Hey all, I recently decided to strip my Ironjawz Ardboyz and Flesh Eater Crypt Horrors because the primer I tried to use (don’t use paint and primer combo) went on wayyyyy too thick. At first I just tried to paint them up but after a few tries I couldn’t stand looking at the washed out details. Not to mention the primer caused bubbles to formed between some key features. Not cool man! Anyway I looked around on the web and found a bunch of different answers. So I took a shopping trip and dunked my minis into solution after solution to try and get them back to basics. Here are some of my experiences (not many pictures since I didn’t have the blog when I first started this.) NOTE: These are all plastic sculpts so anyone with metal or resin need to look elsewhere. Sorry folks!
Acetone
DO NOT USE THIS. IT WILL MELT YOUR MINIS.

Okay, so my buddy suggested I try acetone to strip down my minis and remove the super glue from some of the joints (I switched over to plastic cement). The good news? It worked! It worked so well that part of my Terrorgheists wing melted into an unrecognizable lump of plastic. Luckily it was the connecting bit so I just shaved a bunch off and green stuffed it on like a champ. (It looks like crap). Anyway moral of the story always use a test model and don’t ever use acetone on your plastic minis. It is good for cleaning paint off of any surface that won’t get destroyed by it. I used to use a glass table for my priming then I made a work bench. Cleaning the table took seconds with some acetone. Get it through my Affiliate Program HERE.
91% Isopropyl Alchohol

This works amazing for getting paint off the models. After a ten minute soak I took a medium bristle toothbrush to the models and the paint came right off. Some of them I could just swish them around in the alcohol and watch the paint fly off. The only issue is that it had absolutely zero impact on the primer which if you recall was my real issue. I tried soaking them for 3 days afterwards but it still didn’t budge the caked on primer. It also was completely and totally safe for the minis so if your only desire is to get paint off this is the way to go for sure. So now I was a little disheartened. I couldn’t get the primer off and this was supposed to be the best stuff for it! What was a man to do? Well you see the problem was I spent way too much money so far! Get it through my Affiliate Program HERE.
LA’s Totally Awesome Cleaner

Wham! Bam! Thank you, ma’am! This stuff was $1 freaking dollar at the (you guessed it) Dollar Store. I let them soak overnight and the primer starting flaking off immediately. With a little brushing from that toothbrush I used for the Alcohol the primer was definitely getting removed. The plastic is totally fine but one problem is that it is killing the super glue I used to attach the minis to their bases. So if you need super glue removed this works well too! Get it through my Affiliate Program HERE.
Which Product to Use?
LA’s Totally Awesome Cleaner! This will remove everything after a decent soak. But if you don’t want to prime the models again use…
91% Isopropyl Alchohol! Good for just removing the paint if you wanna change up the color scheme of an army.
Remember: NEVER USE ACETONE FOR PLASTIC MINIS!
I absolutely love that the best stuff is the cheapest!
LikeLike