Stripping Paint from Models: "The Dip"

• Pine-Sol & Water

Every once in a while, I find myself in the unenviable position of having to take paint off of something I’ve made. Usually it’s one of my Warhammer 40,000 figures but The Dip works with other surfaces too - it worked on the resin and vinyl Mars Attacks model I made.

I call my process “The Dip,” after Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It’s very simple process: soak the piece in a deep bath of Pine-Sol and water. After a night, the paint will be jelly and you can use a stiff bristled brush (I use old toothbrushes mostly) and scrub the remaining paint off. Getting into all the crevices may be difficult, but, the way I see it, if you can’t get to it to scrub, you probably won’t be able to see there’s a buildup of paint there either.

The actual ratio of Pine-Sol to water is just a guess. The more Pine-Sol you use, the most caustic the mixture is and the faster the paint will come off. When I’m dipping metal pieces or parts, I use pure Pine-Sol; for plastic, I use about a 50/50.

I use acrylic paint exclusively, so I don’t know how my technique may work on enamels, oils or lacquer based paints.

When you’re done stripping the paint, remember to wash and rinse the piece thoroughly to get all the Pine-Sol off. You don’t want your new paint to fall off.

If you find this information useful, feel free to drop me a line. I'd like to think I'm helping someone. If you know a better way or recipe for paint stripping, I'd also love to hear from you.