See that imperial look, that nobility and the high standard of moral values Karl Franz embodies ? Of course you don't. Nothing here to see but inch think layers of hard enamels and gruesome gore effects... URGH...
But hey ! What's the matter, all we need is a good seesion at the strip club. We'll show those enamels (with Vincent Price's voice) the evil of the strrripper !
Now it had been a while since I last had a model so poorly painted to strip. Like 5 years ago actually. I'm going to show some models I've stripped before, just to attest (did I need to prove anything ?) that I'm not exactly new in stripping town.
All of these with little effort and a bit more acetone or Dettol.
This just didn't seem humanly possible to ruin a model like this :
Aaaaanyway, Good ol' Karl got his acetone bath just like all the others in more than 25 years of stripping models. But the enamels proved to be a bit tenacious to my liking after 2 baths in acetone so I just decided to give Dettol a go. With very little added succes. Even after 2 baths and toothbrush sessions this was the result :
This is not exactly what I expected at that point. It usually takes me seconds to stripo old lead and this was the first model to ever resist me in a life time of hobby.
Now I had heard from many french people they were deeply fond of Glanzer to stripo anything so I did give that a try ;
Now I got very excited about this as I could see the paint flaking off a few seconds after pouring the liquid on the model. This was promising. VERY promising.
But it was actually just as disapointing...
Now here's the result after stripping them and having a go with white spirit. That's right, at this point, I had tried :
- 2 long (days) baths and scrubbing session with Acetone
- 2 long (days) baths and scrubbing session with Dettol
- 2 long (days) baths and scrubbing session with Glanzer
- 2 long (days) baths and scrubbing session with White spirit
Now for good measures I did try Isopropyl alcohol with very limited success and then went for a final long (week) bath of dettol followed by a session with a needle and tooth pick to remove any traces of paint.
5 different products over a few weeks and about 10 or so scrubbing sessions, that's a personal record. It will probabably take me less time and anergy to actually paint it !
The model is still not perfect but I suspect it's paintable now. I didn't want to do anything more at that point because although I'm using a toothbrush for kids and a toothpick mostly, the soft old lead was starting to be losing details.
Quite frightening isn't it ? At least I got to have a good look at the model so it will already be familiar when I get to painting it. It's Perry Goodness at its top so unless the details are too damaged it should be a very enjoyable process.
Getting the feathers back on the Gryphon was even more of a chore and that's where I really hope it doesn't make painting a mess :
Funnily enough, I have already painted thismodel a long time ago for my DnD DM (that was13 years ago I guess) and filling the gaps on it brought back fond memories of our sessions and my Paladin Seu. It also brought back the memories of what an absolute bastard of a model it is to fill gaps on...
That's all for now, I'm preparing myself for March's painting which will include a bit more chaos for my renegades and something a bit different with my very first take on a different scale. ^^
What a wonderful post. Well done on the persistence in stripping the minis. I always like the empire figures if not the fantasy rule set itself.The Titanicus miniatures takes me back I'm looking forward to seeing it painted.
ReplyDeleteI'll try and do justice to both then !
DeleteThanks !
Why haven't you painted all those space pirates? I demand to know!
ReplyDeleteI've painted 7 of the models there and traded more than half, there are still 4-5 of them unpainted though...
DeleteJBG you have to love paint jobs that obscure the details so much! And I thought my pre-teen paint jobs were bad but they look like Golden Demon winners compared to that one squat! I’ve also found that a dental pic helps het into the nooks that a toothbrush cannot reach or simply cannot dislodge.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Karl Franz and his mount were only 5€ and the models above a job lot for about 30 quid but it was a gamble on what I'd find underneath the paint I reckon ! ^^
DeleteI do have some very fine dental tools but the real issue is to avoid damaging the model as it's soft lead.
I don't know that I could ever muster that kind of persistence to strip a figure.
ReplyDeleteOn the real positive, I can refer back here for a "lessons painfully learned"
It became personal at some point, my ego was at stake, simple as that. ^^
Deleteoh, I so totally get that. lol
DeleteThere's some super toxic shit that I found here that works a treat JB. I actually have to buy some more, when I do I'll let you know what it's made from. No point in giving you the brand, just its chemical name.
ReplyDeleteYou guys have so much dangerous stuff we don't have access to... ^^
DeleteIf all else fails you could always try the cure-all that is olive oil :P
DeleteAsslessman painting 6mm scale models ? Yes, please :)
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be a very first for me ! ^^
DeleteThat is some serious work to strip that poor figure. I wonder what went on it in the first place? Seems like too much adherence for simple enamels.
ReplyDeleteI think it's the sheer thickness of it that made it so hard to remove, chemicals will only affect it to a certain point if they don't dissolve it, acetone usually works well because it dissolves material and eventually gets everything but those enamels resist it and only the surface is altered by the other products I used I suppose.
DeleteWell, you wouldn't expect good ol' Karl Franz to surrender without a fight, would you?
ReplyDeleteReally looking forward to seeing what you do with it. And of course with Titans! Yay!
Well Karl sure did hold on to his old paintjob !
DeleteI had some good luck with castrol super clean degreaser. I did sorta leave things in the drink for a few weeks and walked away though. That is a seriously rough paint job, thanks for sharing the 'before' photos.
ReplyDeleteIt's honestly the first time in a hobby life time so I suppose I should be fine for a while without getting 5 new products but that was still annoying ! ^^
DeleteAh titans I'm going to have to keep waiting until the re-release shows up before I can join in that fun (maybe finish moving first as well). I also stand in awe of your paint-stripping persistence, by the time the gunk is that far in the recesses I tend to go 'ah well' and just primer the problem away. As an aside have you tried bio-strip 20? I switched away from Acetone and Dettol both in favor of it. It's non-toxic, works on metal and plastic and although it smells like a fermentation well in use the smell does not persist and you can wash it away with soap. I love it, come to think of it, I've praised it so many times by now I should get sponsorship :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever seen it in France but I'll have a closer look. I'm sure you could find the time for a little titan, Adeptus Titanicus is still in a while come on !
DeleteGood luck for moving home !
That original paintjob is disturbing - like someone envisioned him as a cannibal (note the blood around his mouth).
ReplyDeleteAlso: yay, old plastic titans!
I have NO idea what idea went through the painter's head honestly... Not sure I want to know either ! ^^
DeleteTamiya Airbrush Cleaner is allegedly a very good cleaner in that it can dissolve dried acrylic as well as lacquer paints. Not sure if it would work on stripping paint as I haven't tried it but just putting it out there!
ReplyDeleteI suppose that might be a solution as well, I do think a sonic bath would have been useful since it's a mechanic action, the thickness of the paint in the recesses is probabbly the reason why none worked perfectly.
Delete