Okay, so I've got this G1 Devestator. Absolutely complete, good paint, good joints, but lousy stickers. I've got a set of Reprolabels ready to go on. I've spent this afternoon carefully removing all of the stickers from every part of Devestator except for the rub-signs. The Constructicons came all dirty. Not too dirty, but look's like old dirt and dust that was never cleaned off and dirt in the cracks and just not shiny and pretty. What's the next step for this restoration? I have a soft toothbrush, and I have dishwasher hand soap. I think it's Dawn antibacterial hand soap. Can I just mix soap with warm water in a tub and soak the Constructicons and their parts over night? Will that clean em up and brighten them? Will this also remove any remaining sticker glue? Will it harm the chrome? I don't want to use Goof-Off because I notice it rubs off some of the plastic. I've got no plans to repaint these or customize them, just a good professional restoration. All stickers are off. Advice please?
put them in the top of the dishwasher and run it for a cycle...then grab them all out ...and use a hair dryer on the cool setting to blast the water out the cracks...good as new clean wise...
I had thought about that too. Except wouldn't the heat from the dishwasher be too much for them? There's a lot of hot steam in there too. I can't imagine that would be good for these old plastic pieces.
most have a option to turn off the heated drying part of the wash cycle..so it basically washes and that it is.
I don't know about using a dishwasher to clean off toys.... Why don't you just use Windex/Clorox wipes? That will get them clean easy.
Using wipes on large toy's works okay. But these Constructicons are small with lot's of angles to work with. Have you tried wiping around a lot of angles, corners, and what not? Plus the dirt that's in the cracks where two pieces of plastic join. I do have all-surface wipes, I'll try it on one of the figures. But, I think it'll be too difficult on these. What about just soak'em over night in dishwasher hand-soap?
Honestly, I use wipes to clean my Hot Wheels Batman Begins 1:18 scale Tumbler. NO WAY the Constructicons would be more difficult to clean than that. You can throw them in soap but that Rust is going to turn those toys into junk. Post photos, how bad are we talking here?
Not bad. The wipes have helped some. One thing I don't like about the wipes is they seem to leave a strange feeling on the surface. What I was talking about is all those crevices, as it's hard to get the wipes in some areas. Yea, I was concerned about the rust also which is why I'm avoiding water as much as I can. I don't think the dishwasher idea will be good for these guy's. The sticker glue is still being difficult in some areas. But I think I've got them fairly cleaned up. What about the rub-signs? Are those worth leaving on, I think they look ugly. They look like they were hap-hazardly applied and in the strangest places, places I wouldn't have thought to stick them. Repro doesn't make rub-signs do they? Does anybody? I'll try and take some pictures tomorrow when it's brighter.
Use a small paintbrush and some rubbing alcohol to clean in those hard to reach places. To clean off sticker residue I use "Sticker Shock" its for removing bumper stickers, and is available at most auto parts stores. You can use WD-40 also, but it leaves an oily residue that then needs to be cleaned. And yes, Reprolabels do make Rub symbols.
Reprolabels does make replacements so don't worry about washing those off. Besides, they are your toys, customize them how you like them Speaking from experience, windex is amazing for rubbing off sticker residue. I use it to remove the residue left on my wind shield once my Registration/inspection stickers need to be replaced. It won't harm your transformers, if anything, it will make them shiny! Also, why not use a wet Q tip? I've used that at time to clean hard to reach places. I use wipes and Q-Tips to clean this bad boy because its a dust magnet So like I said, if I can clean this, you can clean those tiny Constructicons (I'm in the process of cleaning it, its still kind of dirty.)
I would use Q-tips if I had any! Thank's for the tip's man I appreciate it. I think I'll delete the rub-signs since half of them don't have any anyways. I think I might get the KO Constructicon set to try out some custom painting though. I keep imagining these guy's in true-to-life paint jobs and detailing instead of cartoon colors. However, as these particular ones are original G1's, I just want to restore them to their natural beauty. Still wanna grab me a full set of CrazyDave upgrades for it. But, if/when I can find the set I'll save them for the custom repaint. Keep an eye out for pictures tomorrow.
I really want to buy all the upgrade parts from CrazyDave for my future Devestator project. I noticed that at his web site they are out of stock. At TF Resources, they have the arms and fists, but no torso/thighs, and head upgrades. I've never shopped at TF Resources before, how good are they? Where else might I look for the torso and head upgrades? I've checked ebay and didn't see anything there. Would greatly appreciate some help.
I hope you got a lot of money because those upgrades are hard to come by now. Check the ebay prices on those items, you will probably reconsider . Never shopped at tf resources, do you have a link? Also, did you miss this announcement? http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-news-rumors/319672-tfclub-devastator-first-part-pic.html Screw CD upgrades, this set is what you need
Thank's man. I wasn't aware of that set. But do they have the torso and head parts that CD has? I don't want to do just the arms and leave it at that. If I'm going to do anything, I want to go all the way. As for the link's, here you go.......................... Manufacturer CrazyDevy As for having a lot of money, er, well no. I'll probably have to pick a piece at a time and build it slowly.
no, this is a new Devastator that is being constructed. It will not use any existing toy as its base. EDIT: The head is already 70 bucks http://cgi.ebay.com/TRANSFORMERS-CDMW-05-CRAZY-DEVY-DEVASTATOR-LED-HEAD-/220643494761?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0#ht_568wt_879
Cool! Well tomorrow I'll post pictures of the cleaned up Constructicons. Hopefully by tomorrow evening I'll be putting the new stickers on them. This one is just going to be a simple restoration. But like I said, I plan on getting the KO set for my custom job. Which reminds me, I noticed CD has two versions of their upgrades? One for original and one for KO? Would the KO be any easier to find?
I honestly don't know, I'm not buying any of that crap until A. We get a box set B. He releases them cheaper and all at the same time C. I buy them way below retail D. They are free
Here are some pictures of my Constructicons. Sorry, I didn't think to take any before pictures when they were all dirty with worn stickers. I got every single piece of sticker off and 99.9% of the sticker residue off as well. I think Hook's chrome pieces still have some sticker glue left as they were a bitch to get off. Especially without harming the chrome. Reprolables complete Devestator sticker sheet.
