Feldgrau.net

...a VERY useful tip, for those of us into lead/pewter/zinc etc. wargaming miniatures. Ever bought these secondhand, or wanted to redo a poxy paintjob? ...and as you know, paintstripper is good, but not brilliant, always leaves SOME behind in bloody awkward places.

Well, there IS a solution - quite literally! IF theyre painted in modelling enamels, as used to be the ONLY way to do it - in bygone years before the "awful" creation of acrylics.....

Cheap liquid ovencleaner in a handpump bottle!

Put the miniatures in a glass container - even a tumbler! - fill to the top with the liquid oven cleaner. Walk away. Come back 48 hours later and wash them clean in cold water.

And my god will they be clean!!!

Hi Phylo,

Where were you with this information in 1976 when I bought a cheap but badly painted Minifigs Napoleonic Bavarian army and tried to strip it to repaint it as the entire Baden Army? There are still the bodies of eight infantry battalions, a guards battalion, a jaeger battalion, two regiments of light dragoons, a liebgarde squadron, heavy and horse artillery conpanies and and engineer company littering the attic like the aftermath of a paraticularly bloody segment of Borodino!

By the way, have you read "Achtung Schweinhund. A Boy's Own Story of Imaginary Combat" by Harry Pearson? (Little, Brown, London, 2007). [£9.99]

It is the very funny memoirs of a devoted wargamer in his 50s. It is a must read for those of us overgrown boys nostalgic for the simple world of early 1970s wargaming, model making, etc.

Cheers,

Sid.

....in 1976 I was doing the bad painting! Hence the wondrousness of this tip now!!!

Looking at all those wonderful Minifigs' Alexander Nevsky figures under their paint and dust and thinking...."Kingdom of Heaven"!!!

I agree Sid, Achtung Schweinhund is a little gem. All I have to do now is dog out some of the old Don Featherstone books to comlete the trip down memory lane

Howard.

Don wrote some great books!

I remember one in particlar about Western Desert wargaming in WWII, at a 1 model = 1 tank scale. Very good.
He was a Veteran, I believe.