How to remove acrylic paint from a metal miniature?

[Kiwi]

Hi everyone. What is the best way to completely remove the paint from a metal miniature? I want to remove Vallejo acrylic paint and Vallejo acrylic polyurethane primer.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Marktastrophe]

Super Clean will be the fastest/easiest.

https://www.scalemodeladdict.com/threads/production-chrome-stripping.14251/post-210713

 

[Quaralane]

If you have access to an ultrasonic cleaner, a couple of cycles using AJ's Totally Awesome will do wonders

 

[Kiwi]

Super Clean will be the fastest/easiest.

https://www.scalemodeladdict.com/threads/production-chrome-stripping.14251/post-210713

Do you have a link where I can find this on Amazon?

 

[Kiwi]

If you have access to an ultrasonic cleaner, a couple of cycles using AJ's Totally Awesome will do wonders

What is an ultrasonic cleaner? Never heard of that.

 

[Quaralane]

What is an ultrasonic cleaner? Never heard of that.

Very basically, it vibrates the fluid inside the cleaner for cleaning.
They're used most often to clean the grime off jewelry, but I've seen them used for stripping paint off of minis, and have done it myself

 

[Kiwi]

Very basically, it vibrates the fluid inside the cleaner for cleaning.
They're used most often to clean the grime off jewelry, but I've seen them used for stripping paint off of minis, and have done it myself

Do you have a link where I can find this on Amazon? Thanks for your help.

 

[urumomo]

Denatured alcohol will remove both acrylic and polyurethane . Soak them in it and scrub it off with a toothbrush .
Isopropyl ( rubbing ) alcohol will easily remove acrylic , and probably the Vallejo poly . If you have some 91 or 99% isopropyl , soak them in it to see . Even the 50% solution will work , it's just not as fast .
The poly should require a bit longer , but it's probably a poly / acrylic resin so it might come off fast .

Acetone and lacquer thinner ( which is usually mostly alcohol and acetone ) also - - since it's a metal figure and you don't have to worry about melting the plastic of a polystyrene figure .
Alcohol won't damage polystyrene .
Also Xylene ,and Ethyl Acetate ( often sold as " MEK Substitute " ) , but obviously the alcohol would be the more " benign " route .

 

[Marktastrophe]

Denatured alcohol will remove both acrylic and polyurethane . Soak them in it and scrub it off with a toothbrush .
Isopropyl ( rubbing ) alcohol will easily remove acrylic , and probably the Vallejo poly . If you have some 91 or 99% isopropyl , soak them in it to see . Even the 50% solution will work , it's just not as fast .
The poly should require a bit longer , but it's probably a poly / acrylic resin so it might come off fast .

Acetone and lacquer thinner ( which is usually mostly alcohol and acetone ) also - - since it's a metal figure and you don't have to worry about melting the plastic of a polystyrene figure .
Alcohol won't damage polystyrene .
Also Xylene ,and Ethyl Acetate ( often sold as " MEK Substitute " ) , but obviously the alcohol would be the more " benign " route .

Most economical option still!

 

[Kiwi]

Denatured alcohol will remove both acrylic and polyurethane . Soak them in it and scrub it off with a toothbrush .
Isopropyl ( rubbing ) alcohol will easily remove acrylic , and probably the Vallejo poly . If you have some 91 or 99% isopropyl , soak them in it to see . Even the 50% solution will work , it's just not as fast .
The poly should require a bit longer , but it's probably a poly / acrylic resin so it might come off fast .

Acetone and lacquer thinner ( which is usually mostly alcohol and acetone ) also - - since it's a metal figure and you don't have to worry about melting the plastic of a polystyrene figure .
Alcohol won't damage polystyrene .
Also Xylene ,and Ethyl Acetate ( often sold as " MEK Substitute " ) , but obviously the alcohol would be the more " benign " route .

It's been almost 24 hours since my miniatures are in a jar with isopropyl alcohol. One hour ago, I took my models out of the jar and there is still plenty of paint and primer left.

The paint seems to be easier to remove but the primer is almost everywhere on each models. I tried to clean my miniatures with a toothbrush and a toothpick but it will take me days to do this because I have about 25 miniatures in the jar.

So I will left my jar close for a few days to see what happens.

 

[urumomo]

Vallejo acrylic survived 24 hours in alcohol ?
What percent solution ?

 

[Kiwi]

99%. Maybe that's because I have put too many miniatures in the jar and there is just enough alcohol to cover them.

 

[urumomo]

Wow .
That stuff removes all acrylics for me in mere minutes . I'm confused .
Well , soaking them in lacquer thinner will definitely remove everything there .

I've never used this Super Clean , but there's been some threads here touting it's effectiveness in paint removal .
If you have to purchase something , maybe this will be more useful in other cleaning operations than buying the lacquer thinner if you don't have a lot of other uses for lacquer thinner :
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=super+cl...an,aps,149&ref=nb_sb_ss_mission-aware-v1_1_11

 

[Kiwi]

Wow .
That stuff removes all acrylics for me in mere minutes . I'm confused .
Well , soaking them in lacquer thinner will definitely remove everything there .

I've never used this Super Clean , but there's been some threads here touting it's effectiveness in paint removal .
If you have to purchase something , maybe this will be more useful in other cleaning operations than buying the lacquer thinner if you don't have a lot of other uses for lacquer thinner :
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=super+cl...an,aps,149&ref=nb_sb_ss_mission-aware-v1_1_11

How many minis do you put in your jar when using alcohol? Do you use lot of alcohol each time?

Maybe that's because I gave two layers of black primer, a few layers of paint and two layers of matt varnish at the end.

 

[urumomo]

I don't do minis . With the exception of 1/35 & 1/20 figures in polystyrene .
I almost always use an alkyd ( enamel ) primer so I can easily remove acrylic top coats if I want to without affecting the primer , using isopropyl alcohol .
I honestly can't believe the acrylic is still bound to the polyurethane primer after that long submerged in 99% Iso .
What was the varnish layer ? Acrylic ?
lol , there must be a really heavy layer of coatings on those things --- still , 24 hours is forever .

 

[Kiwi]

I don't do minis . With the exception of 1/35 & 1/20 figures in polystyrene .
I almost always use an alkyd ( enamel ) primer so I can easily remove acrylic top coats if I want to without effecting the primer , using isopropyl alcohol .
I honestly can't believe the acrylic is still bound to the polyurethane primer after that long submerged in 99% Iso .
What was the varnish layer ? Acrylic ?
lol , there must be a really heavy layer of coatings on those things --- still , 24 hours is forever .

This is a Vallejo acrylic matt varnish. And yes, two layers of black primer, three layers of basecoat, colors for the camouflage pattern and two layers of matt varnish.

 

[urumomo]

If you have the time , take them out and scrub them with a toothbrush , just quickly , and dump them back in the iso .
That will allow the alcohol to penetrate all the layers faster by knocking the softened acrylic out of the way .

 

[Kiwi]

If you have the time , take them out and scrub them with a toothbrush , just quickly , and dump them back in the iso .
That will allow the alcohol to penetrate all the layers faster by knocking the softened acrylic out of the way .

That's what I have done with a few models but I have around twenty in the jar so still lot of work.

I am wondering if nail remover would be faster.

 

[urumomo]

Nail polish remover is acetone ( usually ) , so it will remove all of it .

 

[urumomo]

Google says : " Ingredients used in polish removers can include acetone, ethyl acetate, and isopropyl alcohol "