Recently, I read up on stripping metal and plastic miniatures with Dettol. People seem to say it works, so I thought I'd give it a go. Dettol- check. Badly painted miniatures I inherited from my cousin - check. Let the chemical warfare commence.
Plus points:
1. I found bottles of this shit in Poundland. For US readers, this is a shop where everything is £1. What a bargain. This place is where dreams are made.
2. It works. Very very well indeed.
Negative points:
This stuff is to be feared. Obviously if it strips paint off stuff, you don't want to drink it. Or get it on your skin. I was warned to wear gloves. So I did. I found a pair of Marigolds (rubber household gloves as a reference point for non UK folks and those with a fear of household cleaning) in the cupboard below the kitchen sink. Those mothers are pretty thick, so I thought I'd risk those rather than trying out the thin latex type ones I use for spraying.
This may have been a daft decision in retrospect. Dettol seemingly dissolves rubber. The surface of the gloves got messed up real quick. and melted all over the old toothbrushes I was using to clean the miniatures up.
As you can see, resting atop an old piece of lemon and a tub of dip are a couple of toothbrushes all gunged up with melted rubber. Plus aforementioned gloves.
I think I've been lucky in that it didn't come through the gloves (I hope). Apparently I won't know until a couple of days after. If my skin starts falling off painfully, it did get through.
Bearing this in mind, I'm going to have to look up what type of gloves won't dissolve in Dettol before I use this shit again.
If I suffer any ill effects, I'll report back.
Here's a video I found the other week on Youtube.
Word.
Wow, who'd have thought Dettol was that harsh? Been a while since I've used it, but I don't remember it being that evil.... Have heard it's good for stripping though. I think latex works fine for gloves. I think.
ReplyDeleteIt's bonkers. I don't really understand why it takes a couple of days for your skin to start coming off. All I can say is so far so good. My skin is thus far intact.
DeleteI'm going to pick up some extra latex gloves today and double bag my hands next time I use the stuff - just to be sure!!
My skin is intact, by the way. I've also done a second test using latex gloves, which were fine.
DeleteI put 2 pairs on at once just to be safe, as the miniatures can tear the thin latex easily when you are handling them.
I've only recently become a convert. It works great for metal minis - but you need to leave it a long time for plastic tanks to be sure. The "gunk" created from the stripped paint is the worst, most sticky and staining shit known to man. If you don't quite get it all off then the gunk will hang on despite further dettoling. Always good to be sure.
ReplyDeleteBad experiences include: stained clothing and stripped radiator as the dettol ate the bag and bucket it was sitting in. I reckon it was coming for me next...
I've currently got mine sat in a protein shake cup ( I think that's what they are called) that a mate left round my place about 10 months back (sorry Graham!!).
DeleteIt's not showed any sign of eating through it yet thankfully!!