Stripping paint from plastic miniatures

When looking for advice on how to remove paint from miniatures, I found many different opinions. Here you find what worked for me and what I will continue to use unless I stumble across something better.

For the bulk of the plastic miniatures I used Sterilium. This stuff is made as hand disinfectant for medical use. The alcohol in it reliably breaks up the binding agent in paint and turns it into a rubbery mess. A firm brushing of the model will slide that mess right off it in the best case or flake off in the worst case.

While fishing for models at first, I then found a really handy way to do this. I beheaded thick walled PET plastic bottles so that the lid of the glass jar fits even though the bottle is in there. I cut a bunch of small triangular holes into the bottle about an inch up from the bottom. With these openings, the liquid can flow into the bottles as they are submerged and out of them as they are removed without trouble. Note: Please don't stab yourself if you do this, the bottles are quite slippery.

The picture shows an Iyanden army ready to take the plunge into the blue Sterilium. After leaving the minis in the stuff for half an hour, paint may already be loose and come off with some brushing. I pull out the bottle and drop it's content into a sink with the drain closed. Then I brush the parts off with a nylon brush. If the parts are clean, I put them into another container, if paint is remaining I put them back into the bottle and that later back in the jar.

Note that Sterilium is supposed to return fat to the user's hands, which of course isn't wanted for the miniatures and the paint in their future. So I hit it with a bit of dishwashing detergent and warm water. I like to do this in an ultrasound cleaning gadget. The vibration shakes paint bits loose from spaces you just cannot reach with a brush.

I've left miniatures in this stuff for a month by accident, without harm comming to the plastic or its details.

Anyway, maybe this helps someone. =]