Suggestion on best of clean smoke from my micro armor

nashorn88 · Post by **nashorn88** » Wed Aug 07, 2019 5:38 am

Finally the insurance company completed the counting of my mini.
All of them are mixed up in to 25-50 items lots.
I was able to save most of them but all have smoke film over them.
Because of this itâ€™s all consider non salvageable.

The count came out to roughly 36K out of box and another 3K in packages.
Only 1/285 stuff since they didnâ€™t count the ships.

Problem I have now is cleaning them.
Itâ€™s going to take forever to clean. And they are all mixed up too.
Some broken barrels but bent one for sure.

Any suggestion on how to clean?
Think about just toothbrush in running water? Or seal the smoke in by clear coating them but donâ€™t think that going to work

madman · Post by **madman** » Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:06 am

I would have thought dish soap water and a toothbrush but that would take forever. How about some kind of mesh bag and a dish washer? Could they be put in the cutlery rack in some mesh bag or box that would hold them from bashing about? Just running thoughts to help.

regia-marina · Post by **regia-marina** » Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:07 am

If painted, soak in water with Dawn dish detergent. That stuff works wonders. If not painted then try soaking them in simple green or use the Dawn on them too. I feel for you nashorn88. You have a lot of work ahead of you. I wish you all the best and best of luck with the recovery from the fire.

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Wed Aug 07, 2019 6:56 am

My son suggested Dollar Store cleaner called MA's Finest. But it takes off paint, too. How about checking with Servpro to see the what and get suggest?

BurtWolf · Post by **BurtWolf** » Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:57 am

Man that is rough you have to go through that - sorry to hear... 39,000 minis that is a huge collection holy smokes!!!

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Wed Aug 07, 2019 10:03 am

So, if your minis are not salvageable, are you re-imbursed for cost so you can order 39,000 NEW ONES?!! And if you do, do you have to give the insurance company the old ONES? Or do you end up with SEVENTY-EIGHT THOUSAND MINIS?

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Wed Aug 07, 2019 10:46 pm

Other suggestions I have received...

Coca-Cola - leaded. Full sugar. Not Diet, not Pepsi. Full-on Classic Coca Cola.

A foaming bathroom cleaner available on me at Dollar Tree. Subsequent side of a toothbrush may be required.

I would try either one on ONE vehicle first. Might have to soak a day or two.

chrisswim · Post by **chrisswim** » Sat Aug 10, 2019 1:40 am

I feel your pain, gosh, horrible.

BattlerBritain · Post by **BattlerBritain** » Sat Aug 10, 2019 4:27 am

I'm just trying to imagine 39,000 minis.

I've got x4 WWII Armies and x4 Modern Armies that I've been putting together for 40 years and that lot comes to about a 1000.

Here's an idea: It'd take you years to clean them. Ebay the smoke damaged ones, buy new ones with the insurance and enjoy the good ones.

B

nashorn88 · Post by **nashorn88** » Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:01 am

Use Dawn 1st since I had it handy
Promising so far
Just spray them down in very hot water. No brushing and came out ok.
The 1st batch of 100 or so are almost dry.
So far no smell from them.

But yea insurance covers the cost of replacement 1 for 1.
They may give us just the policy limit since it may top that.

There is no way my wife would let me buy that many lol

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Tue Aug 13, 2019 5:48 am

Weellll... I make that out to be $93,200.00 if you divide 39000 by 5 and multiply the result by $11.95. Wonder how long it would take GHQ to fill that order? None of the rest of us would see anything for a while. MERCY! Is my math right?

redleg · Post by **redleg** » Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:04 am

How cool would it be to have a collection that big and get to build it over again? "Yeah, I never used those T-55s and I wanted more artillery!"

panzergator · Post by **panzergator** » Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:49 am

Oh, YEAH! More mech, more arty. No French or German battalion. More Brits, too.

Waddell · Post by **Waddell** » Fri Aug 16, 2019 9:01 pm

OK, I've seen nashorn88's collection and I suspect 39,000 is a very conservative estimate. As for cleaning them the Dawn dish soap in water soaking technique mentioned above is probably your best bet. Smoke film is essentially a form of grease and that soap dissolves it quickly. That's why they use it on animals caught in oil spills. I have no idea what it does to paint though.