the brush while scrubbing.
Finished your book there!?
Thank you so much. My mate persuaded me to use a cheap primer and it never dried even a week later and I was hoping methylated spirits would work.
If did the video a few weeks before I didn’t have to use the translator to figure out that I have to buy „Brenn Spiritus“. But also here by me it worked great. And it cost 2€ or something. Great stuff and good videos. Viele Grüße aus Deutschland ;-)
Worked perfectly thank you!
Thanks! This is really handy. Just primed my first Broadside and it came out super grainy =(
Thank you very much, I'm 17 and my 8 year old me was so bad at painting :) you helped me with this problem a lot!!!
Glad I could help!
My brain reading your comment: "I'm 17 and my 8 year old is so bad at painting" 😱
@@who5542 hahahah
I love this, too bad I live in Germany and due to the virus and everybody outside in their garden having barbecues, all the Brennspiritus is sold out :D Who needs toilet paper, we need this stuff ;)
In Finland "Pensselipesu" works great for all sorts of materials. Few hours soaking does a lot. Easy to find at super markets too, which is always a plus for me.
I'd embarrass myself trying to pronounce it, I suspect! Good tip, though. :D
NikoTeaJay does that have a swedish name on there too?
None that I'm aware of. It's from a company called Tikkurila, who make a whole load of painting related products. Pensselipesu (quite literally "brush clean") is intended for cleaning dried paint off of brushes. Unsurprisingly it works great at removing dried paint (and primer, and varnish) off of toy soldiers too. To boot it's not solvent based. I'm sure similar products exists in most countries even if that specific brand is not available.
Spiritus or any other high percentage alcocol can´t be used on resin. It dries out the resin and makes it even more brittle. Resin is just a bitch to strip the paint off.
Thank you!!!!! Iv been saying this for years. Evryone is using bathroom detergants..... Why?? when for decades all iv used is methalated spirits. And yes its safe for resin and metal and plastic minis (Quick tip if u use a vibrating toothbrush or an old electric toothbrush it takes you only 90 seconds to strip a mini easy)
I must invest in one of those electric toothbrushes, then!
Poor Ork :D Nice share buddy
He'll feel better after a fresh lick of paint!
Attempting this tonight after a shambolic spraying display earlier this eve! Thanks for saving my ass.
I found 5 minutes as nowhere near long enough. I’ve had some marines soaking overnight and the primer still isn’t coming off. Going to leave them in there for a couple of days. I’m only trying to remove primer though, not paint, so I thought it would be even easier.
What I do is i always do heavy smoking when I do this and I mean heavy! 2-3 packs just to filter out the fumes... Safety first guys
As a smoker I'm actually a bit apprehensive to use this, since I know whenever I reach a bench mark in a project or need to give something time to set/cure/dry I light up to pass the time, and am super worried I'll just absent mindedly start one too close to the liquid and burn the whole neighborhood down. On the other hand I just got a bunch of second hand stuff that needs some stripping before it's good to go, so if you hear a news story about some idiot burning down a house trying to strip miniatures, probs me.
I used this tip and I feeeeellll grate....
It works fine for Resin, although I've only tried it once, and it was on a metal figure with a resin base.
I'm probably not the first to mention this, but alcohol and resin don't go well together. The resin will get soft in the alcohol, itveill harden again, but afterwards it's very brittle.
I made my day
Today i stripped (or rather am stripping) a mini with this. The paint was easy to remove so far but i have a hard time to completely remove the primer (gw's wrathbone)... i put it back in the jar for now
Going to give this a shot tomorrow, just got back into the hobby after a long break and I’m not happy with the paint jobs I did so I’m gonna strip and re do my necrons! Will let everyone know how I go! Hope it works
How did it go? Any tips? I am wanting to do my old necrons and orks, and the ork thicc bois I’m not worried about, but the necrons have a lot of finer flimsy bits
yah how did ur goys turn out? I'm doing my guys rn but I want to compare results
@@Mrcowboyhunteryep this method works awesome, I'm in aus so I used methylated spirits, I dropped my necrons in for about 5 minutes then used a toothbrush and it got everything off.
If there is still some residue chuck it back it back in for a few minutes and then repeat with the toothbrush and wallah your minis are stripped!
Nothing went flimsy, and it got all the paint off!
@@MrD4njyep this method works awesome, I'm in aus so I used methylated spirits, I dropped my necrons in for about 5 minutes then used a toothbrush and it got everything off.
If there is still some residue chuck it back it back in for a few minutes and then repeat with the toothbrush and wallah your minis are stripped!
Nothing went flimsy, and it got all the paint off! I also was stripping the newer indomitus necrons and everything was fine! Enjoy, sorry about the late reply mate!
@@unknown.mp4 no way i'm in qld lmao where did u get ur methylated spirits from I bought mine from the reject shop. Btw hope ur happy with ur necrons im doing my space marines rn
Hi,
i used spiritus too at first, switched to pure isopropyl, then simple green and finally biostrip20.
since spiritus is flammable, smells teribly and isn't that good for the health, i'd recommend the simple green and biostrip. my metal minis became dark and greenish after simple green, but it removed the paint just fine.
What would you recommend for plastic
U r a genious
Great video! I been looking for a way to strip the awful primer off the Deep Cuts miniatures.
Yeeeah, I've never been much a fan of anything that's pre-primed, either. It doesn't ever seem to be quite right!
That was the most Rammstein-way i have ever heard somebody say the word "Brennspiritus" :D
I highly recommend "Super Clean." It cut through two layers of different primers on my Helbrute tonight. I have tried denatured alcohol before with not so great results.
Where would one usually find it? Supermarket, hardware store or the like? The problem for me is finding some of these branded products on the shelves with weird German names. ;D
I purchased it at Advanced Auto here in the U.S. I hear it can also be found at dept. stores like Walmart. Look for the signature purple container, but don't get it mistaken for the knock-off product, "Purple Power." I hope you can get your hands on it, because it really is a miracle worker. I stripped a Helbrute and a Chaos Rhino last night to bare plastic in just a few hours of soaking.
Several products available in the US/North America, that are quite useful for stripping miniatures, are, unfortunately, not readily available here in Europe. Besides Super Clean/Purple Power, Simple Green is another very good product (I managed to get a hold of a bottle from an industry supplier in the UK). Regulations might have something to do with it, seeing how certain products might not live up to the usually stricter EU rules and regulations. That shouldn't be a problem for e.g. Simple Green, though, so I'm a bit bummed that it isn't readily available here.
I also recommend Super Clean. However I ran into a model that Super Clean COULD NOT strip. Itvsat in there for a week. Absolutely nothing. I then tried regular old 92% rubbing alcohol and the paint blew off in ten minutes. I now use rubbing alcohol for everything.
I just tried super clean and not a fan. I let my space marines soak for more then 3 days and it barely even got a little of the primer off. That's why I'm here looking for another method. It could have been the macragge blue primary but I'm new to miniature painting.
Or you can get Dettol (Liquid Antisceptic) orange looking liquid ver, in mins the paint will start to strip. I left it wait for a hour just to be safe. Avoid washing with water at first (it'll get sticky and needs to be dump it back into the dettol bath), only after you're done scrabbing and all paints are off. *Trial and Tested* very recently.
Just a question, after stripping would you have to re-prime the miniature again or would it be ok to go start back to painting after cleaning and doing a soapy wash?
Once it's stripped, it'll be back to bare plastic or metal. You'll need to prime the miniature again to get started. On the plus side, then you can prime it with whatever colour you like!
Cool, thanks!
Isopropanol is perfect for models.
But even with stuff like GSW's paint remover removing spray paint eventually will damage the model.
Atleast the Citadel base spray paints kind of interlocks with the plastic and when you remove it it will cause minor damage.
For most of the removers doing it once or even twice is still propably 100% safe.
Just don't... _don't_ over do it. Use the brush and don't try to make it all dissolve.
This method worked better than others but i think they upgraded their paints lol, i used too much zandri dust primer spray and it took A LOT OF SCRUBBING and still couldn't get it all off. I soaked it for like 20mins too
So Denautred works to strip enamel too? I got some old 40k beakies covered in a hard shell of paint that Simple Green cant penetrate
I've actually not tried it on enamel stuff, I'm afraid. If the miniatures are metal you might try something a bit stronger, but I'd try checking a forum or Reddit for anyone that might have done it first.
In Ireland they add potassium permanganate to meths which makes it purple. I'll test this with unloved miniature first in case it reacts funny. Great tip though, thanks
Dettol works a treat... just dont add water!
Detoll works great but bloody hell your models smell like a hospital ward for days afterward. Id use meths but if they add purple stuff to it i dont want to risk it
Carl Mayne touches on it briefly, but I'll just repeat it. It isn't good for resin, as with most resins used for miniatures it'll either get soft and/or the surface will become "squishy" and won't harden properly again.
I also know that quite a few people here in Denmark use it in conjunction with an ultrasonic cleaner (the product is called Husholdningssprit here, so basically just household spirits). Pop the spirits in the cleaner, put the miniatures in and give it a few cycles. Then it should even get to the hard to reach places and a few brushes with the toothbrush should take care of the rest.
I had a feeling that the material would make a big difference. Resin being that little more porous than plastic would have to be part of the culprit, I guess! Good suggestion on the ultrasonic cleaner, too! Depending on how many miniatures I was planning to strip that'd be a big difference.
Have you got any suggestions for resin? I have a Y'Varha with a spray job that has filled a bunch of detail and I would like it clean
I feel like my fingers are made of whatever the hell you are using. lol
was that model primed? It look me more than two hours to get the primer off of my models.
after endlessly try with different materials, which not only works for some of my models, but with all three main parts (resin, metal, plastic), I found (I live in Germany) something called "STERILIUM" in pharmacies , In the past, I had to throw away many of my resin models because they dissolve through too aggressive solvents
If anyone can respond to my question I would greatly appreciate it. Does the sunny side brand of denatured alcohol work?
how well dose this work on metal miniature's? I use brake fluid for plastics and acetone for metal. both i usually have them soak for some time before I get around to striping them. the acetone has chunks in it and some times the paint dosent fully strip clean. i have has some that the the paint was off but it stained the metal. only way I can describe it.
It works much the same on metal, honestly. You'll still get some slight staining from the primers, but that's not really an issue as long as the 'bits' are gone from the recesses. A fresh prime and a coat of paint and you'll not have to worry about them. :)
Is any kind of breathing protection recommended or is that a step too far?
Will white spirits damage the resin? It has to be methylated?
How does it strip the paint off so fast? I used the same thing and it took around 25min for me to be able to clean the paint of even a little bit at the edges.
maybe the thickness of the paint on your model
@@rustyrocks69 i use very thin layers of airbrush strokes to paint my miniatures so that couldnt have been it, thx though^^
Gained some blood angels from a friend, converting them to join my space wolves
thank you just the job
I have a question about this, in my country pharmacies sell 2 types of alcohol. Ethylic Alcohol and Isopropyl alcohol. Which one would be better for this purpose?
Does this work on varnished minis? I ruined some with Matt varnish that I've tried everything to fix but now just want to start over.
It'll strip pretty much anything! Resin's the one exception that I've found, though - resin being slightly porous means the paint settles differently and doesn't strip with this stuff.
Friendly warning based on experience I just had last night. I was not aware of this, and found out the hard way. Make sure when stripping RESIN based figures you look at what chemicals are safe on the material. I ended up (not yet fully positive may be saved) trashing a lictor. He's still somewhat intact but is softer and more bendable with some bits, mainly his tail barb, breaking off. Hard learned lesson with denatured alcohol on resin, hard plastic seems to hold up fine. I'd recommend for resin either a day or two in simple/mean green or purple power/super clean. Normally I'd take this shot to the wallet lightly, however the fact is GW either piddles slowly at making and reproducing models that are more often than not out of stock or discontinued, or seem too focused on making models for one line such as primaris of late. This leads to my biggest irritation with this IP. It's lack of focus or care on other races and their models. Thankfully there are other models out there not 40k to occupy my time. Here's hoping I can find, or eventually see released, another lictor.
Appreciated. I have a resin draigo I wanted to redo his banner because I had a hard time painting this bubbly mess. I'm glad someone else is commenting on GW not giving attention to old or uncommon models
is there a way to strip a more specific area without doing the whole model? I messed up with the undercoat spray on an intercessor sergeant but it's just the shoulder pauldron that's messed up
Not that I can imagine short of taking that piece off the miniature, unfortunately. It might be worth trying a spot of gloss varnish over the area to see if that smooths it off, then 'prime' with black or whatever over that to touch it up.
Problem with meths is everywhere you go it seems to be different strengths. I've had stuff from homebase strip a model I've painted in a few mins, and then stuff from wilkos has taken over a week and still left primer on the model. I'm trying brake fluid next.
I've heard brake fluid can do the job, but it's one of those things which just takes a little more care in preparation and clean up. If it works, though, it works!
How do you dispose of the meths once you've stripped so many models, it's turings into purple milk? I'm assuming I'll have to take it to my local refuse and recycling site, but I wondered if theres a simpler way to get rid of it?
Leave in the sun, it will evaporate.
God bless you live here i germany, i never knew the german counterpart to the stuff others use. But, how old is this paintjob on the modell? Have you tried it with metal modells? currently i have some ~10 year old models i want to strip but the Sterillium i use, doesn't do the trick all to good.
That paint job's a little over a year old, so it comes off in mere minutes. I had one of the old metal Cadian miniatures who'd been painted for almost ten years and had a thick varnish over the top, and I left him overnight. A quick scrub in the morning and he was stripped just as easily!
Yay, now i have hope. Will try out
Here in Brazil I use isopropyl alcohol. It is a substance used to clean electronic components and computers. It can be found at electronics parts stores. However, it only removes the same acrylic paint, not the primer. I leave my minis dipped in it for 15 minutes and the paint comes out easily.
@@soneca_85 You can also dissolve primer eith isopropanol. It judt needs longer. Also quick tip: rub the alcohol into the miniature at the beginning this causes the paintjob to dissolve even quicker.
does this take care of the primer as well?
Was this model primed when you stripped it?
Did that model have primer on it? I can usually get most of the paint off but not the primer. I'm currently trying to strip a metal mini in 99% Iso and it's not going well, even after a 24 hour soak.
This one did have a black primer. You might find sometimes that a primer that's been on for a good long while will 'stain' a miniature. I haven't tried stripping anything with isopropynol, so I couldn't really say whether or not that'll get all of it out. As long as it's dry and smooth, though, you should be able to prime over it again no problem.
Gonna get me some of that stuff now and clean my 4 old armies up. That's gonna be fun. Anybody knows if I can use this in an ultrasonic cleaner?
*looks at video..... *looks at old army in giant box.....
Used a can of odorless mineral spirits to strip a guncannon gunpla. At most, it was soaking for two days. Completely warped and split the plastic...waste...
If someone can explain to me what went wrong, when this video claims it won't "melt" the plastic.
Per my experience, I would not leave anything plastic in spirits for more than an hour tops, then scrub with brush. Resin and spirits do NOT mix well. Super clean has been a huge help yet sometimes doesn't get the model fully stripped.
So... this mini was not primed, right? Because I tried that same method using literally the same brand of Brennspiritus to remove a layer of Corax White primer that came out too thick...and although the minis have been submerged in that stuff for about 24 hours and I've spent like more than an hour total scrubbing vigorously the minis still have chalky texture all over them.
No, it was definitely primed. Chaos Black. This stuff should strip most of a primer. You'll get some slight staining, but unless it's actually a gross, grainy surface, you should be able to prime over the top of it no problem. If you're still getting unusable chunks of white primer on there, it might have been the Corax White in the first place.
@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Hey thanks for the quick response on an older video! Yeah, the chalky bits are definitely white primer. I assume the spray can should've been warmer. On the spots where I did manage to scrub off the primer, the mini underneath is in perfect condition, albeit maybe a bit 'soapy'. The issue really is stripping the white primer in the first place. Well, maybe isopropanol will do the job.
Does it clear off citadel basing materials? I have a few models that are painted Ultramarine when halfway through painting my first army I made my own successor chapter and they had a different color scheme. want to repaint them but I have basing material on there, will this remove it? I think it would but unsure
I honestly couldn't say. I know that soaking PVA and sand off in water will work, but for things like the Agrellan Earth or similar? You'd just have to try it and cross your fingers, I guess! Sorry I can't give you a better answer.
@@SonicSledgehammerStudio yes used stir land battle-mire and then did a wash and dry brush. I think it will work because citadel basing is just thicker painter and but of fake dirt, so it would at the very least loosen it i think. Hope this helps others
does hand sanitizer work or any sanitizer?
Add an ultrasonic cleaning thingy, heat the spirit up to 50°C and after 40 minutes all paint is gone ;)
Really?
@@ruse0131 i hope you didnt do it XD
that would set the alcohol on fire!
@@philparis796 lol nah but I've been tempted more then once
@@ruse0131 thank fuck XD
I tried meths on some cheap resin quite a while ago and the paint wouldn't come off, left the mini in the pot for days ... paint wouldn't come off, but the mini did become soft and malleable :D - Also seems like the longer ago you painted the mini the more work it takes to strip, some mini's I've soaked for weeks and the paint won't come off
it also depends on what kind of paint you used
I only paint in acrylic
Maybe that's how the resin reacts? It seems like it'd be slightly more porous, so it might hold the paint a little better? Something to experiment with on my end, I think!
have you tried biostrip 20 works great and is non toxic looks like PVA
I've not come across it, unfortunately. The problem here is also that a lot of common brand names are different in Germany, so while the majority of my viewers are English-speaking like me, I've got to find local solutions! ;D
Will this remove primer?
Does this strip primer?
Melted my entire miniature grey knights due to leaving it in thinner for 30 minutes.
but does it remove primer?
Using the exakt same Spiritus now, that I found at a small supermarket around the corner. Strips paints off nicely, but damn - the ones where I put on too much primer (first models) the primer comes off veeery slowly with loooots and lots of repetions ... what a pain in the ass. Still, great video!
not as bad as with my first model where I didnt use primer at all LMAO
Will this work on oil based paints as well?
I'm not sure, honestly. This'll strip most varnishes as well, so it should, but I'd test it on a single figure first to see what happens.
Holy crap, that was just three minutes???
water-based turps is far better than simply green
Hopefully I can use this to fix my poor sinanju
What was the name for North America ?
I've heard it referred to as denatured alcohol. You might still find it as methylated spirits, though!
my results with this stuff have been mixed. sometimes, the paint comes right off in big chips, just like this video shows. in other instances, even with models from the same unit using the same paints, there would ne remains in the cracks and crevices that i couldnt scrub away even when i vigorously scrubbed the mini. multiple baths wouldnt do a thing. so in those cases, all the details got obscured because of that leftover paint inside the details. i then used 5-7 other cleaners, to no avail. sometimes, it just doesnt work - for some reason.
So what i need to remove paint completely is using denatured alcohol alright then.
remove primer too?
You should wear some safety glasses when doing this because getting sprinkles of methanol in your eyes is really going to hurt.
The effects on the skin are not that bad except for drying it up (because it disolves all fat).
Hi, does it harm the miniature in any way?
It's not great for resin, but plastic and metal figures I've never had a problem with.
didn't work for me. Left several models for 16 hours in the jar and almost nothing came off. Guess I'll have to get something more aggressive.
so i now know what i will doing during this cornoviris crisis
Does rubbing alcohol work?
I couldn't say, I've never tried it.
the ork jar
Is this methyl alcohol?
Methylated spirits, depending on where you are.
What's the UK equivalent of this?
Methylated spirits. It'll probably be purple out of the bottle, but it works exactly the same way!
You can buy it at Wilkinson's and yes it is purple
Can you ruin the model if you leave it in to long?
How will plastic glue fare this journey?
This won't affect plastic glue at all. Anything that's assembled will stay assembled!
@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Awesome, thanks!
Dude, are you german? I never noticed!
Not German, I just live here! I'm from New Zealand.
@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Well, hope u like it here. I was like "damn, he got no german accent when speaking english"
@@emptykeksdose I'm assuming you overheard the thick Kiwi accent? 😁 Love the accent though
R u german?
"De-natured alcohol"
That's just *not* natural...
Yeah-- I said it! Lol!
Bad miniatures get put in the acid jar
Its no good for resin models..... poor Ethereal
Do not put resin models in that stuff!
If you want to play and paint miniatures.. You'll need meth....
People in north america... "Ummmmmm.."