The magic of Dettol

Ok, first real post. My first batch of new recruits arrived today: 2 bases of Nurglings and 4 old models of the Flamers of Tzeentch.

The Nurglings came pre-painted and based and the Flamers came pre-primed. Great, right?

Not really, the Nurglings are on 40k (round) bases and the primer on the Flamers doesn't quite cover everything. On top of that I reckon I can do a better job on the Nurglings.
I can either put on a fresh coat of primer and lose detail on the models or paint straight on what I've got.

OR I can strip the paint from all of the models and start from scratch. The Internet suggested that Dettol is friendly to both plastic and metal models (I can't yet vouch for plastic ones since these were all metal). The wikihow I was following said to use a 50/50 solution of Dettol (household grade disinfectant, not the handwash stuff) and water. Here's the mix in a mug that I don't intend to ever drink from again.

THAT IS NOT MILK. DO NOT DRINK IT.
The Dettol is originally brown and translucent but then goes white and opaque due to what wikipedia assures me is spontaneous emulsification. That picture is the mug with all of the models in it.

The wikihow said soak the models for 24 hours, but after 4 the paint had turned into sludge and I was able to use a toothbrush -which I also don't intend to ever use again- to scrape the paint off. I held the models with long-nose pliers while I did this in a fruitless attempt to keep my hands clean.

After getting most of the paint off, I mixed up a fresh mug of not-at-all-milk and left the models in there overnight. Probably could have continued right away but I was tired and lazy.

In the morning I got a very old paintbrush, a toothpick and a pile of paper towels and got to work. First get the models out one by one and brush all of the loose paint of that you can. The paper towels can then be used to semi-dry a model and get the majority of the rest of the paint off (a surprisingly large amount).

After that I got the toothpick and dug at all of the little nooks, wiping paint off onto the paper towels as I went. After another brushing and wipe with the paper towels, the models were more or less back to factory condition.

That's 10 Nurglings and 4 Flamers, with a bunch of loose Flamer arms on a box of other models that came while I was doing this (I'll get to them next time. Maybe.)

As a side note before I finish up, I gave up on those pliers pretty quick (hopeless for picking Nurglings out of an opaque liquid). You'll probably do this too, but I'd suggest wearing rubber gloves. Your fingers prune up a bit, then feel fine, then get a little peely.

That's all for this post, I expect that I'll be stripping models more when my painting skills improve. We can't have ugly minis bringing shame to our armies now, can we?


Smoko, making stripping models less sexy since 2012.