Stripping Resin Models

[Van-Helsing]

Anyone got any advice for stripping resin, my mate Tony has inherited a load of (badly) painted FOW Tanks.

There is no way we can overpaint them - I think the guy must have put the paint on with a trowel LoL!

Poor Tony can't do it himself because of his disabilities, and if we left it to his Dad he would throw the models in regular paint stripper!

As a side note, he's got some Finecast he want's to strip as well - any advice there?

[Glitzer]

Your best scenario would be, that the paint was not sealed with varnish. You could try a toothbrush and hot water (from my experiences I'd say that toothpaste even improves this technique , but I use that only on very detailed minis). Next thing you could try is a preparation needle: just keep poking into the edges and mabe the paint will fall of in small fragements of layers (this is a rather time consuming way to get rid of paint, but if done carefully even works on Plastic Space Marines) Varnish is your friend in the later technique, as it tends to keep the paint together.

My best guess is to find something in the middle: scratch/carve out the details and then use the toothbrush. Maybe leave the flat areas with some layers of paint, and only do them when absolutely neccesary.

And yeah, as I stated elsewhere: Finecast is a great way GW found to keep us from recycling our own old minis (and in this way keeps them from loosing money to E-Bay)

PS: maybe you can disguise some accidents when cleaning and some old paint residue as battle damage and rust... You know that's what I do with my 1:48 Tamiya kits when I srew up something

[Van-Helsing]

Glitzer thanks for the ideas!

The battle damage idea is great, but I don't think it's going to work with 15mm scale miniatures!

Finecast has me stumped, I might buy a model and use the "sprue" to test various mediums for stripping.

[Glitzer]

EDIT: Delete
wanted to modify my post, quoted it instead... I'm just stupid 

[6milPhil]

There was a discussion about this over at TMP, one of the solutions offered was Fairy Power Spray, spray it on and leave for a short while or  even over night. It's supposed to strip the paint off metal and resin really well. I'll be trying it this weekend.

[Van-Helsing]

There was a discussion about this over at TMP, one of the solutions offered was Fairy Power Spray, spray it on and leave for a short while or  even over night. It's supposed to strip the paint off metal and resin really well. I'll be trying it this weekend.

Please Report Back!!

[TheShadow]

Dettol works in a similair way, just stripped some of uncle mikes resin figures - no damage at all, did have to leave soaking for a while, from what ive read about fairy power spray that works better, not had chance to try that yet though

[6milPhil]

Please Report Back!!

It does work really well. One thing is important is handling it, it contains bleaching agents. Be warned, no point messing up a good shirt or dimilar for a few quids worth of models.

Basically I sprayed the whole model and let it sit in an empty sink. A day later I soaked it in cold water, sprayed the bits which I hadn't sprayed well enough, waited a day and soaked it again. A test rub with my modelling toothbrush and it 's just flaking off.

I'm trying it on badly painted metal figures next.

[tomogui]

I've used a similar product here to good effect (an oven cleaner spray - not actually powered by fairies though).

I put the resin models in a ziploc plastic bag, spray the until the baggie is sort of part full of liquid, seal the bag, and leave them for a day or two. Works well with much less mess.

[tomogui]

Apparently I felt this was worth saying twice...

[Damas]

I would second Dettol.

50/50 with warm water, leave to soak for a day or three in a ventilated area and scrub with an old toothbrush.
Do NOT rinse under water when scrubbing as the paint then gels.  Just keep scrubbing in the dettol until all the paint is off, then, rinse in warm water and allow to dry.

I have found this to work on resin, lead, pewter, plastic.

(Caveat:  this technique works for me with my models.  Results may vary.)

[Melnibonean]

Windex window cleaner is also good for resins and plastics. Just soak for a short time and scrub with a toothbrush. The Windex turns from bright blue to dark green as it starts to break down the paint.

For metal, I've found acrylic nail polish remover works best.

[Black Cat Bases]

It depends on the quality of the resin? Good quality resin will take nail polisher remover without damage (what we recommend for our resin products and have tested many times ourselves with no problems.) However cheap resins will not take this treatment and products with fillers, or dyes added, or release agents used and not thoroughly washed off will all react differently so I would always test on a small and insignificant piece or the base of a larger item where damage would not be a problem before using anything! The best thing is to ask the manufacturer which resin they use and whether they use filler, dyes or release agents!

Jo:)

[TheShadow]

out of interet if youre in the uk wilkinsons have fairy power spray for £1.50 at minute, picked one up yesterday to give some a try !!