Cleaning Transformers

[kup]

oh I use the same alcohol brand Kup... but in removing paint. That's what I used when I stripped a Classic Starscream of paint before handing over to Stencilator. Just soak it in there and the paint easily scrapes off. I use cotton buds ( wet) for little hard to reach areas in th emold, occasionally babywipes, just a plain dusted or just play with them every now and then to dust off the dust hehehehe. Most of the time I let them be, its just to freakin timeconsuming

Yeah, that is why I keep saying to keep it away from paint. Its easy on plastic but not on paint. For people who dont know, if the base color of the plastic is blue for example, it will not discolor it or anything. Its only bad on painted surfaces.
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Avandia lawsuit

[dirge]

Isocol does it again!

There's no damage to the plastic nor is there a residue.

I can confirm that Isocol will take the paint off, but a single wipe isn't enough to do it. Still, try to avoid using in on painted areas.

[Hereticpoo]

Hi guys, does anyone have any tips on removing rust from chrome? My Masterpiece Megs (or Mastercrap poorly made Megs) has some surprisingly severe rust on ALL of the chrome surfaces. Will the alcohol be enough to remove and prevent further rust? Has anyone else had to repair their Megs? (Other than perceptor!) Thanks

[kup]

I am happy to say that my Megatron is yet to develop rusty feet but I have taken care of rust on other figures like my G1 vintage Soundwave who also had rusty feet which I restored a couple of months ago.

First of all, if the rust is extensive, there is no way that you can restore it to the original condition, you can only improve the look. Second of all, there is a small element of risk depending on your own judgment while removing the rust (you need to know when to stop scraping off the rust).

Warning: The following is not easy and requires concentration and basic common sense on your part.

Remove the feet from the figure if possible for easy access and to minimize accidental damage on the rest of the figure.

Assuming the rust is superficial (most likely it is), you need a wet 'smooth' piece sand paper. Start sanding the rusted surface very, very gently in straight lines (don't do round motions or uneven patterns or you will damage the look of the figure) also try not to push hard on the surface, just enough to make contact with the rust and scratch it off. Eventually you will get a shiny metallic surface in the area you are sanding, once you see that or if its going too deep, stop and move to the next area. Keep doing this until most of the rust is removed. However if done correctly with smooth and wet sandpaper and the rust is superficial, the marks left could be near invisible.

If the rust is heavy on the surface, you will likely never be able to remove all the rust from the surface, there will be small spots here and there that refuse to come off. In that event, simiply do your best to remove them and then paint over the spots with a silver paiint pen marker. If its just small spots, it will not be inmediately noticeable while the figure is displayed.

Important Note:

Please keep in mind that once you start sanding, you will definitly leave marks on the surface of the metal, this is why I stress that you keep a constant pattern while sanding it so that you can keep these marks subtle. However depending on how bad the rust is, a subtly 'marked' metalic surface is much better than a rusty one.

Also keep in mind that once metal has begun to rust, it is very easy for the rust to come back even if fully removed. It is a bit like a decease or parasite on the metal, if it was once contaminated then its more probable that it will happen again. To minimize this you need to change the location of the figure somewhere less humid or with less exposure to outside air.

[Hereticpoo]

Thank you very much for your advise Kup. I'll get started on it this weekend. Will let you know how it goes. Thanks again

[Soundwarp]

Pics?

[jaydisc]

Pics?

Are you asking for pics of my successful cleaning job? Alas, my lazy ass hasn't done it yet.