There are a few options here, do it outside, open all the windows but risk your house smelling IPA with others breathing in the fumes. If you have an Airbrush extractor turn this on. Or my personal Favourite Use an airbrush face mask if you are planning on stripping models for a few hours. Isopropyl alcohol (IUPAC name propan-2-ol; commonly called isopropanol) is a compound with the chemical formula C3H8O. It is a colourless, flammable chemical compound with a strong odour. As an isopropyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, it is the simplest example of a secondary alcohol, where the alcohol carbon atom is attached to two other carbon atoms. It is a structural isomer of 1-propanol. The main reason for this is that most of the products here are very country-specific. Even the generic products like brake fluid and nail polish remover. People tend to want to see the ‘exact’ product used in other people’s examples and buy that exact product to get the exact same results. The issue here is that in your country, you’re probably subject to entirely different brands than those shown in the example you see. So you won’t get your hands on that exact one you want. The best examples I’ve seen are somewhere between SimpleGreen and Super Clean. You can’t get these in the UK, the best thing you can get in the UK is Dettol, an antiseptic and disinfectant which works for me but it’s really expensive and makes a hell of a mess!

I was fairly sure that the last time I bought this for the same price that it was a lot bigger. Its good stuff (i use it to strip paint from miniatures) but I just wish it was in a bigger pot or a little cheaper. Would it work? yes, I suppose, depending on the brand… would it work as well? again, it may or it may not, depending on the brand. But the point here was that Isopropanol isn’t a brand it’s a cheap product that does the job well and is available from anywhere. You can make all manner of thinners or drying retarders for your paints, I’ve not looked into this too much myself but mixed with a few other chemicals and household products you can apparently make some great support fluids at a fraction of the cost of what they sell for in stores. I’ll have a go at this for a future blog post. Just make sure you have some dropper bottles to store your mixes in. With isopropyl you're getting 100% good stuff. Now I have heard that isopropyl can soften resin minis, I haven't tried it myself. It probably depends how long you let it soak but I would be cautious before dipping a titan in. If you do want to try it maybe use an unwanted model first.IPA, Isopropyl alcohol, is a fire hazard as stated before, so avoid heat sources and especially open flames. And as all volatile alcohols, you need a well ventilated workspace to avoid dizziness from the vapours - the boiling point may be relatively high but its vapour pressure makes it quite volatile. Again these aren’t just useful to Strip Paint off Miniatures, they are great for keeping your greasy mitts off the models during painting and give you a better finish. Also to test how loaded your brush is before applying paint to your model. As I’m not a Chemist or Medical Expert I do need to caveat this post with a warning and story of my own experience so here we go; How to Strip Paint Off Miniatures – WARNING!

For plastic, primed, painted and then varnished minis, I have found that if left in ISPA for 24-36 hours, the paint will slide right off. However, the crucial bit here is to not hold it under a running faucet while scrubbing the paint off - if necessary, wetten your brush with the ISPA and scrub the mini. Once all paint is dislodged, run it through some water. I don’t want to scare anyone off the stuff, I can’t imagine it’s any worse than using neat bleach, some people use this stuff to clean wounds. But during my first experience using it I was so happy with the results I persisted in stripping minis for a good 6-8 hours solid. With latex gloves and no mask, sitting over the mini I was stripping, breathing in the fumes almost constantly. Also, I was in a poorly ventilated garage and at the end of this, I learned I had pierced a hole in my gloves so I had been absorbing it through my skin. I always use nitrile gloves when handling this stuff, and wear my airbrush face mask to avoid inhalation. You need to be careful stripping minis as the pointy sharp bits on them can pierce your gloves and before you know it you’ve been soaking neat alcohol through your skin for several hours (maybe get some marigolds if you’re that worried). And just to be extra precautious, I don’t drink the damn stuff…. because that’s just dumb!You don't need to fill the whole container, if you fill it to half submerge your mins you can turn them half way through the procedure, saving alcohol Note that I never had any issues on resin either. As stated font soak minis too long as the material itself may be resistant but the solvent may remove plasticisers, addives etc which can render the mini softer or brittle. It’s been only 4 days since I published this post and it’s already received quite a lot of interest. in fact, it has been the most popular post on the blog since I launched! There have been a few comments and questions about resin. The duration to leave your models for will vary depending on the type of paint stripper you’re using, as well as what material your models are made of. For Biostrip 20, the perfect time seems to be around 6 hours. Leave in place until the paint has completely blistered or softened (time taken will vary depending upon paint type, number of layers and ambient temperature)