Methods to fix stretched material on costumes like Black Panther, Vision & Spiderman

[Jaymas]

Methods to fix stretched material on costumes like Black Panther, Vision & Spiderman

The latest increasingly popular choice for material used by Hot Toys for many skin tight costumes (Black Panther, Vision, Homecoming Spider-Man, BvS Superman, etc) has a downside of being stretched out and then creating unsightly creasing around the joints (knees, elbows, hips, shoulders etc) if a figure is left in a more dynamic pose (or sometimes not so dynamic but just a bent knee or elbow) for an extended period of time. A lot of the time Hot Toys warns that the costume can be damaged this way when left in poses too. Of course this limits how we might want to leave a character displayed for any real amount of time.

I am hearing some collectors say they have “fixed” this issue and can shrink the stretched out material which can leave odd creases through various methods. I have heard, applying water, steam, or heat, can shrink the material back to its original form. Some say it just goes back on its own in time. I am not sure which of these methods work best, if at all, and would love to collect comments of the experiences of our community to find out.

I am starting this thread to encourage discussion and perhaps even pictures or tutorials about how any of these methods are done as well as discus any drawbacks or limitations to these methods; such as how well do these various methods work, and do they stop working after so many times, or what can they help with and what can’t they help with, and so on?

I thought it might help to create a single thread for this issue rather than have to dig for it in the various threads of figures that uses such materials. Thanks for all feedback and conversation. I appreciate our community.

 

[Jaymas]

Re: Methods to fix stretched material on costumes like Black Panther, Vision & Spider

This was just posted in another thread, and I thought it was helpful...

The case study is ASM2. I no longer own my 2 copies of the figure, as I eventually sold them in anticipation of a Civil War Spidey (turned out to be Homecoming -- quite the wait).

Anyway, I didn't get totally crazy with poses, but I didn't hesitate to move him -- there are photos in the ASM2 thread, buried by now no doubt.

Bent legs, outstretched arms, spread legs -- Spidey-stuff. I was more concerned with the seams than the actual material.

Some of the poses would last only hours or days, but one in particular I left for a couple of months.

Upon taking the limbs back to neutral, the suit's blue areas had creases and pouching where it was bunched and stretched out.

After smoothing the suit back into place, I held the figure over a kettle and gave it a light steaming. I was careful with this as even a tea-kettle can produce very hot steam, so I was mindful of not over-heating and melting the plastic-y elements of the blue suit areas.

The suit shaped itself back into place, good-as-new and retained its finish, colour and elasticity.

How many times can you do that? I don't know. At the end of the day these pieces are a trade-off -- obviously not as robust as traditional action figures for all the obvious 1/6 scale reasons.

In videos the blue areas on the Homecoming suit look to be similar if not identical to the fabric used for the ASM2 suit, but only an in-hand inspection will confirm that.

Even then, maybe the fabric is a different blend of materials and will react differently, who knows?

But I do think this is the best 1/6 Spidey to date, and won't hesitate to (carefully) pose him up. Will get 2 copies anyway so I'll have a pristine, museum-ready piece, besides, I want to display one with the Holland head.

I'd go slowly, be mindful of the stretching and careful of seams. I'm really not that worried, but I'm also careful.

Has anyone else tried this steam method on a Black Panther or Superman or other figure with similar costume?

 

[ZE_501]

Re: Methods to fix stretched material on costumes like Black Panther, Vision & Spider

I had CW Black Panther for a while, and the material felt different to ASM2 and what looks like similar material on Homecoming Spidey. It feels more vinyl-like, whereas the Spidey felt more like a technical fabric of some kind with vinyl or plastic impregnation. I imagine heat may work on BP, but not sure.

I also posted a bunch of links and photos to ASM2 posing in the Homecoming thread just now -- with steam the suit on ASM2 recovered to good-as-new after all of those poses, with some being long-term.

 

[medicomsucks]

Re: Methods to fix stretched material on costumes like Black Panther, Vision & Spider

I'm also interested in this topic. We basically need a chemical breakdown of what this material is. They look great though, and usually offer pretty good movement....don't think I would want to lick it too much though.

Before I would use steam from a kettle pot, I would try a hair dryer on its lowest setting. For me, creases really aren't that big of a deal, especially on black panther, but that was the first figure out of the box that I posed where I noticed a lot of creasing.