Soaking lead & pewter minis in Simple Green for a week now

[Jennifer]

Is this okay to do?  Looks like it might need longer to loosen up the paint well enough to brush off with a toothbrush.

Is there something better I should use?  Paint thinner? Mineral Spirits? Gasoline?

Got a set of gorgeous old school spell casters, with a lot of character, that I'd like to paint for Frostgrave   Got 10 of them for only $12 including shipping -- lucked out on ebay

[Skipp]

I use dettol, with a bit of water added - this works with acrylics.

if they were painted with enamels.. Im not so sure, you could use a paint stripper but would advise goggles and gloves for the clean up as you dont want that in your eyes if using an old toothbrush...

[Ogrob]

Should be fine. I've left metal minis in pine based soap for months and it does nothing to the models themselves. Eventually weakens superglue and softens greenstuff, but that's about it.

The advantage with milder solvents is that they are easy to dispose and not bad for the environment, and can be used for a lot of plastics as well.

[Tactalvanic]

For most metal, will be fine, but depends on paint type as to effectiveness. I have left such in jars of dettol for over a year (busy with other stuff - so there they sat stored away)

For normal  hobby acrylics of whatever flavor, there are lots of options, but there are modern less smelly ones.

UK based - so I used to use dettol - I suspect the active chemical in both simple green and dettol is the same.

Resin miniatures and some types of plastic ( of course some plastics are perfectly fine) will not survive such soakings so well, going soft or completely melting in a similar way to the paint being removed.

There are a number of threads in the forum if successfully search for them relating to "best paint stripper".

eg

Biostrip20

http://www.biostrip.co.uk/

Less stinky, easier to deal with and has in most cases just as good a result when stripping acrylic water based paints.

Like everything though your results will vary depending on the type of paint involved.

[zemjw]

For metals I've had success with Mr Muscle Oven cleaner (not sure what the US equivalent would be).

You need heavy rubber gloves and goggles, but I put them in a cake tin in the bath and sprayed them. It didn't take too long for the paint to flake off, and a quick clean with a toothbrush under running water (still with gloves and goggles) got pretty much all the paint off.

Don't use oven cleaner with plastic, unless you want the plastic to turn to goo

These were with enamel paints, so acrylics shouldn't be a problem.

[Roger]

I seem to remember reading that the active ingredient in Dettol is Isopropyl alcohol , in the states you can get that
in the supermarket or the drug store,in the UK off of ebay.
If you're cleaning airbrushes you use a mix of Isopropyl alcohol and Windex (windolene) .I would imagine that
should get acrylic paint off with a soak.
For enamel paint you can use paint thinner (thinners),that shouldnt effect the metal as far as I'm aware.

Roger
 

[pocoloco]

Should be fine. I've left metal minis in pine based soap for months and it does nothing to the models themselves. Eventually weakens superglue and softens greenstuff, but that's about it.

The advantage with milder solvents is that they are easy to dispose and not bad for the environment, and can be used for a lot of plastics as well.

x2

[Argonor]

I use white spirit (the household kind) in an ultrasound-cleaner, accompanied with a small brass brush, for both metals and plastics.

[Jennifer]

Thanks for all the replies.

I am worried about lead -- and pewter as well? -- rot.  I read that one shouldn't use any liquids on the lead minis that are acidic because this really encourages the rot.

I dipped my acidic / alkaline test strips (the kind you pee on) in both vinegar and simple green.  The stick read very acidic with the vinegar (of course) and quite alkaline with the simple green so I figured the simple green was ok.

I really do hate the smell of the simple green on the minis after I wash them with water even.  but the smell seems to go away after they air for a couple days.  

Would really like a less smelly way.  I am thinking the minis were painted with enamel and that's why they are so stubborn.

[Jennifer]

I use white spirit (the household kind) in an ultrasound-cleaner, accompanied with a small brass brush, for both metals and plastics.

Does the small brass brush remove the painted without harming the detail of the mini?  I really could use a good brush to get all the paint out of the crevices -- toothbrush isn't cutting it... but it seems to be doing better each day I let it sit in the simple green.

[Cait Sidhe]

I highly recommend Biostrip if you can get hold of it in the US (guessing that where you are because of the currency  ) It's fine for plastics and doesn't smell like the cleaning fluids.

Started with


then after a hour with this goop on...



I ended up with pretty clean minis. The white primer seems to cling but i reckon another soak in goop would go a ways to shifting it.

[dbsubashi]

Stateside I highly recommend LA's Totally Awesome, the yellow stuff. Most figs are cleaned in 24 hours, guys in my FLGS have left them in for weeks/months with no problems, and it cost a dollar for 16 oz. It disolves acrylic, both in paint and in cryanoacrylics, aka superglue.

[Jennifer]

Stateside I highly recommend LA's Totally Awesome, the yellow stuff. Most figs are cleaned in 24 hours, guys in my FLGS have left them in for weeks/months with no problems, and it cost a dollar for 16 oz. It disolves acrylic, both in paint and in cryanoacrylics, aka superglue.

I actually have that stuff here at home right now.  Bought it from the Dollar Tree.  I guess it isn't acidic?  I'll test with pH sticks.

[white knight]

I highly recommend Biostrip if you can get hold of it in the US (guessing that where you are because of the currency  ) It's fine for plastics and doesn't smell like the cleaning fluids.

There seem to be many products with that name. Do you have a picture of the bottle?

[Tactalvanic]

Specifically

Biostrip20

http://www.biostrip.co.uk/

But

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=82561.0

Suggests no US supplier available  

I have done a quick bounce around but that may not have changed

Maybe new question to them about it - they might have USA distributer by now...

Edit:

http://www.biostrip.co.uk/delivery-information


"International Deliveries

We can deliver to customers outside of the UK, please contact us on info@biostrip.co.uk for prices and availability."

Which will probably make it even more cost effective to use simple green, and wait for the smell to fade.