Advice on repainting a model

[Titcher]

Hello all,

I have picked up some ironjaw models second hand and the colour of their armour does not matchange the army I am painting. How would you suggest repainting the model? 

Could I just go over the armour in a black undercoat and repaint the armour to my colour or should I strip the models and start again?

Also, how would you strip a plastic model? I have only ever stripped metal models before and just used dettoll and soap before. Would this work on plastic?

Thanks in advance

[Redking]

Simple Green is an easy way to strip models.  Just leave it to soak for a couple of hours or a day, then scrub with an old toothbrush (not your wife's).  If you are in the states, you can pick up L.A. Awesome from Dollar General.  It's a generic version that's cheaper and just as effective.

If the paint is not thick, you could just go over it in thin layers.  However, I would probably strip.

[Mohojoe]

If you are U.K. Based I find dettol works with a bit of elbow grease. Don't cheap out though, I bought a budget version and it did next to nothing on my plastics.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[TheOtherJosh]

Works with plastic apparently as well. As long as they're not finecast you should be okay with Dettol.

 

Here's a good article on using dettol with plastic from Boardgame Geek:

 

https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/17505/how-strip-paint-dettol

 

p.s. Wear gloves when cleaning with Dettol. It can be dangerous and/lethal if ingested or inhaled.

 

[Davariel]

I don't have anything to add regarding stripping the paint from models, but I'll just say this:

Whatever you do, do NOT undercoat and paint the armour again. After that many layers you will lose detail due to the thickness of the paint, and it'll probably look mismatched with the areas of the model that haven't been repainted (I speak from experience here).

Just giving the armour a wash or a fine edge highlight to tie it to your army without fully repainting it would probably be okay though, but might not give you the look you want. 

[Titcher]

Thanks all. The armour has been painted yellow and my army is orange so does need changing.  Looks like I will be stripping this weekend...models that is.

Thanks for your advice everyone

[Cordova]

Dettol can be a bit messy, and if you don't do it right (get water on the paint-Dettol mix before getting the Dettol off), you can get some interesting "nobbles" of hardened paint on the model.

Another option's methylated spirits (NB I've not tried this): 

 

If you're not sure, you could always paint up a bit of sprue and try it on that.

 

[Criti]

12 hours ago, Davariel said:

I don't have anything to add regarding stripping the paint from models, but I'll just say this:

Whatever you do, do NOT undercoat and paint the armour again. After that many layers you will lose detail due to the thickness of the paint, and it'll probably look mismatched with the areas of the model that haven't been repainted (I speak from experience 

I'm going to argue this with experience of my own... with clarifiers.

1) how many models are we talking?

2) how thick is the existing paint?

3) what standard are you happy to paint to?

If it's a small handful of models,  the paint isn't globbed on,  and you're looking for standard tabletop models,  you can just paint over it.   Especially if it's a smaller model in the army as a whole, like an Ardboy.  If we're talking something bulky that people will be looking at closely, like a Megaboss or even a Brute, strip it.

The reality is that there is no reason to take the extra steps if no one's ever going to notice.  We've all already got too much to paint.