Hi There,

I have some older figures that I would like to re-do. They are for the most part painted in humbrols and oils. Should I attempt to strip them down or just put a coat of primer over it and start over. I use GW skull white these days for primer.

The original paint is not on thick so the detail is still there.

Cheers

Ray

Hi Ray.
Fairy Power Spray from your local supermarket. White metal, resin or plastic figures can be stripped with it. Just soak the figures in it for a day, maybe a little longer for some but they wont harm, then brush with stiff haired paint brush and the paint should fall off. Rinse off in clean water and it's good to go.
Hope that helps.

Richard.

Mr Muscle Oven cleaner works well also for resin and white metal, use it the same as what Richard said above.
Ben

Hi Ray, the guys above are right about using Oven Cleaner - it works really well.
I did this just a week ago on a 120mm resin figure, painted in humbrols and oils.
I'd painted it about 5 years ago, but the oven cleaner still stripped it perfectly after about 5 hours, and without damaging the resin.

Thanks everybody,

I have a few 120mm resin figures I want to do over, they are kind of hard to get now.

Cheers

Ray

Oven cleaner works, but the active ingredient in most is lye, so you have to take precautions when working with it. Good ventilation, rubber gloves. And a batch of oven cleaner is used once, then it's done.

I switched a couple of years ago from oven cleaner to the automotive de-greaser SuperClean. It used to be made directly by Castrol, but now it looks like it's produced by a subsidiary of Castrol. I get it here at Walmart, $8 for a gallon container. The label says to work in a well-ventilated area and to wear cleaning gloves, which I do, but I do find that it is not nearly as caustic as oven cleaner. And it has the added advantage that you can pour a batch of it into a container--I use old glass jars--and use the batch over and over again. I soak pieces for about 15 minutes or so, and scrub the paint off with an old toothbrush (that's what I did, with the oven cleaner, too). Sometimes it takes a couple of passes, but it works very well. I also use it for cleaning my airbrush and my paint brushes when I use acrylics.

SC also stripped the chrome of a sprue of chromed parts in under 2 minutes, and it left the surface literally squeaky-clean. There was no grease or oil on the surface.

Hi Ray,
Here's another method, good for your scapel cuts too.
cheers
Richie
http://www.planetfigure.com/posts/563840/

Now I just have to try that one Richie ........Never would have guessed Dettol.....and diluted too!

Richard.