Care and Cleaning of Vint. Toys

[chris solo]

I think a thread regarding restoration and cleaning of vintage toys is in order. If everyone's trial and error moments were recorded in one thread we can save vintage toys from a horrible demise. Post facts like:

1) Cleaning of yellowed plastics (Millenium Falcon/smoke damage)
2) Removal of price stickers do's and don'ts.
3) Straightening of figure cards? Is moisture an option?
4) Dented bubble possibilities.
5) Regluing origional stickers.
6) What glue is best for broken plastic?

The name of a successful brand of chemical used is always very helpful. Also if some glue you used melted the plastic don't be shy of saving us from the same mistakes.

 

[AmShak]

i have found that Goo-Gone works well for removing price tags and the glue left behind. It can remove the paint from the card if it is left to sit too long or too much is used but i haven't really had a problem with this. You can pick it for around $1 at walmart.

btw, the thread was moved because the topic seems more appropriate for this section.

 

[chris solo]

Vintage Plastics

One thing I can tell you is that vintage plastics don't stand up to paint remover (Turco). I have found this on the Millenium Falcon which would hint that other ships are made of the same materials

 

[darthskellington]

Cleaning Plastic -- Bar Keeper's Friend

I can't remember if I mentioned this before or not, but it deserves to be in this thread.

I've found that Bar Keeper's Friend, a type of cleanser, is good for cleaning up plastic ships. It's supposed to be a soft cleanser that can be used on chrome or other things you might not want scratched. I believe you can find it at most stores.

I bought a vintage Imperial Shuttle from a friend that was in pretty nice shape (not yellowed), but had all kinds of scuffs on it. Especially noticeable were the yellow, red, blue (and so on) scuffs it received from coming into contact with other plastic toys.

You take a little Bar Keeper's Friend on a paper towel, wet it, and start scrubbing away lightly at the scuffs. With a little time and effort, I'd cleaned off 99% of the scuffs from the shuttle. It looked almost like I had just pulled it out of the box.

Caution---as a powder cleanser, Bar Keeper's Friend is abrasive. If you do not wet it enough, or scrub way too hard, you could scratch your ship. However, it shouldn't cause any problems if used carefully.

Try cleaning a sample area first to make sure you are satisfied with how it works. It's supposed to be softer than standard kitchen cleanser, so I would not recommend using regular cleanser to clean your ships (again, at least not without sampling it first).

 

[Buzz Bumble]

For getting off price stickers I always found the water-citrus-based cleaners to be very good. Here in New Zealand we have an orange-based product called Remove It (not sure where it comes from as the bottle ran out last week, possibly American). It's also quite good for minor stains. The only problem is that if you use too much your card/magazine/whatever smells like an orange.

For cleaning REALLY stuborn stains in old 3 3/4" figures, nail varnish/polish remover works quite well ... BUT you have to be EXTREMELY careful since it easily removes any paint and can rub away the plastic if overused, so I dip cotton-buds (sticks with a small blob of cotton wool on each end) into it and use them to clean the figure. Luckily it also evaporates pretty quickly, so it'd be difficult to overuse by accident this way. Also make sure you're in a well ventilated area because that stuff STINKS!!

 

[chris solo]

Vintage Motors (Falcon, X-Wing)

Recently I bought 10 Falcons for a bulk deal on ebay. 7 of them had motors that didn't work.

Most of them were simple to fix. I found cleaning the contact points with some alcohol then scrubbing a little with a piece of scotch brite or SOS Pad (steel wool) and a little WD-40 or any protective oil (for longevity) got them going.

One important thing is to make sure you have high quality brand new batteries like Duracell to jump start that baby. Don't goof around grabbing some used batteries from something around the house. You want to "kick start" that thing with some real power.

If this doesn't work don't be afraid to take the toy apart and have a peek. I have done this with 2 X-Wings also. I found that spinning the motor around gently by hand a few times and occasionally pressing the button got them going. It is fascinating to hear that motor turn over for the first time in 20 years. It starts off slow and fights and then takes off. Keep your finger on the button and let it run for a bit.

I was able to get 9 out of 10 Falcons and 1 of the X-Wings going. The Falcons motor had water damage and was covered in rust and the X-Wing must have simply been burned out from a full life and a kid who enjoyed it to the end.

It doesn't take a space mechanic to get a simple circuit going. Just alot of love and a little common sense.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

Batteries - that brings up another point:
NEVER, EVER leave the batteries in an electronic toy. They have a nasty tendency to leak, corroding the contacts and eating away at the plastic, even the small button-cell / watch batteries do this. Bugger the "re-sale value" (who sells their Star Wars stuff anyway??), just open it up and take the batteries out, otherwise it could end up being worth nothing at all.

I always take the battery out, scrible down the model/type details on a piece of paper and bung that in the box with the toy while putting the battery somewhere safely away from them all.

It's also something to check when buying second-hand electronic stuff - especially if it's advertised as "unopened".

I used to have a couple of early LCD games in which the batteries leaked badly when they'd been unused for some time. I managed to save one by making new contacts, but the other one was a write-off because it had started eating the screen as well. At least they weren't Star Wars items.

 

[chris solo]

Nack5811 gave me permission to place his question in this thread.

He wrote:

I just went through every collectors nightmare - the way i stored my mint figures did not work. I had my figures put away in an upright position in the 30 gallon plastic containers but some of them are bending. I need ideas on how to properly store my collection. I dont have enough money to buy star cases for each and every one of my figures. Any suggestions will be welcomed, but the cheaper the better. Please leaves ides in this post. Thank you

 

[chris solo]

Darthskelington replied to Nack5811.

He wrote:

I would buy star cases for any of your very valuble figures, particularly ones that are hard to replace, or just plain expensive. Many dealers sell them at very reasonable bulk discounts in dutch auctions on ebay.

That having been said, I have a few ideas for you, that aren't too expensive.

1) Bankers boxes. You can buy them just about anywhere, especailly office supply stores, and they're fairly cheap. They hold quite a few carded figures (20+, stood upright, depending on the size of the bubbles). Like figures store best together since they have similar sized/shaped bubbles and can face alternate directions to fit the most in the box. Bankers boxes are easy to acrry, they stack well,a nd are sturdy so long as you don't put heavy items on top of leight-weight boxes. Five boxes cost maybe $5. Prices vary depending on sales. They also come in a legal size, that is very long, but akward to use. This size actually holds a b-wing fighter.

One downside to bankers boxes is that now days, the lids have a very short (one inch) lip, so they do not stay on as well as they used to, and probably need taping is they are going to be moved a lot. Older boxes had a two-inch lip that wasn't going anywhere.

2) Comic boxes. They come in long or short boxes (you can also get magazine width boxes too). Available at your local comic shop for between $4-$8 a box. They are more sturdy than bankers boxes, but a little more akwardly shaped.

3. Sterilite plastic (rubbermaid-like) containers. These are available at Walmart and other places. The ones I use are about 12" tall, and are maybe 12" X 7". They are clear plastic, with a colored (usually blue) lid that snaps on top. These are nice becase they absolutely will not crush, have a carrying handle, and are see-through. However, they do not hold many figures, no more than, 10-12 POTF2 figures, probably 4-5 Saga. I used then when I only had a few carded figures, but then I switched to bankers boxes. I still use them to hold other things, including my Cinema Scene cardboard backdrops. I believe they cost $3-4 each. They are big enough to hold 4 figures in Star Cases.

Anyway, I recommend bankers boxes for ease of use and cost effectiveness, but any of the above would get the job done.

 

[chris solo]

Bedlam412 then replied to Nack5811.

He wrote:

I'm currently using option 2 myself.

Comic boxes (the long box as opposed to the short box) are easy to store and carry ... and the figures do fit nicely ... especially the saga line .... I haven't had any problems yet with the cards bending ... and if you're careful, the saga line can be stacked in a row, with a second row stored upside down on top of the bottom row without the card getting dinged up.

They are more expensive than bankers boxes though as Darthskelington mentioned.

An additional advantage is that if you can eventually afford to put all your figs into star cases, they will also fit in the boxes so they won't get wasted!

 

[chris solo]

My reply to Nack5811

I wrote:

I use the nice little cardboard boxes that we get our chicken breasts in. They are a little wider than carded figures and lay two in a box facing eachother. I then place them horizontally in photocopy paper boxes (same as a bankers box) because I get them free at work.

Store in a dry dark place.