Hello all, I've been wanting to really give my powered convoy a good cleaning/restoration job for the past few months, and have toyed with the idea of replacing the silver stripes on the blue cab. It has the original labels attached to the rest of the body and those are in pretty decent shape, but the silver stripes are just really peeling back quite a bit. I was thinking of buying one of those sheets from tfkingdom or reprolabels that are pre-cut for the cab stickers or biting the bullet and buying a few of the ultra magnus G1 original label sheets and cutting out the silver portions from that myself. I am NOT planning on removing the original decals from the feet, arms and legs since those are all white and original to the toy. Any idea on how this restoration might affect re-sale value later on? Has anyone done this before? Has anyone ever transferred the silver stripes from an original G1 magnus or prime? Any thoughts or tips would be much appreciated. Thanks.
silver stripes are pre applied on the g1 figures, so cutting them off won't be an option. if you go for replacement labels, use reprolabels. tfstickers won't have the factory labels anyways resale value, not sure about
If done well enough I think it wouldn't hurt the resale that much. This is how I tend to see it: g1 toy with bad labels and paint/Plastic = 1/4 or less of loose resale value. (mint toy) g1 toy with bad labels and good paint paint/Plastic = 1/3 or less of loose resale value. (mint toy) g1 toy with goodlabels and bad paint/ plastic = 1/3 or less of loose resale value. (mint toy) g1 toy with no stickers ,alright stickers, repro stickers and good paint/ plastic = 1/2 or more of loose resale value. (mint toy) So I would say just do it and if you plan on selling later let the person know. Use Reprolables they have a great reputation and are pretty much recognized by Hasbro.
I wouldn't do anything to restore a Diaclone, definately never use any reprolabels. Its fine to clean it up, but I would never pay full value for a Diaclone that had any repro parts/stickers on it.
Thanks for the input guys, it seems there are a for sure a few schools of thought on this. All this time I've been right there with Tripredacus, not wanting to do anything to it except clean it and make the plastic as shiny as possible. It's just that the cab stripes are peeling back so damn much, and I am not aware of any glue that has a thin enough film to allow for a recoating of the sticker backs to be reapplied.
Reprolabels are better than crap stickers to me, it will definitely add value if the toy ends up looking great. If you are displaying it though do what you want and don't sweat value. I restored my Chrome trailer powered convoy i picked up for $100. It looked like hell before I restored it. I found almost all the original parts over time except for the waist belt. I have found them on ebay and at a store but they were asking stupid money. Before (chrome pitted, covered with resin/glue, yellowing, lots of little surface scratches) After, chrome looks new, very light sanding and polishing to remove scratches, 3 pieces de-yellowed, cab disassembled and polished. amazingly the stickers are original and mint
Funny you should ask, I restored one of my sets of individual predacons that I bought for 20 bucks trashed. I use 1000-1500 grit sandpaper if the scratches are kinda deep. Then meguiars car polish, and then wax.
A reprolabel is better than a crappy peeling label any day of the week, no matter the toy. That crappy label will fall off eventually anyway.
your predacons look awesome. I've also been searching for chemicals/solutions to apply to rubber tires to help with the cracking and keep them looking like new. Have found some good options but have been wary to test them until i get a junker and to do a test trial. I will go ahead and polish my powered convoy before attempting any repair or replacement to the stickers. It is quite possible that he will look considerably much better and may influence my decision to replace the label. I'll try the meguiars polish you mentioned...what type of wax did you use?
I usrd meguiars gold class before but have been considering trying a polymer. I waxed and polished my fort max 10 years ago and the wax has had zero negative reaction to the plastic though so.ill probably use what works. A dremel polisher works great to get the really bad spots just be careful you dont burn the plastic. I used an automotive rubber conditioner on tires before and it turned the to goo. So be careful and test a junker first. Let me know if you have succes with the tires. So far tires and pretender shell restoration is a big fat fail for me.
I will attempt a clean up this evening and report on the results this weekend with some pictures. I'll try taking pics of the stickers as they are. I have read other blogs regarding sticker re-sticking and there is a sticker maker out there called the Xyron 150, any idea how this works? Would it be the same as using double sided tape? Has anyone here ever used double sided tape to stick carefully removed stickers back on?
I have to agree that i would avoid removing/replacing diaclone stickers. If its missing stickers and you want to lay a reprolabels plastic (not paper) sticker down then it can't hurt, but once you remove the original stickers (even if in bad shape) they are gone and the value is hurt for the original toy in the eyes of nearly all collectors.
As an example, while my Diaclone Countach LP500S Police Type was never in real great condition, I would never consider fixing it. If I wanted something that actually looked good, I'd go find a Clamp Down instead. Rare flood victim in robot mode by Tripredacus, on Flickr Rare flood victim by Tripredacus, on Flickr
decided not to restore, only to clean. Didnt go all out, but next time around I will probably polish as suggested. I've got one complete Powered Convoy with partially unused sticker sheet and Japanese instructions. And I have one Powered Convoy with no accessories and Italian instructions. Both are C8.5++ to C9 (no box for either ) I might sell these two in the coming months along with my entire collection.
