So a few weeks ago I made a used purchase up at the shop. I ended up with quite a few Warhammer 40k Imperial Guard tanks and a bucket of weird looking guardsmen. It turns out the guy had started to strip them in simple green and gave up half way through. The paint was all puffy and soft on the models – I couldn’t do anything with them in this condition so I set them aside in a tub of simple green and decided to get back to them later.
Having stripped my fair share of models in the past I knew I was in for a LOT of work – there were probably around 60 models in the tub and I just really didn’t want to spend all the elbow grease it would take to get these guys scrubbed up right so I started looking for other options. I had recently bought a small ultrasonic cleaner to keep my airbrush working and thought this might be an avenue to peruse. The cleaner I bought was some crappy knock off that barely did antyhting so I decided to bite the bullet and get a big rig -
I picked this bad boy up off of eBay for $120. It is heated (up to 180F), has a big storage tank – you could fit a rhino or two in there easily, and is WAY more powerful than the little plastic model I had. Since there is very little info on the internet about using one of these to strip paint let me tell you what has so far been the best method -
- Soak the models in simple green for at least 24 hours
- Put a single layer of models in the basket – around 6 or 8 guardsmen
- Fill the tank with simple green (you can use the same batch for several runs)
- Set the temp up to 150
- Put the basket in the tank
- Put the lid on the tank (important for getting the temperature up)
- Set the timer for 30 minutes
- When the timer goes off pull the models out and scrub them with a nylon brush under running water
- The paint will just FALL off – even the paint in the cracks
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Hmm, have you tried any other types of plastics in it? Metals? They might get a wee bit hot?
Resin is just out with the temps, but harder plastics like PP, or softer stuff like old GW plastics(the lighter stuff)?
I would assume they would be safe, but it would be my luck to melt a entire army lol.
With the way I half-start painting stuff only to see it sit partially done while i move onto yet another partially painted debacle, or my penchant for buying peoples used abused badly painted stuff, This might be a way to go for me.
What about losing stuff out of the basket? Simple green doesn’t dissolve superglue, but it will make it brittle. Enough for that action to break it off?
sorry for the questions, but i’m really interested.
I have tried only GW Plastics and Metal models so far. The tank has a variable heat setting so you could run resin in it.
Stuff does fall through the basket, but just sits at the bottom of the tank. Every four or five runs I swap out the fluid and collect the bits at the bottom.
I am not 100% on what happens the the glue. These models had been half stripped and then soaked in simple green for two more weeks before I put them in. I had about a 50% glue failure rate. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though – it really helped get the models clean and also cleaned up some of the glue that was a bit sloppy. It looks like the action + simple green will deteriorate the glue but I will have to do more tests to see what it does on a normal run.
Thanks for detailing the steps for this, I have not seen anyone give instructions on this before.
Hi there,
After reading your article above awhile back I’ve had it in my mind to pick up an Ultrasonic cleaner for my own use – one of the two I’m looking at seems to be the same as the one you have – just rebranded. I’m not sure whether to get the digital version or the dial version though – the digital one goes to 60mins, while the dial one goes to 30mins.
How long do you usually find it takes to strip figures in SG? – the 30mins in the spa is enough to get it all off?
Any issues with heating up plastics or metals? What temps do you use?
thanks for any and all info – I’d like to be as informed as possible by another miniatures enthusiast before dropping the cash on it…
@Azazel
I doubt there is any real difference between the digital and dial model.
I find the best way to strip the models is to let them soak for about two days, then put them in the cleaner with the simple green they were soaking in. I then set it to about 150 and run it for an hour. You shouldn’t have a problem running it twice at 30mins if you use the dial model.
I have not had a problem with the models getting too hot, even when I ran it as hot as it would go. I have not done resin though, so it could be a problem with resin models.
It is well worth the cash if the model will ‘pay for itself’ by stripping a large lot of models. If you just have a few models to strip it isn’t worth it, but if you are doing large batches fairly regularly then it is a great investment.
Thanks D for the info. I’ve got a ton of older and secondhand figs that need stripping. Lots of classic RT stuff I want to get back to new condition before repainting them. I’ve used SG via a jar, but I want to really get it done properly…