Zenith Undercoating Fail and Dettol Paint Stripping

So, I gave this Zenith undercoating / highlighting a try on my Corporation Dreadball team.
The Zenith technique is to undercoat a model in black and then from a high 45 degree angle spray with white to cover the upper area of a model.
This is meant to give instant highlight and shadow when a model is painted.

As you can see here, the underside of the models is much darker. The overall effect looks good.
But.....
I messed up. A bit too heavy on the black and far too heavy on the white. Think it looks alright? Look closer.

Around the helmets and shoulders of the above models, the undercoat ended up that thick that it ran slightly and started to obscure some of the small details and markings in the armour. Whoops!

The second half of the team wasn't to bad. I went a lot lighter on the white and they look ok.
But what to do with the ones that have been messed up?

A couple of people on the Miniature Addicts Anonymous Facebook group suggested trying original 'brown' Dettol to strip plastic models.

A 50/50 mix of Dettol and water with a Corp Jack in the bottom. Left for 24 hours a a test.
The next day is was brushed off with  toothbrush under warm water.

Its gone! All that thick undercoat has gone!

The plastic seems to have been stained with the black undercoat but a close look lets you see there is no paint left and the detail are still sharp. (As sharp as DB detail gets anyway)

The rest of the team are now in soaking. I hope they come out as well.

If they do I can try again. But this time I will do a light coat of black from underneath and a light coat of white from a higher angle. Want to try and not overlap them too much to avoid paint build up.

If you have any plastic models that need stripping, I suggest giving this a go.

UPDATE

Attempt #2.

These pictures are a little bright but I have tried the Zenith undercoating again.

This time it was a much lighter and shorter spray from a higher angle and a little further away.

It worked! 

You may not be able to see that well above but the white to black effect has a nice transition.

Time to see if it affects the paint over the top!

Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Biostrip Review Part 2 - Different Plastics and Resins

After my recent Biostrip review >>HERE<<, I was asked if I could test the product on some other materials over night.
(click any images for a larger view)

I had a bit of a dig around and came up with these.

Top row: Pulp City resin, Black Scorpion resin
Bottom row: Heroclix transparent plastic, standard Heroclix plastic, Privateer Press plastic.

The Heroclix models were painted already. The others were given a heavy black undercoat, foundation layer, colour layer some metallics and a wash.
Once they were dry I covered them in the Biostrip 20 'goop' and left them for 24 hours.
23 longer than recommended but worked very well with the last batch.

24 hours later and it was time to find out how the product worked on these materials.
All models were scrubbed off lightly with an old toothbrush under some warm water.
I will show each separately as there were some very interesting results.

Standard Heroclix

Very little effect on the paintwork. If any at all.
But as you can see in the second picture, the Biostrip has softened the plastic that much that I cant now bend the arms right around.
Not looking good I'm afraid for the Heroclix re-painters out there.

Heroclix Transparent Plastic

There was a slightly different effect on this plastic.
The Biostrip has removed the white highlights from the wings but it has also taken a lot of the blue colouring off of the clear parts. Not softened though.
A little better but still doesn't do the job wanted.

Privateer Press Plastic

A very good result on this one.
All the paint has been removed and no softened plastic. The black undercoat does seem to leave stains but no loss of detail. You wouldn't even notice once undercoated again.

Pulp City Resin

Mixed result for the Pulp resin. The paint has been removed and left only the undercoat stain. Which is fine.
But the surface of the resin has been softened a LOT. Its even 'squishy' to touch.
Not recommended for this type of stripping.

Black Scorpion Resin

 

Hmmm. As you can see, NOT GOOD! The Biostrip has eaten away the resin making it crumble apart when touched.

Conclusion

Biostrip is a good product for stripping metal and plastic minis. Very good in fact.

Using it on Heroclix models doesn't do very much I'm afraid. Still looking for something that works well on those.

Then there;s the important bit. DO NOT use on resin. Not only are resin models softened and damaged by the product, they are not cheap to replace!

Standard plastic and metal (GW, PP etc) 9 out of 10

Heroclix plastic and resin of any sort 0 out of 10

Time to search ebay for some badly painted minis I think!

What do you think of this new non-toxic stripper?

Hendybadger out

 

 

Product Review: Biostrip 20 - Metal AND Plastic Paint Stripper

At last, a water-based paint remover that REALLY works!

Biostrip is a revolutionary new range of water-based products, specifically designed for all aspects of paint removal. The range includes paint and artex strippers, graffiti removal products, textured paint remover and wheel stripper. The Biostrip range has proven performance and is comparable with traditional solvent-based technology. 

The wonderful team over at Biostrip have given me the chance to review one of their top products.

To start with, here is the info on the Biostrip paint stripper direct from the site.

BIOSTRIP 20 ™ is a revolutionary new paint stripper that is safer for both the user and the environment. It is suitable for use in the home by the DIY enthusiast and also for large industrial applications as an alternative to Methylene Chloride based products.

Product Benefits include:

• Water-based - no losses due to evaporation, non flammable, odour free, solvent free, VOC free
• Non Toxic - safer for the user and the environment
• Non Caustic - Does not darken wood, pH neutral, does not cause burns
• Thixotropic (thickened) solution - Clings to vertical surfaces - no drips or runs, hence no waste, Economical in use.
• Does not give off hazardous or noxious fumes - ventilation not required. Suitable for use indoors or in confined spaces
• Non Irritant

Suitable Substrates:

• All wood types
• All metals, including alloys
• Stone
• Brick
• Marble
• Concrete
• Plastered surfaces
• Most plastics (test a small area before use)

Coatings removed:

• Polyester and epoxy powder coatings
• Water based coatings
• Varnish
• Primers, including aerospace primers
• Chrome containing primers
• Oil based paints
• Emulsion
• Wood stains

 Sound good? It does to me. I have spent several hours with pots of nail varnish remover trying to clean up models picked up from ebay. Usually ending up stinking of the stuff and with a slight headache.

After speaking with a rep at Biostrip, I had a parcel arrive at the door.

A sample bottle of Biostrip 20

(click any pics to view larger)

Before trying it out I did the sensible thing. Read the instructions.

According to the bottle you apply liberally all over the surface then leave for 30-60 mins. After that you wash or scrub the surface to remove the paint.

To make sure I tested it one a variety of different substances, I picked out 4 models.

1 GW metal, 1 GW plastic, 1 Heroclix plastic and 1 Heroclix clear plastic. I didn't try resin to start with as I couldn't find a spare resin bit anywhere.

Following the instructions I covered them with the Biostrip using an old paint brush.

1 hour later, I took the model to the sink and brushed off all the Biostrip with an old tooth brush.

And what did I find?

The metal Chaos Marine used to be an Ultrmarine. It didn't remove all the paint but there were some very heavy layers on there.

The plastic Marine had most of the paint removed. With absolutely NO loss of detail or damage to the plastic. That's a win in my book already. It also removed some of the glue which is why some bits are now missing.

The Heroclix figures were barely touched. I don't know if it was the paint or the plastic but something didn't work. I'm sorry Heroclix users but looks like you will have to stick to quick acetone.

Time for test number 2.

I kept with the 2 Marines from the first test to see if I could get any more paint off.

Then added another 2 figures. A plastic Imperial Guardsman and another heavily painted Marine.

Another liberal slap of the Biostrip over all of them and I was ready to test again.

But this time I decided to try it out for longer than the bottle suggested. An entire 24hours!

This could go badly wrong. 

Using acetone to strip minis before I have often left them over night so the time frame wasn't too bad.

The next afternoon came around and it was time to see if the paint was gone. Or even if the models had gone!

I will show them this time separately

The metal marine had very minimal traces of colour left in the deepest recesses. But apart from that, the rest of the paint had gone. The end result was better than any I have had with acetone.

Plastic Marine from test 1. Small sections of colour where there was glue but on the plastic itself it was all gone. With absolutely no loss of detail or damage.

Plastic Marine from overnight test.

This model had LOTS of black spray and paint to start with. After stripping the blacks did leave some stain on the plastic. The paint though had gone. All this would need is another shot of undercoat and you would never know it had been painted and stripped.

The Imperial Guard from the overnight test.

All I can say for this one is 100% success!

No paint, no staining and no damage what so ever.

At the end of these test I was VERY impressed with the Biostrip. Although it didn't clear the paint after an hour, it does say on the bottle that if there's any paint left you should do it again.

My advice would be to leave it overnight in the first place. Great results from that.

I would have to give this a final score of  9 out of 10 

It would have been a 10 if the bottle didn't say 30-60mins.

I didn't pay for this bottle so cant really comment on the price but looking at the Biostrip Site (link)Warhammer army or large Warmahordes force no problem.

I still have LOADS left after doing the above minis a couple of times.  

Biostrip do a range of other products as well. So if you need to strip textured game boards of the poop deck of you ship, they have something that can do the job.

What do you think of the paint stripper?

Are there any other materials you would like to see it tested on? (Privateer Press plastic, Black Scorpion resin etc)

Is it something you would buy and test out?

I have now posted a second part to this review. Testing the stripper on different plastics and resins.

You can find it >>HERE<<

Hendybadger out

UPDATE:

Set up another 24 hour test with different plastics and resins as people have requested