Vintage Collectibles Thread

[barryo]

Hey guys, does anyone know of a decent 'cleaner' for vintage toys? I have a slew of SW figs that I'd like to clean up. Any advice would be appreciated.

Warm water and elbow grease. Maybe a little dish soap.

or regular "soft scrub"..(not with bleach........)..just be careful of any painted parts & dont rub it too hard.....................

 

[galactiboy]

Warm water and elbow grease. Maybe a little dish soap.

That's what I usually do... just a bit of soap in warm water and a soft cloth. I've been amazed at how clean some figures have looked after just a bit of cleaning like that. Case in point I got a Leia figure of eBay and she looked pretty rough when I got her... I even though she might be sun damaged. But turns out it was just 25+ years of grime and she cleaned up like a shiny penny.

For really tough stuff you can try something like goo gone, but be warned it can take off paint if you aren't careful so only use something like that as a last resort

 

[sladesuperagent]

Goo Gone will "glossy" certain plastics when rubbed too hard. I tried to use it to take off paint rubs on my Simpsons and Mcfarlane Yellow Submarine figures and it takes the dullness of the paint away.

 

[galactiboy]

Yeah, that's why I was suggesting it only as a last resort. I've had good luck using it on 1/6 figures that had rubs or other oddities from packaging or accessories... but you have to be very careful as it does not react well with all paints or a materials.

Its great on clamshells, or CD cases if you need to remove sticker residue!

 

[roguebaron]

I brought up Baron Karza from Micronauts in another thread and just thought I'd post here as well. I'd love to get my hands on one of these.

Wow, I still have that one, with his backpack and the horse, though I've lost one of the wheels from the horse over the years. Kinda fun to see him show up here...I forgot I had it still.

 

[Darth Waller]

I've gotten a few nice SW figures from one eBay seller that show up clean and smelling soapy fresh, so it seems to work great. I'll probably do that with my personal childhood figures at some point and get some acid-free boxes to store them in.

 

[jimjimmyjones85]

Got some Mego Star Trek in the pipeline ! Cannot wait !

 

[Skiman]

Paint thinner FTW!!!!

 

[Deak Starkiller]

I've gotten a few nice SW figures from one eBay seller that show up clean and smelling soapy fresh, so it seems to work great. I'll probably do that with my personal childhood figures at some point and get some acid-free boxes to store them in.

Still have an extra Kenner Yoda? I need a new robe, my orange snake Yoda has a little tear on the back. Luckily my brown snake (tee-hee) Yoda is in great shape. LMK Walla, and I could take a chunk of that Blue Snaggletooth.

 

[DPrime]

Hey guys, does anyone know of a decent 'cleaner' for vintage toys? I have a slew of SW figs that I'd like to clean up. Any advice would be appreciated.

Whenever I get a vintage RAH GI Joe figure, I take it apart, put some Oxyclean in a bowl with some water, and give it a bath.

Sometimes I just dip it in a little - other times I leave it in for a while. Often it depends on how thin the paint/logo is known to be (e.g. Viper Pilot, Cobra de Aco, etc. - I just dip these guys in and rinse carefully).

I haven't tried cleaning my SW figures yet though... I kind of want to. Even if they look clean, if you bought them loose, how do you know some kid didn't put 'em in his mouth or something?

 

[barryo]

Paint thinner FTW!!!!

................................

 

[jimjimmyjones85]

Whenever I get a vintage RAH GI Joe figure, I take it apart, put some Oxyclean in a bowl with some water, and give it a bath.

Sometimes I just dip it in a little - other times I leave it in for a while. Often it depends on how thin the paint/logo is known to be (e.g. Viper Pilot, Cobra de Aco, etc. - I just dip these guys in and rinse carefully).

I haven't tried cleaning my SW figures yet though... I kind of want to. Even if they look clean, if you bought them loose, how do you know some kid didn't put 'em in his mouth or something?

I never did that !!!!!!!!

 

[galactiboy]

Speaking of which... true story: a few years back a guy was selling a Blue Snaggletooth on eBay. An in his description he said that his dog had swallowed snags whole and passed out the other side. He indicated that it still looked good, but that he was unable to get rid of the poo smell

Believe it or not it still sold for like $40

 

[Skiman]

That was a pretty good story GB, tell Ski another....

 

[Deak Starkiller]

Speaking of which... true story: a few years back a guy was selling a Blue Snaggletooth on eBay. An in his description he said that his dog had swallowed snags whole and passed out the other side. He indicated that it still looked good, but that he was unable to get rid of the poo smell

Believe it or not it still sold for like $40

That sheety deal! Also tread lightly with Oxyclean, it can really strip surface off of a figure.

 

[DPrime]

That sheety deal! Also tread lightly with Oxyclean, it can really strip surface off of a figure.

That is true... I left a junker figure in there for days just to see what would happen, and it started taking paint off.

But I've also left particularly dirty GI Joes in there over night and for up to and over 24 hours, and it didn't do anything to the paint whatsoever.

That said, Joes and SW used very different paints and plastics, so it might not work as well or at all on SW figs.

 

[Deak Starkiller]

Right, it depends on the paint itself. There is a recipe (I have yet to try but almost have all the ingredients for) that supposedly takes the yellowing out of ABS plastic. It's a flame retardant that actually yellows plastic. Kind of cool. I will post once I have some solid results.

 

[galactiboy]

Be interested to hear your results... taking the yellow out of plastic would be awesome

That was a pretty good story GB, tell Ski another....

Sorry man, that's all I gots

 

[FLOSI]

Warm water and elbow grease. Maybe a little dish soap.

or regular "soft scrub"..(not with bleach........)..just be careful of any painted parts & dont rub it too hard.....................

That's what I usually do... just a bit of soap in warm water and a soft cloth. I've been amazed at how clean some figures have looked after just a bit of cleaning like that. Case in point I got a Leia figure of eBay and she looked pretty rough when I got her... I even though she might be sun damaged. But turns out it was just 25+ years of grime and she cleaned up like a shiny penny.

For really tough stuff you can try something like goo gone, but be warned it can take off paint if you aren't careful so only use something like that as a last resort

Whenever I get a vintage RAH GI Joe figure, I take it apart, put some Oxyclean in a bowl with some water, and give it a bath.

Sometimes I just dip it in a little - other times I leave it in for a while. Often it depends on how thin the paint/logo is known to be (e.g. Viper Pilot, Cobra de Aco, etc. - I just dip these guys in and rinse carefully).

I haven't tried cleaning my SW figures yet though... I kind of want to. Even if they look clean, if you bought them loose, how do you know some kid didn't put 'em in his mouth or something?

Right, it depends on the paint itself. There is a recipe (I have yet to try but almost have all the ingredients for) that supposedly takes the yellowing out of ABS plastic. It's a flame retardant that actually yellows plastic. Kind of cool. I will post once I have some solid results.

Thanks guys. I'm just going through my old SW figs and I'm hoping to recover and use as many as possible in my new collection. Some have this tacky residue that just feels like dirt buildup from years of play. I'll give warm water and soap a try first.

 

[Deak Starkiller]

Hot ass water and antibacterial soap is what I use, it turned my Secret Wars Daredevil from frosted mold to minty-mint.