Hi there,
This is going to be a rant but also (hopefully) the beginning of a two part mini-tutorial on how to deal with second hand models from eBay (or any other source).
The facts
Let's face it: this is an expensive hobby, we all agree on that. So it is natural for us to look for alternative sources for miniatures to try and shave some pounds off... not that we are trying to save money for other more important things, but it is just a desire of getting even more models to add to the infamous mountain of lead (or plastic crack depending on the material).
Nowadays most of us do the majority of our purchases online, in any of the different discount stores like Element Games, The Outpost, Wayland Games just because they offer at least a 10% off the recommended retail price. But, from time to time we are tempted to look for even cheaper alternatives like resorting to eBay. You can also get new models on their original packaging on eBay of course, but a lot of times it means buying something that has been assembled, primed or even painted, and there is where nasty surprises could happen.
The paint splattered nightmare
Oh, the horror! You just got your item from eBay only to discover that the paint or primer is a lot thicker than it showed on the pictures. Sometimes the pictures on eBay don't have enough quality to be able to discern this issue or it was such a good deal that you risked it and bidded anyway. But now you are wondering, how am I supposed to remove all this excessive amount of paint that is ruining the detail on the miniature?
The blob
If you need to disassemble some of the pieces for painting or for any other reason you could face an even worse problem if the miniature has been bathed in super-glue (Cyanoacrylate) or if it is a plastic miniature and has been glued together with plastic glue (Polystyrene glue). If it is the second case you are out of luck.The polystyrene kind of glue actually melds the two pieces of plastic together so they form an almost unbreakable bond. Separating the pieces without actually breaking one of them is going to be very difficult if not at all impossible. If it is just excessive super glue you can still succeed but it will often require a huge effort, tooling and will more than likely damage a bit some of the pieces.
A practical example
So this just happened to me. In Warmachine, there are certain warjacks (massive steam powered robots controlled by a mix of engineering and magic) that are special characters (they are supposed to be unique in the game background). Some of them have full kits, others you need a standard warjack and you exchange/add some pieces from an upgrade kit to create them.
So, I had the upgrade kit for Black Ivan, and I needed a Destroyer warjack to use as a base so, I found one relatively cheap on eBay and purchased it. That's where the nightmare began.
First of all, it was damaged during transit. One leg was broken at the hip, the other one at the ankle... nothing I cannot fix by pinning them.
Second, in order to build Black Ivan I needed to remove the fist with an axe of the Destroyer to put a mechanical claw on its place. It was just impossible to do it without destroying the fist as it had tons of glue. I also had to cut the arm at the elbow to be able to tool properly and cut the fist off after several hours of effort, sweat and even some blood from minor cuts (note to self, be careful with scalpels).
Third, the paint was too thick for me to just paint over it so I wanted to experiment with a stripping process I had first seen here.
So here are some pics of the process so far.
The mini after the long and painful dismantle process. Legs came as they are (but glued to the base). Arm and destroyed fist and removed head has been done by me.
This is the product I am using for removing the paint.
And this is the mini submerged in the cleaning solution. Now we only have to wait to see if tomorrow there is a model with less paint on it or we have a soup of half dissolved plastic goo (Yummy!)
That's all for now... to be continued.
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