Recap of the informations we have on the preparation and stripping of Siocast plastic minis. [Edit: Add of a post about Unicool plastic, below in a separate post] Terminology [14:41] Koni (CB Staff): Plastic Resin = Unicool Thermoplastic injected = Siocast 1. Preparation/Cleaning/Disposal For cleaning/deburring, use a cutter (or model knife, as you wish) and a thin sandpaper to smooth out the shapes, do not use a lime (and a rough sandpaper) to avoid linting the plastic. Concerning the preparation, the components are glued with super glue cyano lambda, not with plastic glue. Primer is not necessary (but priming to obtain a zenithal lighting remains practical if you don't make a very basic tabletop). Tip against siocast resin fuzz Post: https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threa...he-metal-miniaturses.43130/page-3#post-474286 Post: https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threa...he-metal-miniaturses.43130/page-4#post-474485
2. Stripping the paint Just copy/past of his text. <?> There are pictures of the tests in the sourced pages. Source LossofLieutenant: https://www.facebook.com/LossofLieu...twajPHnGHXGuD2wfJEixXUJvWaDpFRPDySl?__tn__=-R Vostok Stripping Test Part 1 Ok folks. Below are some findings from using several chemicals to strip paint from the plastic Vostok to see what happens. I'll run through what I did in each test, my conclusion and what will be tried next. Any questions, hit us up in the comments: Tests: Test 1: Acetone A piece of the Vostok (primed with GW and a layer of red contrast) was left to soak in Acetone overnight. The next day, I was able to brush off the majority of paint and observed no softening or damage to the plastic. The red tended to cling onto the cracks and crevices of the model which required more than just a firm brush but was otherwise impressed with this method. It was rinsed and left overnight to see if the plastic changed. No change observed (there are some pictures of what looks like fluff, this is just from the cloth I used to dry the miniature). Test 2: Paint/laquer Thinner A piece of undercoated only vostok was left to soak. Within minutes I observed paint flaking and dissolving from the mini. A quick brush after an hour cleaned the miniature entirely. I left for a further few hours before removing and rinsing the piece and left overnight. The next day, I observed some softening of the edges and what may be described as mottling or blotting on the surface. Running a fingernail along the edges produced some scratching and scoring and what has been described as "fluffy" edges. Attempts to fix these with a needle file or knife caused more harm than good. It appears the thinner broke down part of the plastic, making it permanently softer and therefore more difficult to work with. Test 3: isopropyl alcohol A piece of undercoated and painted (GW contrast) vostok was left to soak for several hours. Upon removal, I was able to brush the paint off, including in the hard to reach places, with relative ease. Unfortunately, as with the thinner, the plastic appears to have been softened by this process and produced some minor imperfections around the edges. It is hard to tell if the method was responsible for the damage, or my general handling of the piece (it broke off the mini earlier). Either way, the paint was stripped quickly and effectively, and what damage occured was minor. A further test shall be carried out over a longer period of time to see if the alcohol breaks down the plastic further. Test 4: Brewclean Brewclean is a solvent free, citric acid based cleaner, similar to Simple Green. Left overnight to soak. The following day, I was able to remove most of the paint by rubbing or scraping with a fingernail. This method did not remove the paint as easily as the above methods, requiring more work to scrape the paint off. However, the plastic appears unaffected by this process, definitely the most gentle of methods Test 5: Detergent A piece was left to soak overnight in some household detergent. It did nothing, test failed Conclusion: It appears acetone is the best method of cleaning the plastic. It cleans it more thoroughly than Brewclean, but without the damage from harsher chemicals. 1st place: Acetone 2nd place: isopropyl alcohol 3rd place: Brewclean 4th place: Paint Thinner 5th place: detergent Part 2, I will be trying out the following: - Simple Green - White Spirit - Turps - Repeat of Acetone and isopropyl alcohol for longer soak period - Repeat test with heavier layers of paint Source LossofLieutenant: https://www.facebook.com/LossofLieutenant/posts/4382338381825986 Vostok Stripping Test Part 2 Part 2 of the test was carried out with additional thick layer of red spray paint to simulate second-hand miniature being stripped Tests: Simple Green: Painted piece left overnight in concentrated solution of Simple Green. Was able to remove paint down to plastic by scraping with finger nail. Not overly impressed with this method. Too much effort. No damage observed to plastic. Dettol: Painted piece left overnight in concentrated solution of Dettol. Was able to remove paint down to plastic by rubbing and brushing. Surprised with effectiveness of paint removal. After rinsing in cold water, observed softening of plastic to the point was able to score model with fingernail. Plastic did reharden once fully dried. White Spirit/Mineral Turps: Painted piece left overnight. Was able to remove most of the paint down to plastic by rubbing and brushing. Some paint was stuck in crevices and was unable to fully remove, leaving some sticky clumps on the model. No damage to plastic witnessed. Iso-Propyl Alcohol: Painted piece left overnight in Iso-Propyl Alcohol. This time, the alcohol didn’t do as good a job of removing the thicker red coat of paint, but better than white spirit or turps. Like in the first test, softening of the plastic was observed and damage occurred on the tracks whilst attempting to scrape away loose paint. Acetone: Painted piece left overnight in Acetone. Unlike last time, paint was completely removed from piece with little brushing or cleaning required, most likely due to it being left in longer. Also, unlike last time, some softening and minor clouding noted on the plastic after rinsing, however it returned to its original hardness once fully dried Conclusion: Was disappointed with Simple Green after hearing about it’s cleaning properties, but perhaps it wasn’t left in long enough. Dettol really surprised me with its ability to thoroughly clean the piece, however the smell and softening of the plastic is of concern. Thoroughly rinse and dry piece before using White Spirit and Turps were very similar to each other. Also, was happy to see no damage to the plastic. The clumping and sticking of the paint to the mini was a little disappointing. The repeat test of Iso-propyl and Acetone was to thoroughly test their properties. Iso-Propyl was very impressive on both tests, however, prolonged exposure to the plastic caused it to soften and become damaged. Acetone on the other hand, gave a superior clean and appears to have left the plastic mostly intact. In saying that, I would caution leaving it in a solution for too long as some minor softening was noted on the gun, though it did return to its original hardness once dried. Final Ranking : 1st Place: Acetone. Superior cleaning, cheap and doesn’t damage the plastic, provided it isn’t left too long and allowed to fully dry before manipulating. 2nd Place: White Spirit/Turps. Good cleaning but not great. Might require longer soaking and better tools, stiff brush/toothbrush. Only in 2nd place due to no damage done to plastic 3rd Place: Dettol. Great cleaning ability but be sure to rinse and dry thoroughly. Be careful, some softening observed 4th Place: BrewClean: Ok cleaning but no damage to plastic observed. Better cleaning may have been achieved if left for longer or in warm solution. 5th Place: Iso-Propyl Alcohol/Paint Thinner: Great cleaning but softening of the plastic is a concern 6th Place: Simple Green. I know some swear by it, but it did nothing for me.
Recap Infos for Unicool In this year of 2023, details about Unicool plastic are rare, as the material is new, but here is a post that is here to gather what we know. For the moment, UNICOOL seems to have the same properties to the preparation as Siocast or any plastic of miniature game of top of the range. 1. Review Marut and Ayyar - We test the new Unicool! From spanish warcor Graviton Transcription & Summary:
Siocast can be cleaned with acetone? I obsessively repaint my minis all too frequently, but if acetone is still good then I'm now far less concerned about creeping siofication of the game. Great idea for a thread.
For info I added a video from Creature Caster which seemed interesting as a complement and I added a mention on the no need for primer. For the stripping, personally I don't strip very often, for what I read on the internet, it is not advised to strip too often the plastic figurines under penalty of damaging them. I tried to search on the internet for their technical data sheet with the usual safety recommendations which could have contained reactions to the products but I didn't find any, nor did I see any thread on stripping in the communities of other brands using siocast, therefore we will be restricted to acetone and white spirit as the best method.
@Wizzy Did you do much testing with PVC miniatures, like the Aristeia ones? I didn't have many test candidates I could sacrifice, wondering if there are things more thorough than IPA I've stuck with for them, but still safe for PVC minis.
Dettol has isopropanol. That could explain the softening. You could try with ethanol (ethyl alcohol), or something that has it. In some countries the first aid kit alcohol is that at 96° plus some crap to avoid people drinking it. Based in pages about chemical resistance of nylon / polyamides, that kind of alcohol should approach or match acetone. Maybe also try lighter fluid (naptha).
For your information I have added a post with the information we have on Unicool. https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threa...ng-siocast-unicool-plastic.41576/#post-442819
Usually methanol. I stripped my vostok with it (wasn't satisfied with my original basecoat, so stripped it off ) had no issues, but no prolonged submersion - just a toothbrush dipped in it and a good scrub.
Isn't methanol highly toxic? The crap I remember listed as additive for first aid kit alcohol was bitrex, so still ethanol like in alcoholic beverages, just nasty taste. Which means using it to clean a teeth protector requires a second cleaning with water. But at least not playing with danger.
It's toxic, yes - it's added to ethanol to make "methylated spirits" and it's added so people DON'T drink it (because people WILL drink absolute ethanol* - and that shit is nasty enough). Methanol is ALSO produced as a normal part of alcohol distillation (and the main reason why so many barn/backyard stills resulted in blindness and/or madness. It's hard to separate from ethanol in a backyard still. So usually the first xxml from a batch is discarded. It also evaporates at a relatively low temperature - A warm sunny day with a good breeze will take care of that. *As opposed to 'Absolut' which is a Swedish Vodka. One of my brothers-in-law works in a chem plant that produces Methylated spirits (ethanol/methanol blend cleaning solvent), isopropyl alcohol (96%) and a bunch of other industrial solvents.
I remember a couple of news about people drinking contaminated alcohol in recent years, which sounds like they did not know or noticed any funny taste. With what you said about destilation, it looks like methanol can go unnoticed too easily, explaining the news I saw. Thus I prefer, and recommend, to stay away from problematic types, and go with awful taste but "safe". If you ask me, I wonder why selling poisonous version is allowed, when there are ways to make it undrinkable (while taxing the drinkable one). OK, not undrinkable, some people have non-working tongues... then die slower. *sigh* I hope bitrex still works with kids.
Because Ethanol is ALSO toxic. Isopropanol is also toxic. EVERYTHING is chemicals, everything is toxic, DOSE/exposure matters, not so much the compound. Water will kill you. Caffeine will kill you (but if you drink the required number of cups of coffee to get to this limit, the water content of the coffees will have killed you first).
Well, yes, that is the reason I wrote "safe", not harmless or safe-without-quotes, referring to ethanol: go with safer options first. The point is that methanol seriously hurts (destruction of optical nerves) and even kills in small doses, becoming dangerous too easily. I assume that is the reason methanol got removed from formulas in places like EU and NZ. Ethanol higher dose means there is more time to notice problems oneself, or those around you get more chances to stop you, so it becomes a learning experience as "adventurous" baby (my choice was potted plants) or pet, instead of your last one.
Which is why I use PPE when handling this stuff. Because I'm not a muppet. Gloves, goggs and respirator. The majority of gamers, though, are lazy AF and wouldn't know PPE if it bit them in the face.
I added this note from Koni. Terminology [14:41] Koni (CB Staff): Plastic Resin = Unicool Thermoplastic injected = Siocast
Indexation a tip from tristan228. Tip against siocast resin fuzz Post: https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threa...he-metal-miniaturses.43130/page-3#post-474286 Post: https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threa...he-metal-miniaturses.43130/page-4#post-474485
Just so you know, I've added a tip from chromedog. It's in the process of being turned into a modelling tip.
