Think it's been half a decade since i maintained my stuffs. Think it's that time again as things starts breaking apart.
Obviously it's the pleather and rubber stuffs mainly and some brittle plastic. Hardest part is getting those parts out of the toy boxes stashed away in random shipping boxes. things like wallet, pleather holsters that i never used but starting to crap out.
Right now using new method of Angelus matte finisher plus duller. I cant be bothered to remove whatever beewax, mink oil, tire shine stuffs i previously applied since chances of ruining stuffs is high.
pretty simple straight forward, jist hang them using some stick and brush them on. Seems to at least stop the flaking. what it does seems to add a layer of rubber clear coat on top. the pleather can still come off in bigger chunk if you crease them unless you apply multiple coats which can change the finishing look and lose leather textures. pleather boots and shoes get touched up with Angelus leather paint and sealed with finisher.
for pouches i try to remove them before brushing. for belts its already too late to try to remove it so i had to apply them on the pants and avoid the belt slots as this can stick the belt to the pants but easily fixed since the coat is rubbery just use a knife to separate and touch up.
printed insignias also seem to suffer from deterioration. they either become sticky or crack/melt. i applied 2 coats on them as sealer. now i need to touch up the scratched ones...
as for rubber bodies, seems the top layer can start to peel upon slight rubbing. seems some bodies are dyed to change the tone these dye to start to rub off and may look like dirt but isnt so dont repeat my mistake by trying to rub of these fake dirts. not much can be done except applying aerospace 303 or meguire hyper dressing diluted so it can maintain the matte look. angelus will add slight gloss so not recommended. Hopefully this can slow down the rubber cracking process.
glues also start to dry up. lost a watch face when it decided to fall out. soles from shoes also coming off. rubber hose starts to detach. armor pieces, things on belt start to fall off. buttons and studs too. rubber/fabric/leather glues work well to put them back on.
shirts esp white ones start yellowing. areas in contact with different materials or dyes get permanent marks. put them in undergarment washing bag and machine wash them 1 or 2 times and keep track of those buttons and studs as glued ons can fall out. i had 6 studs fell out during washing but all were inside the undergarment bag. Generally 2 wash should return the white to 80-90% but stains will remain.
Some fabrics esp polyester will also deteriorate and become brittle and easily torn. not much can be done other than get a matching replacement or upgrades. this is common also on the linings beneath leather chairs.
deformed rubber parts can be reshaped. but always go for boiled water method first. if it isnt hot enough only use hair dryer as hair dryer can soften some harder plastic but also seriously deform it you need quick hands and good judgement. deformed a sunglass doing so getting it back in near original shape was difficult as you only have 2-3 seconds before it hardens up so keep the blower running and heat it every 3-4 seconds to avoid severe deforming and have a plyer ready.
pleather that just started flaking can still be saved using angelus leather paint and finisher. severely flaked pleather needs to be removed and repainted with leather paint however paint will seep tru the now fabric surface and stain the back fabric too. more coats will result in more leather look. apply a coat of paint then a finisher before applying more paint to be more efficient. generally you want matte finisher as its already glossy and add duller to get more matt but adding too much duller will gunk it up faster and leaving brush strokes.
Obviously it's the pleather and rubber stuffs mainly and some brittle plastic. Hardest part is getting those parts out of the toy boxes stashed away in random shipping boxes. things like wallet, pleather holsters that i never used but starting to crap out.
Right now using new method of Angelus matte finisher plus duller. I cant be bothered to remove whatever beewax, mink oil, tire shine stuffs i previously applied since chances of ruining stuffs is high.
pretty simple straight forward, jist hang them using some stick and brush them on. Seems to at least stop the flaking. what it does seems to add a layer of rubber clear coat on top. the pleather can still come off in bigger chunk if you crease them unless you apply multiple coats which can change the finishing look and lose leather textures. pleather boots and shoes get touched up with Angelus leather paint and sealed with finisher.
for pouches i try to remove them before brushing. for belts its already too late to try to remove it so i had to apply them on the pants and avoid the belt slots as this can stick the belt to the pants but easily fixed since the coat is rubbery just use a knife to separate and touch up.
printed insignias also seem to suffer from deterioration. they either become sticky or crack/melt. i applied 2 coats on them as sealer. now i need to touch up the scratched ones...
as for rubber bodies, seems the top layer can start to peel upon slight rubbing. seems some bodies are dyed to change the tone these dye to start to rub off and may look like dirt but isnt so dont repeat my mistake by trying to rub of these fake dirts. not much can be done except applying aerospace 303 or meguire hyper dressing diluted so it can maintain the matte look. angelus will add slight gloss so not recommended. Hopefully this can slow down the rubber cracking process.
glues also start to dry up. lost a watch face when it decided to fall out. soles from shoes also coming off. rubber hose starts to detach. armor pieces, things on belt start to fall off. buttons and studs too. rubber/fabric/leather glues work well to put them back on.
shirts esp white ones start yellowing. areas in contact with different materials or dyes get permanent marks. put them in undergarment washing bag and machine wash them 1 or 2 times and keep track of those buttons and studs as glued ons can fall out. i had 6 studs fell out during washing but all were inside the undergarment bag. Generally 2 wash should return the white to 80-90% but stains will remain.
Some fabrics esp polyester will also deteriorate and become brittle and easily torn. not much can be done other than get a matching replacement or upgrades. this is common also on the linings beneath leather chairs.
deformed rubber parts can be reshaped. but always go for boiled water method first. if it isnt hot enough only use hair dryer as hair dryer can soften some harder plastic but also seriously deform it you need quick hands and good judgement. deformed a sunglass doing so getting it back in near original shape was difficult as you only have 2-3 seconds before it hardens up so keep the blower running and heat it every 3-4 seconds to avoid severe deforming and have a plyer ready.
pleather that just started flaking can still be saved using angelus leather paint and finisher. severely flaked pleather needs to be removed and repainted with leather paint however paint will seep tru the now fabric surface and stain the back fabric too. more coats will result in more leather look. apply a coat of paint then a finisher before applying more paint to be more efficient. generally you want matte finisher as its already glossy and add duller to get more matt but adding too much duller will gunk it up faster and leaving brush strokes.
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