Hobby Hack: Oxi Clean As A Paint Stripper

When I got back in to hobbying, after many years away, I decided that I was going to repaint most of my older models. They looked…awful. But prior to doing that, I needed to try to strip the 20 year old pain off of the models. After polling some friends, and reading some articles, I decided to try the Simple Green method. It ended up working well enough, but took quite some time. Like a few days per soak. I also tried the Isopropyl Alcohol method. This took about the same amount to time as the Simple Green, but I had a hell of an issue with it. The smell. I must of fried my nostrils and brain cells something fierce. It was so bad that I had to open the windows and set up fans. It actually took a couple of days for my sense of smell to fully return. There had to be a better way…

I really only found a few methods for stripping paint on the interwebs. Two were discussed above. The other was paint thinner. So later on during the pandemic, while I was thinking about stripping some Orks, I got to thinking about different things that could be used. In doing so I stumbled upon something that showed promise. I got the idea when my wife asked me to order some from Amazon for cleaning around the house. It is an extremely versatile product. You can use it in the laundry, for cleaning around the house, stain removal on the carpet, and yes, stripping paint from miniatures.

I did not know what to expect when I did my first experiment using Oxi Clean. As I have never seen anything about using this stuff for this purpose. But I was kind of blown away when I saw the results, and how fast it worked. This stuff removed quite a bit of the 20+ year old horrible craft paints I used on my old Orks and Grethin. Plastic and Pewter.


[Disclaimer]

Before I explain my process, I will start with a warning. This stuff can be dangerous. It comes with printed warnings for a reason. I found this all out the hard way. It contains some pretty volatile stuff that doesn’t necessarily work well with important things like eyes or skin. I more or less got a lite chemical burn on a few fingers. I was wearing my wedding ring during one use, and there was some kind of reaction with the ring and my finger. The ring came out looking pristine though. Definitely use gloves and be careful.


Materials

  • Oxi Clean
  • Luke warm water
  • Towel or paper towels
  • Miniatures that need stripping
  • Plastic bowl (do not use a lid or cover)
  • Toothbrush
  • Strainer
  • Gloves

My stunt-mini is Iron Man, from Marvel Crisis Protocol. I was very unhappy with his paint job. I used way too many layers.

Steps

  1. Fill your container with warm water. Leave space at the top of the container. The solution will foam over time. Do not use a lid or cover.
  2. Add the Oxi Clean. Depending on how many models I am putting in the container, I use just enough to cover the bottom of the container by a quarter inch or so, and fully turn the water white. The powder will continue to release over time.
  3. Stir the solution a bit.
  4. Add your mini. It will probably float. So maybe think about weighting it down with the toothbrush. That isn’t really needed though.
  5. Wait. I generally wait about 5 or 6 hours. But some paints take longer.
  6. Periodically stir the contents of the container.
  7. Remove the mini.
  8. Scrub and rinse the mini over the sink, using a strainer to catch any bits that may fall. This solution also can loosen up super glue. So be careful.
  9. Re-soak the mini as needed. Then scrub again.

You can see the Oxi Clean working. There is a constant reaction. It actually agitates the model.

The solution really starts to foam up after an hour or so.
After some time the paint starts to change color. Almost looks saturated.

After just about six hours, I removed Iron Man from his bath and gave him a scrub. Most of the paint scrubs right off. But some paints are more stubborn than others. So i decided to give him another soak

I pull Mr. Stark out of the bath once more, after about 9.5 hours. Once again scrubbing the paint away. Even the varnished portion(the arc reactor) scrubs off now.

The paint starts to fleck off.

I decided to put him back in the bath. This time over night. Just to see exactly how much I could actually remove from this model. I used way too many layers on this mini. Spray, contrast, base colors, layers, shades. This is the result after a 24 hours soak. I can chip some more off with a modeling tool as well.


As you can see, Oxi Clean is a totally viable method for removing paint from minis. I’ve used it on plastic and pewter. I have yet to try resin though. It does not remove all of the paint. In fairness, though, non of the methods I have tried successfully removed 100% of the paint. There is always something left behind. Some paints are very stubborn. Blacks, Reds, and Metallic colors tend to remain. As I mentioned above, be careful when scrubbing the minis. Iron Man’s right leg, became unglued. And smaller bits can fall off.

I hope this Hobby Hack can help! Leave any questions in the comments below.


Afterword

In preparing this article, after I had set up the container and started the timer, I knocked the whole thing over. Spilling Oxi Clean water everywhere on the counter and floor in the kitchen. I was kind of upset. And then after my wife and I cleaned up my mess, we noticed that the floor looked impeccable. So, Oxi Clean can also clean tile kitchen floors.

[This post was originally published at Otherverse Games & Hobbies]



Robert

All of these are true except for one:

Robert is: a Hobbyist, a Music Lover, an RPG Gamer, a Mustard Lover, Chaotic Neutral, a Japanese Speaker, a Veteran, an Otaku, a Table Tennis Player, an Anime Fan, an Aviation Professional, a New York Rangers Fan, a Chaos Lover With Loyalist Tendencies.

More about Robert | Robert’s contributions