After the initial trials everything seems to have come off the bases just fine. Even the stuff on the Peter Pig plastic bases, which I can probably recycle, unlike the mdf ones that turned to mush. Some figures had ankle failure, but they've recovered with a bit of superglue.
The rebasing has gone pretty well. I haven't had too many shortfalls/spares on the figure front, except I knew that I'd have a couple of battalions of British left over. The Sikh regiments aren't a problem as they'll be repainted as Ever Victorious Army, and the spare Imps needs to be repainted as a single unit.
The next order of business then is to strip the paint off the spares. A brief tour of the internet revealed several suggestions. Phil recommended Dettol, but we didn't have any in the house. One favourite on the GW fan forum was Coke and I had a few cans lying around. To go with the rum we brought back from Cuba, you understand.
So I decided to pop the figures in a jar...
...and pour on some coke. Coke's fizzy, don't ya know?
Eventually it settled down, so I put a lid on the jar and left the figures to it. You can see them in the murky depths, hopefully getting all bright and clean.
Post Script: The overnight situation isn't brilliant. Little evidence of the paint coming loose, so I'll leave them in for another day. It's not urgent I start work on them anyway. It might be, of course, that using Ronseal varnish on them is protecting the paint quite effectively.
The rebasing has gone pretty well. I haven't had too many shortfalls/spares on the figure front, except I knew that I'd have a couple of battalions of British left over. The Sikh regiments aren't a problem as they'll be repainted as Ever Victorious Army, and the spare Imps needs to be repainted as a single unit.
The next order of business then is to strip the paint off the spares. A brief tour of the internet revealed several suggestions. Phil recommended Dettol, but we didn't have any in the house. One favourite on the GW fan forum was Coke and I had a few cans lying around. To go with the rum we brought back from Cuba, you understand.
So I decided to pop the figures in a jar...
...and pour on some coke. Coke's fizzy, don't ya know?
Eventually it settled down, so I put a lid on the jar and left the figures to it. You can see them in the murky depths, hopefully getting all bright and clean.
Post Script: The overnight situation isn't brilliant. Little evidence of the paint coming loose, so I'll leave them in for another day. It's not urgent I start work on them anyway. It might be, of course, that using Ronseal varnish on them is protecting the paint quite effectively.
As a grown up wargamer surely you have some Nitromors in a very cobwebby tin at the back of your shed? I wouldn't soak figures in it straightawy, mind. Brush it on and leave for a bit first as a test and then try soaking one particularly unloved, gnarled hobgoblin of a figure. It worked on my son's Thomas figures from many years ago but they were quite robust pieces.
ReplyDeleteI think they've changed the formula of Coke now so that it no longer melts teeth overnight.
Cheers
Andrew
No tins of Nitromor or anything like that in my Shed, I can assure you! Just good old wargaming things like toy soldiers and model buildings.
DeleteVarnish tends to be tough to get through. In in US we have a general purpose cleaning spray called Simple Green - it works well, but requires a long soak (many days) and some elbow grease on the back end. My current favorite is 90% rubbing alcohol. It's quick and super effective. Give it a go on a few minis.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few household cleaners in the UK that would do the job, but in this case I had some cans of Coke and thought I'd give it a try. Coke is very cheap.
DeleteI'll see how this goes with a few days soaking. Normally repainting isn't something I do (ditto rebasing) so this is pretty much a one off exercise.