Stripping paint from plastic and metal miniatures

[A post I wrote a long time ago and never published. I'm publishing it now because it can serve as a reminder for a hobby technique I find useful.]

Some miniatures are painted terribly. Some miniatures aren’t painted so good. Sometimes a basecoat sprays on way too thick. I wished there was a way to fix these errors – to reclaim the pristine miniature. 

Well, there is a way:

http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Paint-from-Metal-and-Plastic-Models-with-Dettol

http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/how-to-use-dettol-to-best-clean-up.html

Following advice from the above websites, I decided to give it a go with Dettol, a toothbrush, a pin and some dish-washing detergent. My first test was on one of the ‘Emperor’s Rejects’ – a plastic Space Marine sold for $1 at a gaming convention.

The Basic Technique

I left the miniatures in the Dettol at least 24 hours, up to 48 hours and let them soak a couple of days in water with a very good proportion of dish-washing detergent after cleaning off the dissolving paint with a toothbrush and a pin (for picking the paint out of the recesses).

I have since used this technique with success on numerous other miniatures both plastic and metal, in scales ranging from 6mm to 28mm. I've also left plastic and metal miniatures in the Dettol for literally months without any problems (although I wouldn't recommend it - who knows what might go wrong).

The Results

The Marine recovered fully from the stripping and cleaning operation without any damage to the plastic surface and all, or almost all,  The black spray undercoat adhered without any problems, as did all the Vallejo paints applied atop it.

Here are the results: