I recently picked up some G1 figures, and as per my normal routine I took off the beat down stickers, cleaned every nook and cranny with a light alchohol and water mix (takes the crayon off) Ordered up some reprolabels and proudly displayed my bright and minty Metroplex and Ultra Magnus. I have also done the same thing with G1 Prime, Brave Maximus, Powermaster Prime, and G1 soundwave. How do you fix up old Tfs? Or do you even bother? I know some people will only look for perfect examples of G1 toys...but I have found that buying them slightly worn or even parting them together can give you a pretty cool toy.
windex wipes for cleaning dirty toys and to remove stickers, I use Goo gone. Works like a charm but don't put to much on the figure. For rust/SUPER HARD joints... WD 40... For broken Pieces, Duct Tape
sand blasting and crayons. eh. goo gone for sticker residue. broken parts either get epoxied, or in some really rare cases, re-cast.
For it, it greatly depends on the figure in question. Generally, I want to get as nice of a G1 (or other "vintage") figure I can to begin with, but let's face it - sometimes that's just not possible or a deal comes along that's too good to pass up. I'll give you an example: a few months ago, I was able to buy a G1 Thunderwing. He's not an easy figure to come buy, and it became my largest, current purchase to date for a single figure (ringing up at $175). I knew the figure I got wasn't the most mint of specimens, and I actually bought one missing a gun. After buying the gun and getting the figure in, two glaring things need attention: paint wear and labels. I have still yet to purchase the labels (as I do want to buy some labels for quite a few of my bots), but the paint wear I did take care of. I hardly bother with the paint, but my Thunderwing had some of the green already touched up previously by an owner prior to me. I rarely do things on the painting level (not because of skill level, but because of my statements above), but noticing the paint already tampered with, I took it as an invitation to further the process. The paint wear was typical: the black portions. I went ahead and painted some Future floor polish on the gold parts, as it would be very prone to scratches and chipping. I completed the green touch-ups, again coating with Future. The black was the most glaring damage, and I simply painted some black onto the figure with Future (again). After I purchase a set of labels, I'll have a very nice display piece. I also did some very similar things with my Autobot cars, except these needed a bit more repair work due to the infamous "broken roof syndrome". Prowl got his roof reattached with superglue, some paint touch-ups, and a set of reprolabels. Bluestreak got the very same treatment, and Smokescreen had the same order plus a back window repair (I had to take two back windows and fuse them together with superglue). As a rule of thumb, when I bring a figure into my collection, I'll clean the figure the very best that I can at least.
I got a G1 Snarl from a car boot sale for 50p and everything was floppy on him. I pretty much disassembled the entire figure, put in slightly larger pins where needed to stiffen those loose joints where dripping glue didn't work, used a little spray chrome to restore the scuffed chrome parts, glued his horns in place because they just wouldn't tighten, and then screwed everything back together snugly. I was gonna Reprolabel him but the stickers were still in pretty good condition so I'll not bother.
I do not buy figures in too bad of condition as I lack the skills and equipment to repair them. as for stickers i generally leave the worn stickers in place as it speaks to the life experiences of the figure, showing he was loved by a child once.
I don't buy a lot of older figures but if they are dirty then I'll clean them but that's about it. I see the wear and tear over the years as sort of a badge of honor. Restoring toys to me is sort of like restoring comic books....I'm not a big fan.
Sadly, when a TF is broken, a TF is generally broken. I'd probably fuck up the whole figure if I tried to fix it. I can take of sticker residue and what not, but not paint (generally)/fix.
I usually try to buy them in as good of condition as possible. If there is a Reprolabels set available, I strip off the original stickers with adhesive remover, wash the toy thoroughly and apply a fresh set of labels. If there isn't a Reprolabels set, I usually don't bother cleaning the figure or removing the old labels unless the stickers are in extremely poor condition and detract from the figure's appearance too much. I don't bother fixing paint wear, since I don't have enough skill and don't want to wreck a figure. I've tried removing yellowing on a complete Triggerhappy figure, but the procedure didn't work all that well and I ended up stripping a screwhole and cracking a joint, so I won't be doing that again.
Hmm I thought for a while about removing the stickers from my Powermaster Prime, once I got the leftover boxes from my parents cellar, and then buy some repro labels. Depends on how far my "mods" went back then. I only remember that my "leg mod" did not turn out like I imagined and he cannot pull the Trailer anymore because I cut that plastic away, which holds the legs together and where you stick the Trailer piece in. I hope he still looks good, then I will do so. And get replacement stickers from Reprolabels. I don't know what else Transformers I still have. I thought about them many times while reading this forums the last months and I hope I still have for example Siren and Getaway. I know Siren would need new stickers and that he had some glue in his face, I hope I can fix that without hurting the face painting. Getaway hopefully is still alright. About the rest I don't know much anymore. I don't think I will display them, but If I possibly sell some of them, I think it's better if they look good. But I guess PM Prime would be a good display piece if in good shape, he's half a statue anyway
I generally don't replace stickers unless there really an i mean really bad, helps me remember my originals from my encore an such. I've been hydrogen peroxiding my yellow figs, and so far so good, turned a pee yellow jetfire into a bone white badass.
A bit of paint touch-up on chrome parts is often needed. Mostly, things have been okay, though in some cases, like Jazz's, I'm having to fabricate some parts: Doors, and most of the roof-and-windshield piece. I've got one door so far. I also got him new stickers, but they weren't Reprolabels, and were something of a ripoff. The midriff decals were absent, and the door stickers used the silver background that all the others did. And the hood Autobot symbol was sloppily cut. Still, it looks better than nothing. He's a good Jazz. 1980s and pre-rub, to boot. Scourge, I fabricated his headpiece and rifle. With molding sprues and Play-Dough, followed by blue paint. And they're good and solid too. I have to glue Soundwave's tape door back together at one corner, but it opens and closes still. Soundwave still has nearly all if not ALL his stickers. Grimlock and Sludge have loose joints that need tightening. Slag's screw joints are rusty, but they can stay that way: It keeps them tight. Optimus is in mixed shape. His integrity's quite good. His rubber tires are all fine. But the only part of him besides the wheels where the chrome is in good shape is his grille. His right shoulder doesn't ratchet. And his legs are a devil to keep from springing back to cab-mode position. I would fix this, but I haven't the foggiest idea. Can somebody please help?
If it's not broken I usually trade up. If I have something in rough shape I'll keep an eye out for a deal on a better one. Buy the better one and sell off my old one. Rinse and repeat. I also do repairs if the figure is worth repairing. So far I've repaired G1 Mirage, Shockwave, Roadbuster, and Masterpiece Greenscream.
all my g1 stuff except trypticon and scorponok and the g1 omega supreme and mechabot-1 version of omega have been sold...don't buy g1 really anymore...did trade for a g1 jetfire recently...got out of g1 a while ago.
