Removal of flock?

[Argonor]

Does anyone know of an easy way to dillute white glue and remove flock from a base (without doing harm to the paint on a miniature)?

I am re-basing some old mummies, and 3 of them are from Metal Magic (that's right - those with the cast-on base, that fits into the round recess on a slotta-like sq. plastic base). Heck, I even think, the paint could be Humbrol Enamels, but I am not sure.....

[Westfalia Chris]

You could try to apply some nail polish remover to the base only, but some damage to the feet will be inevitable - it renders the white glue to a rubbery state that can be peeled off easily. But again, youŽll have to apply quite some for it to work properly, so you WILL have to repaint the feet area.

[PeteMurray]

Maybe rubbing alcohol? Gently swab or paint it on and let it sit for a minute or two. The glue should turn gummy and you can scrape it off.

[Neldoreth]

The way I usually do this is using an x-acto style hobby knife. I cut around the feet and whatever part of the fig is touching the base, then I use the blade to find the gap between the white glued flock and the plastic base. I slide the blade through and it peels off the white glue (watch your fingers!).

Once you get good at it you can do it really quickly and without damaging the miniatures. It only orks with PVA or white glue though because that glue does not really bond with the plastic.

Another way, but much messier and not as effective is to simply soak the base in water for a while then whipe away the flock when the glue gets soft enough. I rarely use this method because I find it easir to remove the flock when the glue is rigid (as described above).

Hope that helps.
n.

[Argonor]

OK, thanks - I think, I'll go for the x-acto method at first, then if I do not manage anything but breaking some blades, I'll try the chemical weapons...

Water will not do the job, I'm afraid - I always use outdoor waterproof-when-dry white wood glue - to prevent the flock coming of, of course