A comparative test of paint-stripping liquids

[Daeothar]

This is because you have no associations for the smell.  For Brits of a certain pedigree any time they were sick as a kid the Detol would come out to clean up so now we associate it with vomiting!

Well that explains that then 

[eilif]

I've found Acetone does the job admirably. But I only ever tend to strip a handful of figures at a time, might come a tad expensive fettling a full army with it?

Be careful with Acetone.  If left too long and in sufficient strength it can melt plastic miniatures, even PVC miniatures can be damaged by it.  I'd only use acetone for metal figures.

[Cubs]

For Brits of a certain pedigree any time they were sick as a kid the Detol would come out to clean up so now we associate it with vomiting!

See I always find it comforting, because if I fell off my bike and scraped my legs, my mum would run me a Dettol bath and I'd sit in it with the skin all stingy!

[Emir of Askaristan]

Coincidentally I soaked some thickly painted and heavy varnished metal figs in brown dettol the morning of the original post.

I cleaned them up earlier tonight with a toothbrush and detergent (ie fairly liquid) and the paint came off no problem with one exception on a figures hand, which may be superglue residue.

A bit medical in terms of smell, but otherwise ok. I used gloves to stop my hands getting smelly, sticky and dried by the dettol.

I'm going to do the second batch on Saturday and when they're done, see if sugar soap takes any less scrubbing.

[Daeothar]

Concluding my little test, I scrubbed the two Dettol minis and they came out... ok....

But the minis had a grey residue on them that was sticky to the touch, like band aid glue, that just wouldn't come off in the warm soapy water I prepped for rinsing them.

So I set them aside.

Then I opened and cleaned the 1st of two tubs of the large batch of minis I wanted to clean. You know; the ones in the St. Marc?

And the paint just fell off completely! 

And mean completely! I used the toothbrush, but the rinse alone would have taken 90% right off. Where I did need the brush, it was in deeper recesses, and then everything came off like magic.

The only place where I needed to use some toothpicks was on the basing material, which got all goopy, but went off easily too.

So St. Marc for the win!

It's being used around here by professional house painters to degrease walls before painting over them, and that's what I was using it for too. But now it's also my go to (acrylic) paint stripper.

Also, it's cheap and readily sold in DIY stores and even stores like Action!

I will continue to test it though, on both plastic miniatures and enamel paints, as those were lacking in my test.

Oh, and here are the cleaned minis after 3 days in their bath plus a light scrub. They look as new and honestly, I've never ever cleaned minis back to this level before...