I found several articles on the web on how to strip paint from miniatures but in the end I decided to see if I could find a real simple (and quick) method.
So on a wander through my local DIY (aka hardware) store I picked up a basic paint stripper.
I'd heard some horror stories of miniatures dissolving in paint srtipper chemicals so I tried just one miniature at first. But it survived and worked so well to remove the paint I thought I'd write up how I did it.


Pic 1

So here we have some of the figures I wanted to strip the paint from. They were all old Citadel miniatures I'd painted back in 1985! Which made me feel very old. First up I removed the sculpted bases so that only the metal miniature was left. These miniatures were all painted with Games Workshop acrylic paints and sprayed over the years with several layers of Matt varnish. So I was expecting the paint stripper to have a hard time of it.


Pic 2

So this is the paint stripper I bought from Homebase. It was their own brand and this pot cost me £3.69.

THIS STUFF IS TOXIC! So please read the instructions on the back of the pot.

I then got an old glass to put the paint stripper in and an old toothbrush which I thought I'd need to scrub the miniatures clean.


Pic 3

At this point I went outside since the paint stripper instructions suggested a well ventilated area. The paint stripper was a thick gel like consistancy and so I filled the glass to about half way. I then dropped a group of miniatures in the glass. Almost immediately the paint on the miniatures started to break up.


Pic 4

So I then decided to leave it alone for about 20 minutes or so. When I returned the solution had started to cloud over so to see if the paint was loose I shook the glass up a bit (being careful not to spill any) at this point the solution went practically black with all the loose paint. So I thought it would be good enough to see if I could clean the miniatures up.


Pic 5

The paint srtipper solution said it could be easily washed off with water so I poured the miniatures out into the bathroom sink. Then under the running cold water tap I began running the toothbrush over them. Most of the paint came off with just the running water and so all I needed the toothbrush for was for the groves and detail bits on the miniature.
I was so impressed at how easy this process went that I might now be more inclined to pick up old miniatures at bring and buys that have old paint jobs on them!

You will notice I didn't wear gloves when the instructions clearly said I should of. So again please follow the instructions.


Pic 7

So there we have ita whole batch of miniatures cleaned of a 20 year old paint job in under 30 minutes with hardly any elbow grease required. DO remember though that I used a toxic chemical stripper, which needs to be treated with care. Of course now I've added to my pile of unpainted lead, but I can now paint long out of production mini's all over again!

If you would like more information on stripping paint in this way then please e-mail me.

Jeremey (AKA Germy)