Oxidisation of Lead... huh

ManicMan

ManicMan

Lord
I kinda guess this isn't 100% unheard of but a bit of a first for me.

The Toon figures I got recently, has one of them partly painted. So I decided to strip it. I seam to have lost the one stripper I had (didn't have alot left) and my metal paint stripper has pretty much run out So I decided to use some Biostrip 20 I picked up and does a good job on plastics and stuff. well.. Alot of the paint on this mini just doesn't want to come off. I don't know why. It doesn't feel/look like Enamel matt paint but I felt as it didn't want to come off, maybe it is (some bits of paint did come off but alot hasn't). So I gave it a quick small bit of Enamel thinner as that is meant to be okay to use and not too bad for stripping enamel (I have some from something else cause I don't use Enamels much with anything, less with Miniatures). Didn't have it on for long..

Anyway, didn't seam to make much difference so no clue what kinda paint this is.. but have noticed the figure has now Oxidised. So it's got a white coat ¬_¬ not sure how to remove some of that and might have to.. erm.. just prime over it but.. well, never seen oxidisation on a lead miniature in person. Seen a couple of photos of really old minis like it but.. just kinda interesting I think. I don't know if the Biostrip or the Enamel thinner was the cause. Maybe one of them kinda attacked whatever the coating on the metal (or whatever it is) was on it. the other figures which weren't painted don't have oxidisation on it, so I would have guessed it was one of them two things I used to try to strip the paint. Good thing the paint isn't too thick so just putting some primer over it isn't a huge issue.
 
I've never had any issues with Biostrip 20. I've seen some minis go very dark with some other paint strippers I used in the past, but never managed to generate a white oxide on one. These days I tend to Biostrip and then if there is any stubborn stuff they might sit in some Acetone for a bit to give it an extra kick, generally not needed if I leave the Biostrip to do it's think for a day or two. I was lazy today and only let the Biostrip work for a short while so I currently have the latest ebay sacrifice in the Acetone to make up for my haste. Might go and check on them in a minute...

sacrifices.jpg


Anyhow I digress. I guess the Enamel thinner is mostly Naptha? Although who knows quite what's in any of these things. We could do with a fully qualified chemist around here, I didn't go past A level so some of it is a little wooly this many years later! maybe the reaction was between the two? Did you wash the minis after they came out of the Biostrip?

Do you have a photo for the curious?
 
I'll have to take a photo tomorrow when I get a chance ^_^ I was thinking about it but haven't had the time in a way (even though long posts). Normally I give them a dip into the biostrip which gives them a nice think coat, put them in a little pot where some does drip off but mostly doesn't, then wash them in water, then sometimes sit in a bit of water which I move around a bit.

The thinner is by Humbrol.. They don't seam to say what's in it and the label is a bit rubbed. While I did a bit at secondary school, most of my Chemistry information seams to be the old 'try it and see' approach mixed with 'Ohhh.. I wonder why it did that, lets find out' and researching stuff. mm.. wonder if Enamel thinner works with acrylic or does something nasty to it.. mmm..

Oh side note, who's the big boy? don't recognise him but that might be the angle.
 
He's quite a beast especially compared to the ogre. All started because Eldar are supposed to have two crew for weapons platforms and I have three platforms and three crew - so grabbed the two extra crew to start to make up the numbers then got a bit carried away :oops:
 
Not the best image.. Went to take some photos with my Camera and the batteries are flat ¬_¬ so had to use my phone camera which I fine has a higher pixel count but it's kinda fakey in that the images always seam a bit soft to me, which basically means they upscale a bit ¬_¬
IMG_20250918_174225.jpg
you can see the white coating.. not as much as on the real thing.. colour correction helped a bit but not much.. Most of the green is still there, but has a white coating, most of the red on the hat is still there but most of the yellow is gone, but again, white coating. Black is mostly still there.
what you can't tell which is annoying, is basically the whole thing kinda looks like it has been dipped in chalk powder. doesn't feel like it. It's clearly worse where the paint has been fully removed (the one half of the moustache has no problems cause the black paint is still there) but even one bits with paint,

When I prime it up, that should deal with anything wrong.

Unless I end up with Lead rot...
 
Frosty ... it's interesting how some colours really do hang around. I've some blue on one of the Eldar in my lot (above) and neither the Biostrip or Acetone has shifted it. Just some scrubbing has removed some at least and it won't actually show, but just somehow annoys me!

I assume the oxide doesn't just rub off - not that if it is lead oxide you want it floating around or rubbed into your skin I expect ... (sometimes I feel like we need those Ofcom warnings you thought about!).
 
while it kinda looks like it should rub, it's not a powder layer or anything.. water, rubbing etc, appears to do nothing of note.
 
Don't drink the stuff and it'll be a waste of Pepsi Max.

you basically saying a light acid bath.. mm.. Hydrogen Peroxide might do the same as it has a pKa value of 11.75.
 
Okay, needing to get some new cups cause most of my cheap medicine cups ran out (use them for resin, they are good and I don't mind wrecking them. but cause they are cheap, they get wrecked after a while and split and you just can't use a split cup ^_^ but I got some more now.

Anyway.. Put the Mini in a Hydrogen Peroxide bath this morning and took it out.. I would say 6 hours later. Gave it a quick wash and it did remove most of the oxidisation! for about 30 seconds when it was now exposed to the air and oxidised again which kinda makes sense.

Still think its just gonna need a good priming to protect the surface but it's probebly not gonna damage the core figure as much as lead rot.. well.. this does get confusing.. I've mostly seen Lead rot NOT to just refer to the oxidisation of the surface but more of a break down in the lead itself, which will lead the figure to soften, crumble and the 'white bloom' to be a powder which just falls apart. But looking round, some seam to call just a minor 'white bloom' oxidisation of any kind as Lead Rot.. so.. no clue how you want to define it but I don't think this is gonna be a huge issue of damage. Maybe people with more experience with early 80s lead figures with rot can say about that.
 
Fortunately no experience aside from what other folks have reported…

I have had some climbing equipment get damaged in the damp atmosphere of our basement storage, but that is a whole other (rusty) kettle of fish…
 
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