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How to Strip Paint from Plastic & Metal Models with Dettol

    Hello everyone! Cadaver here from Home Of Cadaver bringing you a tutorial on a process that most of you modelers have definitely stumbled upon – how to strip paint from models.

    As you may probably have seen in my previous article, I am back on the modeling train and this time I am getting excited on the brand new Necromunda release.

    That being said, being an old school gamer I love my old school minis more than anything. So, I figured out that this is a marvelous idea to bring them out of their boxes and make them 2018 compatible.

    My Delaque Warband is one of the old school models I was looking forward in using with the new set up, but they were terrible looking painted aeons ago not even by myself. You can get an idea on the pic below.

    It is not the worst paintjob in the world but it definitely deserves better.

    That’s why I decided to give these models my paint stripping treatment that I always use with great results. This technique works great with metal models as well as plastic ones. It even eats away glue.

    This technique works only with acrylic water based colors, which most people are using to paint their models with. Not sure if it can work with other types of colors, like oils or enamels.

    How to Strip Paint

    I have decided to create a small tutorial video on my YouTube channel to show my process to strip paint step-by-step. Feel free to check it out and of course subscribe to my channel if you want to be updated on other videos like that.

     

    The end result of the paint stripping can be seen on the pictures below. You can also see some work in progress on my Delaque Warband, more on this on a future article.

    I would love to hear what you think on this technique to strip paint.

    Has it worked for you? Do you have any suggestions or tweaks on how it would work better?

    Till next time, take care!

    Hobby Supplies, Tips & Tutorials

    Various tutorials and guides for common hobby supplies.

    Cadaver

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    13 Comments
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    Nils Holmbergh
    6 years ago

    I’ve never tried Dettol myself, not sure if it’s available here or not but I should probably find out because that looks so much better than the simple green I use now.

    Thor
    Admin
    6 years ago
    Reply to  Nils Holmbergh

    I also use Simple Green. In the US we don’t have Dettol, though we have similar methods I could use. For me it’s about safety. I know I can leave stuff in Simple Green forever and it will never harm it. Also, it won’t destroy the super glue since 99% of the time I only want to remove paint, not glue.

    Thor
    Admin
    6 years ago

    Gotcha. I misunderstood ;)

    Siph
    Siph
    6 years ago

    I do the same, but before you use the toothbrush, the majority of the gunk can swiftly and cleanly be removed wiping with some kitchen towel paper, then use brushh as you show, saves most of the gunk in the brush.

    AbrushwithDice
    5 years ago

    In the past I’ve had good luck with Pine Sol (a hardwood floor cleaner) and brake fluid. I wouldn’t recommend them as both can be poisonous, but they did a great job.

    Tom
    Tom
    4 years ago

    I use “oven pride” here in the UK. It’s a oven cleaner very acidic, I can clean ten at a time if I need to. Just leave them to soak overnight no scrubbing neede, just a rinse.

    Tom
    Tom
    4 years ago
    Reply to  Cadaver

    I wouldn’t use this on plastic,too strong. It comes in liquid form, you pour it into a provided bag and drop in the models.
    Not sure if any other normal oven cleaners will work. By normal I mean less toxic. Could be worth a try.