How best to clean Plastic pre-painted Minis?

[Steel_Wind]

So I have a Star Wars: Saga Edition campaign underway and I have amassed a very large collection of Star Wars pre-painted minis for use in play. (800+ miniatures! Rock on!)

I borrowed a complete set of Rebel Storm and Clone Wars minis last night. They've been on the shelf for nearly four years at a friend's and have gone unused in that time. There has been cigarette smoke and dust that has accumulated on those mnis over the years. They are in fine shape - but they are dusty and a little sticky.

I'd like to clean the accumulated dust off of them safely without damaging the underlying paint jobs.

Does anybody have direct experience in cleaning plastic minis and have a suggestion on the best method/product I should use to clean them that will:

• get the dust and sticky grime off of them nicely; and
• not damage the underlying paint job?

 

[Stormtower]

I've had great success using just warm water and gentle, non-abrasive cloths to clean the pre-painted plastic. I have close to 3,000 DDM minis and this simple technique even gets the evil industrial "grey dust" from the Unhallowed set to come off.

Generally speaking, I just run the minis under a warm stream of water, or else i fill a wide, shallow basin with the water and then shake the minis around in the water in batches and dry them off. The very best cleaning cloths are the ones used for computer monitors... i don't know what it is, but they lift the dust off very efficiently.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tortoise]

I've had great success using just warm water and gentle, non-abrasive cloths to clean the pre-painted plastic. I have close to 3,000 DDM minis and this simple technique even gets the evil industrial "grey dust" from the Unhallowed set to come off.

Generally speaking, I just run the minis under a warm stream of water, or else i fill a wide, shallow basin with the water and then shake the minis around in the water in batches and dry them off. The very best cleaning cloths are the ones used for computer monitors... i don't know what it is, but they lift the dust off very efficiently.

Hope this helps.

The basin of warm water and a soft cloth has worked well for me. Haven't tried the monitor cleaners yet, sounds like a winner.

 

[Samurai]

I agree... warm water is best. If you really can't get the grime off, maybe try liquid hand soap? It shouldn't harm the pre-painted figures.

 

[JustKim]

I frequently boiled my DDM to correct bent bases or curled weapons. The paint did not crease or relax at all.

Before I repainted some dragons I also immersed them in soapy water and scrubbed with a toothbrush to get rid of mold release agent. They looked brand new right up to the point I doused them with primer.

Strong soaps and extreme temperatures won't do your miniatures any harm, but if they're sticky, I wonder if that will be enough to clean them. The reason the monitor wipes work so well is that they're soaked with particles that are ready to snatch up other particles.

Water is a strong attractant- this is what makes life possible- and tap water carries other particles with it. Water that comes without strings attached is called deionized or distilled water, and that works much better for cleaning. You can get distilled water for pretty cheap. Deionized water is really more for science, but you can get distilled water by the gallon at the grocery.

 

[crazy_cat]

I've always found warm soapy water and a soft toothbrush (as recommended above) work well - followed by a rinse in clean water.

 

[Pbartender]

Put them in the utensil basket in the your dishwasher*.


*But test it with one or two of your less important minis first, just in case.

 

[Shadowslayer]

i'd look at warm water and some sort of cleaner...something light like Windex should do it without damaging anything. Just get a bowl/bucket or something and fill it with warm water and Windex and let it soak for a little while. Then have at it with a soft toothbrush. (One of those ones for brushing dentures would be perfect because you could get into the smaller areas with the small round side)

If its light grime that should do it, but for extended cigarette smoke exposure you might have to get a degreaser like Fantastik or something. Depends how bad it is.

As someone else said, try it on a mini you could live without just in case. But Windex won't damage your paint I'm quite certain.

 

[JustKim]

Let us know how it works out if you use the dishwasher!

 

[Steel_Wind]

Put them in the utensil basket in the your dishwasher*.


*But test it with one or two of your less important minis first, just in case.

Hey - that's a min/max time and effort vs results idea .

We have a plastic "bottle washer" which is essentially a plastic basket/cage meant to hold the tops and gaskets of plastic baby bottles without letting them fall out in to the rest of the dishwasher.

That would serve admirably, methinks.

Just got to make sure the temp is not too hot so I'm not melting the minis.

Might try that with a few and see how it goes.