Hot Toys rubber deterioration

[Lejuan]

Yep, good care is the best you can do. Have to admit that Dutch/Redfeild body looks dam good. Best muscular body I've seen. if his arms ever start to go I'd probably just replace them with T2/Bane plastic arms or something like that.

As for Hulk, maybe someone in the customs will make a nice set of plastic replacements Is Hulks Torso also rubber?

Yeh, that's a good point - these days finding an adequate replacement body of almost any variety is pretty easy. If/when the rubber goes, switch it all out. Except Hulk, that'd be a bit trickier

 

[<BEASTMASTER>]

Is storing the rubber body in a plastic bag ok? I noticed the chest sticks to the bag a little. Would it best to wrap it in some fabric inside the sealed bag?

 

[Lejuan]

I'm no chemist, but some plastics when placed together disrupt the plastic compounds. So unless someone brainier here tells you otherwise, I'd avoid it. This is a lot of trouble to go to for dolls that, relatively speaking, aren't that valuable and almost certainly never will be. Stick 'em on a shelf and enjoy 'em. If you do need to store them for some reason, a clean cloth and sealed bag sounds fine.

 

[ZE_501]

[...] This is a lot of trouble to go to for dolls that, relatively speaking, aren't that valuable and almost certainly never will be. Stick 'em on a shelf and enjoy 'em. [...]

This, in the end. Less of a headache that way.

 

[HYMN]

Not only rubber but also leather:

 

[batsheva]

Hellboy pants.. Abe suit suffers the same thing.

 

[potato]

Not only rubber but also leather:

there are dedicated threads to discuss about leather deterioration.

 

[<BEASTMASTER>]

Yeah wrapped it in clean flannel cloth, I don't like the whole bag sticking thing.

It seems that the rubber on this body (Dutch/Chris Redfield) is much softer and squishy than the rubber on say a TTM19 torso. Shame they didn't make it out of that harder stuff :\

 

[potato]

I'm no chemist, but some plastics when placed together disrupt the plastic compounds. So unless someone brainier here tells you otherwise, I'd avoid it. This is a lot of trouble to go to for dolls that, relatively speaking, aren't that valuable and almost certainly never will be. Stick 'em on a shelf and enjoy 'em. If you do need to store them for some reason, a clean cloth and sealed bag sounds fine.

make sure the cloth is not dark colored. best is use sugar paper since cloth may leave fabric patterns on the rubber.

also heat & humidity & dust will make alot of difference whether the figure can last 3 years or 10 years.

 

[<BEASTMASTER>]

yeah sugar paper sounds good, cheers. The body seems to have lasted 5 years so far without a single crack (think it was mostly in a box) and the rubber feels a little tacky and supple. I wonder if it's possible it will last another 5 years?

 

[jkno]

I think that is pleather and not real leather. BTW I'll be looking for the leather/pleather threads too.

 

[potato]

yeah sugar paper sounds good, cheers. The body seems to have lasted 5 years so far without a single crack (think it was mostly in a box) and the rubber feels a little tacky and supple. I wonder if it's possible it will last another 5 years?

BSAA Chris is more than 5 years.

 

[potato]

I think that is pleather and not real leather. BTW I'll be looking for the leather/pleather threads too.

Pleather/real leather, will have similar problem just Real Leather tend to last much longer and forever if you apply leather shine on them. Even real leather watch straps will crack & flake. Pleather can last long but depends which type, those used on car seats, cheap wallets seems to be heavy duty & long lasting, but 1/6 pleather are too thin & fragile.

 

[potato]

yeah sugar paper sounds good, cheers. The body seems to have lasted 5 years so far without a single crack (think it was mostly in a box) and the rubber feels a little tacky and supple. I wonder if it's possible it will last another 5 years?

i'm not sure if it's called sugar paper, but you know the whitish paper HT & Sideshow usually use to cover the box window.

 

[jkno]

Pleather/real leather, will have similar problem just Real Leather tend to last much longer and forever if you apply leather shine on them. Even real leather watch straps will crack & flake. Pleather can last long but depends which type, those used on car seats, cheap wallets seems to be heavy duty & long lasting, but 1/6 pleather are too thin & fragile.

I remember the old Vader from Medicom with pleather issues. This could happen to so many others next to rubber and even some types of fabvics.

 

[potato]

I remember the old Vader from Medicom with pleather issues. This could happen to so many others next to rubber and even some types of fabvics.

i wouldn't worry much about rubber compared to pleather, even real leather, right now i'd try to avoid things with pleather/leather unless it's really small part, although i have few figures that's leather heavy, the Medicom ones still looks ok but can't be touched, once you touch it it starts to peel...

The latest i have that is leather heavy is the Art Figures Dredd, Hardcore leather level pretty much from head to toe are leather, or pleather i really don't know... he looks great but hope it last while it's fun.

I recently fixed up the Medicom Kerberos Panzer Cop, it came with vinyl balaclava (which i peeled off the layer and gave it a black dye, it was original brown fabric in black vinyl coating), pleather inner jacket (which i peeled off the pleather coating), removed all the pleather straps that either disintegrated or broken into half & replaced with Real Leather 0.6mm thickness. Took me 1 hour just to clean them up, another few hours to make the leather straps & put them back on.

Many figures come with pleather that you might not notice until it starts breaking up, like belt, collars, or prints on clothes.

I haven't tested using Plastic Dip sprays to redo the vinyl layers. it seems they can give leather like effects and is flexible.

Medicom Pleather are hopeless even after so many years they couldn't bother to improve, yet they keep releasing pleather heavy figures.

 

[jra81984]

i wouldn't worry much about rubber compared to pleather, even real leather, right now i'd try to avoid things with pleather/leather unless it's really small part, although i have few figures that's leather heavy, the Medicom ones still looks ok but can't be touched, once you touch it it starts to peel...

The latest i have that is leather heavy is the Art Figures Dredd, Hardcore leather level pretty much from head to toe are leather, or pleather i really don't know... he looks great but hope it last while it's fun.

I recently fixed up the Medicom Kerberos Panzer Cop, it came with vinyl balaclava (which i peeled off the layer and gave it a black dye, it was original brown fabric in black vinyl coating), pleather inner jacket (which i peeled off the pleather coating), removed all the pleather straps that either disintegrated or broken into half & replaced with Real Leather 0.6mm thickness. Took me 1 hour just to clean them up, another few hours to make the leather straps & put them back on.

Many figures come with pleather that you might not notice until it starts breaking up, like belt, collars, or prints on clothes.

I haven't tested using Plastic Dip sprays to redo the vinyl layers. it seems they can give leather like effects and is flexible.

Medicom Pleather are hopeless even after so many years they couldn't bother to improve, yet they keep releasing pleather heavy figures.

If what you are talking about is "Plasti Dip" that stuff lasts forever. I have made entire batman suits out of it and it has held up for many years.

 

[kl241]

I think it was TheBatmanProfessor who recommended this:

If my memory isn't totally shot, he coated his OC Batsuit in it and made a good case for why it would be effective. It is NOT Armorall though, keep clear of that stuff.

Would this stuff be good for the ED-209 rubber dome? I know a few guys recommend using Honda silicon grease but I'm not sure I want to lube up my ED with that slimey stuff.

 

[ZsaszSays]

Pleather is total crap. Anything pleather has the same cracking issues, not just collectibles.

 

[potato]

Would this stuff be good for the ED-209 rubber dome? I know a few guys recommend using Honda silicon grease but I'm not sure I want to lube up my ED with that slimey stuff.

Just make sure it's alcohol free & not made from petroleum. Alcohol tend to make the surface dry and cause liquid to come out to the surface, or just make it too dry & crack. Petroleum based, not sure what was the reason. You'd want something organic.