Stripping GW Plastics??

[NickNascati]

All,
     I've decided that I want to re-paint my GW Cadians to a more "urban" look.  They are painted with acrylics, and sealed with satin varnish.  What can I use to take off at least the varnish without harming the plastic?

                                                             Nick

[rob_alderman]

Fairy Power Spray is a god-send.

[jedion357]

What ever you settle on trying only do one at a time or try out a crappy GW mini you dont care about to verify that your method wont eat the plastic.

aside from caustic paint stripper or an organge organic stripper you could try Easy Off oven cleaner- i knew a guy once that tried to clean his pistol after being in the dirt and muck with it and took it to the driveway to spray Easy Off on it and it removed the Bluing from the gun.

I've also heard brake fluid works

Since metal is my first love I've never had an occasion to need to strip paint off of plastic minis.

[Digitarii]

Simple Green works on everything plastic, resin,and metal and has no harmful effects other than darkening metal.

[TheMightyFlip]

If your in the UK, 48 hours or longer in a bath of mr.muscle bathroom/kitchen cleaner will do the trick, the plastic will be stained by the paint, but it wont melt or anything and the paint will just brush off. I stripped my Cadians and 2nd hand Space Marines with this method.

[Oliver]

Dettol is what I am planning on using after much research.
Or if you are in america Simple green..
Else where in the worls I am unsure, also there is a neat thread in the How to section.
Also this is useful:
http://www.ayearoffrugalgaming.com/2009/05/take-it-off-take-it-off.html

[Whiskyrat]

Dettol is what I am planning on using after much research.

Dettol works fine just don't forget to take them out after a few hours to rinse, scrub with a toothbrush and if necessary re-submerge.

I left an Epic Warlord Titan in a Dettol bath for over 24 hours and the plastic became very soft.

I believe that Pinesol is the Dettol equivilent for folks in the US.

[NickNascati]

I am in the US, so I'll give the Simple Green a try.  Of course if my wife sees me take it out, I'll probably end up doing floors as well!

[Oliver]

Dettol works fine just don't forget to take them out after a few hours to rinse, scrub with a toothbrush and if necessary re-submerge.

I left an Epic Warlord Titan in a Dettol bath for over 24 hours and the plastic became very soft.

I believe that Pinesol is the Dettol equivilent for folks in the US.

Oh, excellent thanks for that! I was planning to leave the plastics 24 hours. So you have probably saved a few plastic squats from that terrible fate!

[Onebigriver]

I use Superdrug's acetone-free nail polish remover to strip plastics and metals. You only need to soak plastics for a few minutes then scrub with a toothbrush. I've even stripped Epic figures this way.

[stone-cold-lead]

If your in the UK, 48 hours or longer in a bath of mr.muscle bathroom/kitchen cleaner will do the trick, the plastic will be stained by the paint, but it wont melt or anything and the paint will just brush off. I stripped my Cadians and 2nd hand Space Marines with this method.

This.

Although depending on the paint used sometimes models might only need a few hours. 24 hours is usually plenty of time to lift even the most stubborn paint work (unless it's the old GW black spray of death in which case nothing will shift it!). Sometimes models will still carry a slight stain from the paint but plastic doesn't usually in my experience. No worries with Mr Muscle kitchen cleaner damaging the plastic either if you leave models in for a long time (although I've rarely left anything soaking longer than 48 hours).

[Hat Guy]

I find Windex works best, but you have to bathe the figure in it for at lest a week, then the paint can be peeled off with your fingers.

[Pil]

I use Superdrug's acetone-free nail polish remover to strip plastics and metals. You only need to soak plastics for a few minutes then scrub with a toothbrush. I've even stripped Epic figures this way.

I've used acetone free nail polish remover which smelled like glue and did the same to plastics. It's often still very aggressive and will soften detail if it doesn't destroy the surface altogether. I tend to leave my models in their baths for too long so I use brake fluid which doesn't harm the plastic even after months of soaking.

[Onebigriver]

I've used acetone free nail polish remover which smelled like glue and did the same to plastics. It's often still very aggressive and will soften detail if it doesn't destroy the surface altogether. I tend to leave my models in their baths for too long so I use brake fluid which doesn't harm the plastic even after months of soaking.

Certainly some of the cheaper brands have done that for me, but I've found Boots Cutex and Superdrug's and Wilko's own brands are fine, never had any problems.

[Kes]

I'll vouch for Fairy Power Spray, just stripped two metal figures and one plastic for my oldest son
and they both came out almost clean (with a toothbrush scrub) after 2 days soaking.