Resurrecting 3rd edition armies / returning to playing

Black Sheep

Recently I've been contemplating digging out my old Warhammer 40K armies and going along to one of the gaming clubs that I've read about on the forum.

What I was considering is stripping the paint off my Blood Angels, repainting about 1500pts worth (I think I could do a better job now) and seeing how I get on with the 5th edition rules, and whether I like it.

Like many people in the current climate I'm tight for money, to say the least, and would like to make use of the models I have. Fortunately many of the BA characters, particularly the special characters, don't seem to have new models (Memphiston, Dante, Corbulo etc) so these are fine. I have a variety of metal Death Company, Assault marines with jump packs which are probably OK too. Then a bunch of metal terminators, old metal tactical squad, devestators, old metal landspeeders, old metal Furioso, plastic rhinos ... You get the picture...

Would there be a problem using these older models to play, or is this frowned upon?

And if not, does anyone know whether plastic model vehicles (like a rhino) can be stripped using the same methods as metal models, or are they too fragile?

quozl

Old models aren't frowned upon at all.

In fact, they're often cooler.

To strip plastic I use a detol bath. I've never stripped anything as big as a tank - biggest would be a Carnifex, but the principle is the same. Immerse it in detol for 12 hours. Come back, and scrub the paint off with a tooth-brush. It comes off very easily and it didn't soften (at least not noticeably) the plastic.

Things like brake fluid are a lot more toxic. What exactly were you planning on using?

I'd also suggest stripping and painting a unit at a time. That way you'll always have a fully (or nearly fully) painted army - you won't strip 1500 points and then have to paint it all at once. Not that most people will mind if its painted or not, but it'd be a shame to go from all painted, even if not great, to all unpainted

Black Sheep

Thanks for the tips.

I remember using nail varnish remover to strip metal models in the past, but I've never done plastic. I guess I will just have to try it and see how I get on. Doing one unit at a time sounds reasonable, I'm not actually in much of a rush.

Red_Wake

I've heard Dettol is a great stripper alright.

ttcomet

You may have to put some of them on new bases, e.g. old terminators were all on small bases and now they are on the larger 40mm (?) ones.
I have used Dettol to strip paint off both metal and plastic mini's. I used the Dettol quite heavily watered down not straight from the bottle. It took maybe 3 or 4 long soaks and scrubs to get it all off. Oh and whatever room you soak them in will stink of dettol for days afterwards.