Topic: Restoring Star Wars Action Figures: Neimoidian Commander - Revenge of the Sith

[Darth More]

@FialaFernbrugg: Yes, indeed! I'll post some pictures of my attempts of taking figures apart with boiling water next week. Thanks for your comment and have a nice Easter weekend!

- Philipp

[Tamer]

And wow that is one epic lot of figures. I love thinking of how these were played with. And  now you get to tlc em back together.

[talonreap]

Whoa, nice haul!! Good luck on piecing them together! Can't wait to see what customs you make from all of them.

[Starchaser]

Two comments:
1. Great bunch of fodder, that will give you loads of opportunity.
2. "Boil and pop" is process I use often. Heating water in a tea kettle (electric or otherwise) is a great way to get the heat you want. You have let the figures soak for about thirty seconds then be careful the water is hot (and can collect in their joints and cavities), but the plastic can start to harden up fairly quickly so you have to be ready to go. Sometimes I need to rewarm one part and pop the opposite (usually the "male" end) into the freezer for a few seconds to reassemble. Hope that helps.

[(SID)]

Hahahah 

Yeah man those kinda lots are the ENTIRE reason I stopped "collecting" and toy hunting.

What you got is treasure chest. Pasts alone resale is 3x what you paid. Hahaha

I'd rather spend my money on stuff this then some 4ft 14lbs $550 yadadada

[Darth More]

Thank you for all the comments guys! By the way: How much would you have been willing to spend on this particular fodder?

@Tamer: That's what I thought, too, when I found them online! The child who owned them before must be lucky to have such generous parents. His toys on the other hand weren't so lucky though... It's like ToyStory.

@talonreap: Thanks buddy! Me too! It's gonna be tons of fun - and tricky I suppose!

@Starchaser: Thanks for your reply, mate!
Two answers:
1. Thank you! I was lucky I got them.
2. Thank you even more for taking the time to write down this precious advice! I will post some pics over the next days and keep you updated on me experimenting with boiling water and PVC

@(SID): Haha that comment made my day! Thanks a lot SID! That's a good point! How much would you spend for a bunch of fodder like this one?


- Philipp

[Darth More]

When Plastic Turns into Rubber...

"Cooking is...nothing, but chemistry!"

First off all, I would like to espceially thank Jedi Minstrel, Tamer and Starchaser for your great support on this topic!



So after I received such great feedback on here, I couldn't wait much longer to try the boiling water technique in order to take action figures apart carefully and without breaking anything.
The feedback was VERY helpful and worked right away after I also put some closer thoughts into it!
And that's why I appreciate the community on here so much! Thank you all for your support and take a look at the results for yourself:






So I quickly found some suitable figures for this experiment in my fodder that I shared in my last post.




I also needed to re-assemble two figures of that bundle. I wish I shot a video of me trying to put the Hoth Rebel Soldier back together without heating it before...it was a pain in my hands!




And this is what you need:

- a cooking pot
- water - just a little more than necessary to cover the parts you want to take apart
- tongs - to get the parts out of the hot water without burning your fingers
- gloves - makes it easier to work with the hot parts and putting them together
- energy: heat - water with a temperature of about 158-176 °F




I didn't want to throw the figures right into boiling water. Therefore I put them into the water right away so that they heat up evenly. The water doesn't even have to reach 100 °C/212 °F. A water temperature of about 60-70 °C/158-176 °F are enough to make the plastic soft enough to take it apart.Small bubbles gather on the surface of the parts while heating up:
I also tried to remove paint with this technique, but it did not work. Aceton/desinfectant/alcohol or magic erasers should work though.














And putting them back together just works the same way:





Conclusion:

As I mentioned in my "call for help post" (Reply #9) I had never taken apart an action figure before. And once the figures were heated up evenly I was really surprised how easy it was to just pull all limbs apart.

Putting them together is a little more tricky though (it always is... )

Make sure you get an order and start with the torso and move on from there to the parts that are farest away - e.g. the forearms/hands.

For the hips: I recommend to you to heat up the hip and both upper legs together.

For all other parts: Just heat up the "negative" - if you also heat up the positive, it might become too soft to be pushed into the negative properly.

The right order to put all parts back together is important:






If you heat up plastic, it will always loose some softener. I could see a layer of a shiny substance after "cooking" the figures. I assume that the loss of softener make the plastic more porous and dull/frosted/mat over time - if it's heated up and cooled down several times.

This was a very exciting and fun project! Thank you so much for your great support!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Best regards from Germany!


- Philipp

[Tamer]

Looks like you did good. Once again this is a nice resource. Let me go share this to the front pages. And thank you for the kind comments.

[Darth More]

@Tamer: Yes, it worked very well! Thank you so much for your advice! The same fixing technique worked also for Leia right away...



When Plastic Turns into Rubber:


"The princess is fixe...I mean saved, now!"











This picture was taken right after the first "bath" when both upper legs were detached from the torso:




Both upper legs were then exchanged:



Positive (upper leg) and negative (hip) were heated again and re-attached by rotating the swivel back and forth while pushing it into the negative. That way the edge of the upper leg's rim could get into the negative, again - a little tricky, but not too difficult!




Problem solved!








Again, thank you so much guys! The princess was saved successfully!


Have a good Sunday everyone!



- Philipp

[The Spectre]

I have been using the boil n' pop method for well over 2 decades (I am a science buff and knew of the properties of the vinyl being used in toys) and even spread the word about it on the old Tomart forums in the mid 90's since people used to just cut the heads and limbs off of figures and re-glue them when making customs. It makes customization incredibly easy.

I developed a simplified version about 15 years ago- I just microwave a bowl of water for 5 minutes and submerge the figures in it after removing it from the microwave. This enables me to work on figures outside of the kitchen.

This is VERY important!- Dedicate one microwave safe bowl for this as chemicals leach out of the plastic and will render the bowl toxic. Do not eat anything out of that bowl as no amount of cleaning will ensure that all of the toxic chemicals have been eradicated. I would take the same care with whatever pot you used in your experiments as well since you noted a change in the water afterwards. You do not want to get sick from your hobby.

[(SID)]

Thanks for the whole write up. Very cool and fun. I wish visual guides on sites had the exploded view of all the parts like you've posted.

Sooo many figures are only available on lots like you got  because the  super articulation causes too many parts... To "loose"

I've bought sooo many parts lots that I have soo many  figures I don't know how to put together (or what's missing)... I guess that's the price I pay for not collecting after ROTS for many years.

Just remember with boil pop you don't want to keep them in too long or else a few negative outcomes will happen...

1. The figure will "shrink" The limbs will shorten and the torso/pelvis will  loose its shape and/or crack. Which can cause your waists to stick like glue  to torsos (trick keep spinning waist  every so often then return to boil) (same goes for any leg/arm joints)

2. The colors of the plastic WILL change color... This is a good/bad thing  considering outcome. So if you want to keep those exact shades of browns, whites, blues  etc. Or  only want to "restore" a figure use caution enough to know less time/heat the better.

3. SCULPTING.  Yes. Boil it... Since its running take advantage. For years I tired everything to cure but most attempts I would get melted or distorted plastic... Oven, heat gun, hair drier etc. I've even tried all the other compounds/products  out there... But just boiling sculpty is not only the easiest  but the quickest... You just watch until it starts to "whiten". The best part of this Tactic is you  can take your time and go layer by layer. It's the same rules after all of boil and pop (listed above)

--

Bonus:

You mentioned  getting paint off figures... Mix vinegar with water (I keep it in a spray bottle) warm it just a bit  and with a toothbrush it should come off... If you really need it off just add a few drops of dish soap or laundry detergent and let it sit for only a couple Mins each attempt. Too long with substances or submerged will alter both the plastic (stiffness) and fade the  color.

[Forceflow]

I'm a big proponent of hair driers to soften/pop off joints and clothing. Good for quick adjustments or test fitting. Boiling is certainly the best for total disassembly, though.

[Tamer]

Great fix on the Leia.

[FialaFernbrugg]

That's what I call a very informative and well-structured tutorial.
It is fascinating to see how clever some of these figures are engineered (for example the Han Solo belt).
Thank you for sharing this great tutorial with us.

-Christoph

[Darth More]

@The Spectre: First off: Thank you so much for your instant reply! That's a very good and important point you make here. Well, 20 years of boiling experience is actually longer than I even collect Star Wars stuff. I appreciate your advice very much and I will use a bowl which is suitable to be used in microwaves, for future projects like this.
The mixture of plastic for toys sold in the European Union is actually different from the materials used for the U.S. - Europe has even stricter rules for companies allowing them to use even less softener for toys. My chemistry teacher used to say: "The quantity makes the poison."
But you are right without a doubt - it's not healthy over time and I thank you a lot for your concern about me having used a cooking pot for it.



@(SID): Thank you so much (SID)! I'm glad to hear that! I myself was inspired by the awesome illustrations of DK books (illustrated encyclopedias and guides). And you make another very good point here: The chance to loose parts is definitely higher for super-articulated action figures than for figures with less articulation. That's something I had never thought of...probably because I don't play with them like some kids do. Still, I've always been afraid of loosing one of the many accessories some figures come with! 

And I see you gained a ton of experience about boiling, too! That's why I'm so thankful that you shared your knowledge with me in advance. I knew I didn't want to literally "boil" the figures. It's enough to just heaten them up to about 70 °C/158 °F. That's still a lot of energy and I definitely do not want the parts to sit there for too long!


Thank you and also for the guidance on how to remove paint! I'll certainly try it with vinegar!



@Forceflow: Using a hair dryer to remove single limps and parts sounds like a very efficient method! Thank you for your support and for your comment! I think I'm well prepared for similar projects in the future because of your great feedback on here!



@Tamer: Thank you so much! I could add the update on Leia right away thanks to your quick response!



@FialaFernbrugg: Thank you my firend! It was a very exciting experience for me, too, and I'm glad I took the time to share it! The secrets behind articulation of action toys are mysteriously, indeed, espcially the mechanisms of Transformers toys.
I'm looking forward to sharing some pics and background information about the prototypes I got recently. So stay tuned for those!


@all: I want to thank you all once again for your support! I didn't expect that this topic would receive so much reception! FialaFernbrugg was confident about it though and he was right!

Thank you so much and please apologize that I didn't find the time to answer you ealier.

Have a good Sunday everyone!

- Philipp