Blood Angels' 3rd Company 'Ironhelms'

[matus]

I wrote this on Librarium Online a few years back if it helps:

After reading so many different threads on what product to use to strip paint of plastic models, I was getting a little confused. People's results even with the same chemicals seemed to vary wildly. The most common, Simple Green, is so rare in the UK as to not be an option and even with that peoples results varied.

I thought I'd run a little experiment. I'd just bought a load of marines from ebay, they were absolutely caked in paint and needed stripping. They were also old and cheap so if I melted a few I'd not be too bothered.

For my experiment I chose five different chemicals I could find around my house, well I went out an buy some ultra cheap multi surface cleaner as close as I could get to the one used by leighjt in his tutorial. Into a jar of each chemical I placed 2 or 3 miniatures, if possible something plastic and something metal

These were the results of the first attempt:


First off the brushes I used, an old toothbrush, a new stiff tooth brush and a wire brush




Vodka

Pilot00 suggested alcohol, he specifically said the type you get from the chemist, but I thought I'd try Vodka anyway. As you can see it did not work in any way. Lets just call this the control, an example of what 24 hours soaking in a non melty liquid and some vigorous scrubbing can do. I should have known vodka has no effect on a space marine, its right there in the fluff!



Foaming Oven Cleaner

Problem here seemed to be, after the foam died down the model was not actually soaking, so nothing much happened. Better than the vodka, but would still take many many attempts to get most of the paint off.



Cheap Multi Surface Cleaner

This result came after two soaks and some very vigorous scrubbing. Not bad though considering its by far the cheapest chemical here. Still bits in the cracks, which is unfrotunatly exactly where I was trying to remove it from, so a spray prime won't obscure the detai.

Rest to follow as you only seem to be able to post 4 images at once and two posts in quick succession need mid approval :-)

[matus]

And the rest:

Expensive Multi Surface Cleaner

Again, these results are after 2, actually I think 3, soaks and scrubs. I even used the wire brush, but the results were not bad, still bits stuck in the recesses, and the bits I can't easily scrub are impossible to clean. Overall no better than the cheap cleaner really



Cream Cleaner

Right, I thought cream cleaner, that should do the trick. Adverts give the impression that the thicker a chemical is, the better it cleans, and this is the premier football player of cleaners, nice and thick! The results however were nothing to write home about, worse than the thin cheap cleaner anyway (and a darn sight smellier and itchier). Metal mini came up shiny though...



Then I remembered someing Lani Guy said:

TEMPERATURE affects the ability of SImple Green. At temperatures of 70F+ it works awesomely, I am now in cooler/winter temperatures of 30-45F and it does not work well at all.

So I thought I'd try the cheap cleaner again in the airing cupboard. Thats not much warmer, not like a radiator, but a couple of degrees. I wasn't expecting much, maybe one less scrub needed or something. I took it out early to have a look too. Now these reults are after less time and with only one light scrub and no redunks. I'm impressed.



I thought I'd give a close up of all the nurgle attack goodness



So my conclusions:

The chemical is no that important, as long as it is a surface cleaner. Don't stress if you can't get Simple Green, any dirt cheap cleaner will do

The more you can break up the miniature the better it will work, partly because scrubbing is easier

Surprisingly wire brushed don't damage plastic miniatures that much

Temperature is very important, we're not talking huge jumps here, just the difference between a window sill and an airing cupboard

You still need a needle or something to clean out the recesses

Leaving things overnight is always best

Space marines are always better if they smell of lemon

NOw time to see if I can scale this up and whether another dunk in warm cleaner will get the last bits of the final test models.

[Fizzybubela]

Thanks! I needed to find something to strip the paint off my Space Hulk minis as I need to repaint them.

[Wolfshade]

Very nice Matus, that was the sort of thing that I was going to do, but you seem to have done the hard work for me

[Psychosplodge]

But more importantly, will it blend?

[matus]

Ill try and repost the second part, as thats where I worked out what orks best, apologies if this ends up double posted.

Expensive Multi Surface Cleaner

Again, these results are after 2, actually I think 3, soaks and scrubs. I even used the wire brush, but the results were not bad, still bits stuck in the recesses, and the bits I can't easily scrub are impossible to clean. Overall no better than the cheap cleaner really



Cream Cleaner

Right, I thought cream cleaner, that should do the trick. Adverts give the impression that the thicker a chemical is, the better it cleans, and this is the premier football player of cleaners, nice and thick! The results however were nothing to write home about, worse than the thin cheap cleaner anyway (and a darn sight smellier and itchier). Metal mini came up shiny though...



Then I remembered someing Lani Guy said:

TEMPERATURE affects the ability of SImple Green. At temperatures of 70F+ it works awesomely, I am now in cooler/winter temperatures of 30-45F and it does not work well at all.

So I thought I'd try the cheap cleaner again in the airing cupboard. Thats not much warmer, not like a radiator, but a couple of degrees. I wasn't expecting much, maybe one less scrub needed or something. I took it out early to have a look too. Now these reults are after less time and with only one light scrub and no redunks. I'm impressed.



I thought I'd give a close up of all the nurgle attack goodness



So my conclusions:

The chemical is no that important, as long as it is a surface cleaner. Don't stress if you can't get Simple Green, any dirt cheap cleaner will do

The more you can break up the miniature the better it will work, partly because scrubbing is easier

Surprisingly wire brushed don't damage plastic miniatures that much

Temperature is very important, we're not talking huge jumps here, just the difference between a window sill and an airing cupboard

You still need a needle or something to clean out the recesses

Leaving things overnight is always best

Space marines are always better if they smell of lemon

As you can see, temperature seems to play a really important role, but brand of cleaner, ironically does not seem to play as much.

[Lord Korven]

Two words. SIMPLE GREEN. Works wonders on metal and plastic. Let em soak for a couple of days and scrub with a toothbrush. You can get simple green from any most hardware stores. The jugs usually cost around 10 bucks and there is plenty there to strip a whole company of space marines.

[Wolfshade]

Two words. SIMPLE GREEN. Works wonders on metal and plastic. Let em soak for a couple of days and scrub with a toothbrush. You can get simple green from any most hardware stores. The jugs usually cost around 10 bucks and there is plenty there to strip a whole company of space marines.

Simple Green does not retail over here, or if it does I have never seen it in any supermarket. My friends have used Detol in the past and so I shall try that.

[ElectricPaladin]

I've used simple green, but it can take a lot of scrubbing. You could also try LA's Amazing. The paint actually starts to come off in flecks after twelve hours!

[lobster-overlord]

lol no I was just thinking of the space marine company they sold briefly...

I sorely miss Troll Boss Bob's Bargain Basement. I started many armies through that service. I was about $1,500 short of being able to pull of the Chapter deal when it was there.

I'm glad I didn't get it though in the end, as it wouldn't have allowed for Blood Angels chapter, and all the tanks were the old Rhino chassis.

I'm personally much happier with the direction the models have taken since then.

I've got a couple of companies laid out but not painted for my BA's, and third included. My shoulder pad layout is the same. Chapter one side, company the other.

John M>