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So what's a good product-you-can-get-in-Japan for stripping paint from miniatures? When I was living in the States I used Simple Green, which I don't think you can get here.

The models in question are metal, so melting plastic isn't a worry.

I've seen simple green here, its just a bit expensive. Try hardware stores (hammers, nails, etc). I always use standard household bleach for stripping, but id avoid it if the models are oldish, as it causes heinous lead-rot in models with lead in em. They go all black and crusty. It's not pretty - trust me. If you do decide to go with bleach, soak the minis in a jar of it (glass jar!) overnight, then run a hot tap over them one at a time while you scrub em with a soon-to-be-dead toothbrush. The paint should just slip off em like that dude from robocop who got the chemical waste dumped over his head. For stubborn nooks and crannies either give em another night in the bleach, or use a pin to pick out the bits. I tend to just use a pin, meself.

For metal minis I use a bottle of nail varnish remover from the 100 yen store. Works pretty well.

It tends to dissolve plastic models though, so its not so useful there.

Paint thinner worked pretty well for me on my metal and plastic minis. It's cheap and there's lots of it, and I've still got the stuff outside on the balcony in a sealed tub, even 12 months after I first used it.

Here's a guide I wrote for the beginners in our (Kitakyushu) club:
http://www.kitaqgamers.com/page.php?ID=24

Paint brush cleaner or Nail polish remover and an old toof brush werks for Da Admiral

Admiral-Badruck wrote:Paint brush cleaner or Nail polish remover and an old toof brush werks for Da Admiral

He was talking about removing paint not your personal hyigene habits.

I have used Tamiya Acrylic Paint thinner (same as Wiz?) with some success, but only on metals.

Keeps my teef kleen too

I have found and used Simple green here (as of today actually). It's sold at Kahma amongst other places in Aichi (check out the SG Japan site for other stockists). It is a bit expensive but you only use a bit of it at a time (I hope) and it is also a handy eco-friendly household cleaner too. Apparently, you can strain it out with a coffee filter and re-use it too.

Results wise, it stripped two FOW Stugs (resin with some metal) in a couple of hours. Just dumped them in the soup (undiluted they reckon), a quick brush with a toothbrush et voila, two brand new Stugs.

Next test, plastic and metal GW figs that have been painted for years. If

Simple Green is indeed good stuff - doesn't hurt plastic, and it's environmentally friendly. I actually found that it worked well enough diluted 1:1 with water, but that probably depends on the paint and primer you used, how old the paint job is, etc.

I'll have to pick some up. It wasn't available here last time I checked, which was admittedly 4 or 5 years ago when I was gaming in Fukuoka.

Sorry for the thread-o-mancy, but I just got some of the 'easy viridian' and I am taking it out onto the balcony now to try it out. I'll post up some pics of the results if I get a chance.
I bought a bottle of liquid (1400 yen including a spray bottle which I dont need) and a can of spray on foam (700 yen) so I shall endeavour to test them both out.

Stay tuned for SCIENCE!