Stripping Products Showdown

[borthcollective]

Glue takes time in DPD depending on the type of glue. It tends to actually melt/dilute it a bit, I'm finding spots on minis where there is no paint, but there is some run off of glue on them now. That's after resting. And when I mentioned diluting it, it's a waste of time. I hadn't tried the just spray on and leave method that Youngwolf has recently tried until last night, by far the easiest method.

[YoungWolf777]

If you just want to break the glue bonds then CSC/PP is a more likely way to go. (A soak in that for a few hours will start to weaken the bonds. It makes superglue very brittle.)

DPD will break down the glue as well, it will likely take a bit longer. I haven't tested side by side looking at that particular aspect so far.

[carmachu]

yes I know, thread necromancy, but I just had an odd experience with the purple power:

Same models, same trader, same paint......yet some models came out of the stripper perfectly bare plastic with no need to scrub them, and yet some other models came out with paint and no amount of scrubbing could get them clean(so they went with resoak).

Any thoughts? Too many models in the mix? Something else? Just an oddity?


I really really want to try dawn power disolve, but I have YET to find it. Any thoughts on where?

[porkuslime]

could be the paint in particular.. was all the paint the same?

I just stripped a tank and had it come clean.. except for the tracks and guns.. painted with a different black than the blue remainder.. it was like asphalt!

[carmachu]

could be the paint in particular.. was all the paint the same?

I just stripped a tank and had it come clean.. except for the tracks and guns.. painted with a different black than the blue remainder.. it was like asphalt!

Yes. They all had this real gloss black with some green for detail. Of course, now that you say that, it could very well be he painted over a variety of different models all black gloss that had different paint jobs....I didnt consider that.

They went back in for round two, so we'll see what happens. What was nice was that purple power also removed any flocking that was done.

[Asif Chaudhry]

Just wanted to add my $0.02 to the discussion:

- Apparently letting metal minis sit for several weeks in Dawn Power Dissolver does not have any noticeable bad side effects.

- I used the spray on method to conserve cleaner instead of soaking.

- The DPD worked really well, with only a couple of minor exceptions, all of which involved very small detail like chainmail. In some cases, the paint just sloughed off the mini with minimal brushing and running water. In some other cases, I had to do some rigorous brushing with a toothbrush.

@carmachu - I found DPD at Walmart, in the cleaning products selection. It took a while for me to find, as it was squeezed in with a bunch of other cleaners, and the bottle is a little on the small side.

[YoungWolf777]

The difference you experienced was most likely the primer (or lack thereof) that was used. Actual primers (Dupli-color, Krylon) are designed to chemically etch the surface they are applied to, forming a strong bond. Other "hobby" primers (GW, Armory, etc.) lack this component and rarely form a strong bond. In my experience, GW black primer slides right off of metal with a minimal soak, while a true primer takes longer and a long of scrubbing. This is how it should work.

Stripping plastic is always a crapshoot really. It's all on what primer was used. Rarely will you ever get plastic totally clean. I settle for stained plastic and clear details. Asking any more is just trouble.

Dawn Power Dissolver is pretty easy to find when you know where to look. It's in the household cleaners sections of most department/grocery stores. If you can find the Dawn dishwashing detergent, it's usually on or near the same shelf.

I ran some long term tests with the DPD. 6 weeks for both metal and plastic. The DPD had dried on them and was pretty much done doing anything after 2 weeks or so. I let it run just to see (and I didn't have time to deal with them due to school.) No real benefit to going over that 2 week mark, other than no damage to the minis.

Also, I've had some minis painted with enamels that took repeated strippings and still have some residual paint. YMMV