Ideas for Cleaning Action Figures

From time to time we like to share articles from others that you may find interesting.
Please leave a comment on this article as to if it was helpful or not.

Cleaning

So, how does one clean a Joe? Try an old, softened toothbrush and Soft Scrub cleanser. It works miracles, and won't damage the paint if you scrub lightly. Avoid A brushing the hair, of course. -- Derryl D. DePriest

I have found that Formula 409 works very well for cleaning plastic pieces. I have also used some something called "Purple Plus Super Stuff" for cleaning pieces that are very dirty and/or stained. You can probably find it at a hardware store. It is similar to "Simple Green" which would probably work just as well. -- Chad Reed

I always do all of my Joe repair near my kitchen sink. Have paper towels and water handy at all times. I also use a toothbrush and a plastic surfaced cleansing pad for the cleaning chores. These are non-abrasive to Joe's plastic. At the sink, I start by scrubbing him with a dish washing liquid like Ivory. If he's a painted hair-scrub him all over. If he's a fuzz head-skip the head for later. Rinse him with warm water. Next, repeat the process with Soft Scrub with Bleach-going easy on the head this time. At this stage it is especially good at cleaning the hands. It makes discolored Kung Fu Grip hands look human again. Warning: scrub gently as the fingers can break very easily. After you have scrubbed him thoroughly, rinse again in warm water. Dry him off with a towel and look at the head and face. Chances are he needs a closer cleaning there. Using a cotton swab dipped in alcohol, scrub the face clean. Be sure to get behind those ears! Don't worry, unless he has been repainted with acrylics, his paint will stay put but go easy on those areas with anything stronger than dish soap. If he still needs a cleaning after that, try Formula 409 on a swab. Then, rinse the face with a wet cotton ball, removing all of the cleanser. A word about fuzzheads. I had always suggested keeping his hair dry during cleaning to avoid possible hair loss. However, a good friend of mine has had very good results by gently cleaning A.T. heads with a good quality shampoo. Finally, repeat the cleaning process with the dish washing liquid. This is an important step-it will remove any residue of the stronger cleaners which could later find their way on to uniforms. Now, rinse in warm water and dry him thoroughly. Chances are that his internal elastics have gotten wet during all this washing. You want him totally dry inside and out to avoid rusting and elastic rotting. Gently pull Joe apart at the waist and insert a pencil or chopstick between the two elastic pieces so that it keeps the torso and pelvis sections separated. Place him on a window sill in the sun or near (not on!) a radiator. Let Joe dry for at least 24 hours before you remove the pencil, checking to make sure the elastic feels dry to the touch. -- GITrooper

If you buy a set of steel armor from Cotswold, you'll have to deal with rust since it's not made from stainless steel. To keep it up, you could resort to the method that they used then - oil or continual buffing with beeswax polish. Once you've eliminated the rust (any automobile store will supply a good rust inhibitor) a good, thick coat of lacquer or polyurethane varnish should stop the rust for a couple of years. -- David Higson

CLR (known for a heavy duty cleaner that removes rust and water stains) has released a mild version that can be used on plastics, fiberglass ect. I wonder if it can be used to clean up older joes. I'm gonna give it a try on one of my vintage & I'll let you all know... -- Logoffsys

There are several products available that will help get rid of stains. I have had excellent results with Oxy 10 gel and Clearasil Maximum Strength vanishing cream. I use both. Some stains seem to respond better to one or the other - I don't know why. Use a toothpick to apply it directly to the area you want to treat. Leave on a sunny window sill if possible for 24-48 hours. Then check and see how it looks. The stain should be fading. If needed, repeat the process as many times as necessary. With patience, the stain will eventually go away, it might just take a while. There's no calling on this. Sometimes it takes one day, sometimes a month. There are some stains that will not respond to this treatment and that's when you might want to try a new product called Remove-Zit. This product is available at doll shows and directly through the manufacturer, Pine Tree Industries in Scarborough, Maine. I have had great results with this stuff on discolored heads. It works amazingly on the mold spots (the Oxy 10 and Clearasil don't seem to work on these). Be aware that the mold has already bleached the pink color out of the vinyl. So, you will be left with a slightly pale area where the spot was-but it beats green! It is very important that you read all the instructions that come with this product. Do not get it on painted areas-you will lose the paint in those areas. I have also found that sealing in a tupperware container and heat (sunny window sill or above a turned on table lamp bulb perched in the shade supports) seems to help speed up the process. Remember that all of these products contain strong chemicals that will react in some way with the vinyl. In the case of the acne creams, peroxide (a bleaching agent) is the active ingredient. The Remove-Zit works to change the chemical properties of the stain itself. Use these products with care and check the results frequently! On most stains, they will work eventually. -- GITrooper

A fellow collector friend of mine uses javex diluted with water and a q-tip. to clean stains off of deep sea diver suits . He has had good results with this method. -- Robert Hall

My 30th anniversary Joe's wet suit headpiece melted where his chain was around his neck. I used nail polish remover to get this black tar goo off. The only problem is that one has be careful not to use it on a painted area as it will take the paint off as well. It worked great on his neck, throat and chest. I am still working on the part on the back of his head (painted area). -- Robert

If you have a Joe with a melted scuba suit adhering to his body, some of the suit may be loose. Peel or flake off as much as you can. Now get out the rubber gloves. Put him in a covered roaster pan or other covered pan and coat him liberally with Easy-Off Oven Cleaning gel or foam. Cover the pan. Leave him for at least 24 hours. The rubber is an organic compound and will be broken down by the oven cleaner. The scuba suit should be easily removed with a little effort. Some of it will practically slide off and other spots may need a little scraping with a dull knife (be careful not to scratch the body plastic). Again, patience is the key here. When you have finished removing all of the old rubber, clean him thoroughly. -- GITrooper

Here is the link we found these ideas: http://www.oocities.org/pentagon/6985/joetips.htm#1

Chinook & Hobby West has not tried some of these methods, they are suggestions only. Chinook & Hobby West is not responsible for items that get damaged using these methods.

Thompson River Route Blog 5

It has been quite some time since my last blog and the layout hasn't had many updates either. There is, however, enough to continue where I had left off. In this issue I will be discussing track weathering, the new- but no longer a town section, and wrapping up with a description of my simple signaling project.  

With all the ballasting work complete and glued down solid and the rails painted, weathering can begin. To weather the track I have used powdered chalks. These will go on light enough per swipe that they can be easily worked to get the right look. I start with powdered charcoal (black), applying streaks parallel to the rails to replicate oil drippings.

 Next, I use powdered rust to run along either side of the rails. The pure rust colour is rather intense compared to most of the colouring seen around the prototype, which is why I only apply it beside the rails where the effect should be heaviest. The track almost always has a coating of rusted steel dust (assuming that is what it is) which is not quite as bright as the pure rust colour, to fix this I mix the rust colour with some brown and tan powders. 

Once I’m happy with the shade of dust (by testing it on a hidden section of track) I will dust it between and on either side of the rails. The dust should spread out just past the ties and settles rather evenly all along. The dust should not create a clear line on the edges though, it should only be lightly applied so that the transition between ballast and dust is smooth. That’s the extent of my weathering, not an awful lot to it but it adds a nice touch to the realism. 

Next I would like to talk about my new development which sits past the east end of the tunnels. I was originally planning to place a small town in this area, however, I changed my mind after viewing some other mountain layouts. They made me realize I need some more dynamic landscape to go with the mountains right next to it. There wasn't a lot of space for large hills but there was enough to raise up from the bottom level to the top level seamlessly. Plus I now had a remote helper station at the bottom of either grade, perfect for operations.

 I started out with some old hill pieces I had laying around, cutting them and gluing them into place. I then filled in the openings with thick packaging paper which will eventually be coated in plaster and painted to match the existing pieces. It is still in rough stages but has a nice look to it with the sheds and helpers sitting aside with some trees and steep grassy hills behind. 

The last point to be discussed in this issue is the signals on my layout. At the moment I have seven signals automatically controlling the junction which either bypasses the mountain route or heads down one of the grades. The signals are mainly scratch built, made to resemble typical CPR signals. 

To automate them, I have taken the easy way out for the time being. I have taken advantage of a Circuitron road intersection signal system. This board has outputs for two directions, just enough for a simple intersection. The timings between light changes can be easily changed, and the yellow light outputs can be used as another route separate to the red and green outputs. I wired it so that there is four points which can get clearance over the others. I wired the less used directions into the shorter length yellow output, and then used the other two sets of red/green outputs. 

The key to this wiring layout was to not think of the red/yellow/green outputs as colours corresponding to the signals, but rather as outputs that will turn on and off automatically. This little board can control a good number of LED signals, so I didn’t stop at the main junction signals, I added some intermediate signals which copy what is displayed ahead of them. 

Now, while this is not a detection based signal system, it is a nice way to make the signals change on their own and add some interest to your layout. In an operations sense, my layout will likely only ever see one operator so detection signaling is not necessary, these automated signals allow me to have to watch the signals and occasionally stop for a signal. It is a cheap and easy way to add a little more excitement to your layout. 

That concludes the fifth installment of the Thompson River route blog. There is not a lot left to do on the route with only one more tunnel to plaster, paint, and scenic. Beyond that I will complete the east hill section and helper station. There will be a blog showing the completion of this project with some good train action along the way. ~~Tyler Fedoroshyn

What's Going On At Chinook & Hobby West in June 2013?

We have many things going on this month. 

Our Store hours changed in May 2013 for the summer

• We just released our June issue of The Chinook Breeze (Click Here to read it!). 
• There is a Learn to Decal class June 8 (Click Here to sign up)
• Tomorrow is the next installment of Tyler's Blog on the progress of his layout
• Father's Day Contest (Click Here to Enter)
• We have NEW Product Lines: Rozzers, Techtronics, Remote Control
• Our North location is having a Gigantic G Scale Sale! All G Scale is 25% off 
• We have a couple large train collections coming in mid-June
• And So Much More!

Make sure to Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter, Check us out on Pinterest, Bookmark our Blog, and of course Visit our Website often so you don't miss out on What's Happening at Chinook & Hobby West.

Thank you for reading and following our blog and we hope to hear from you, or better yet, See You Soon!

Valerie

Decal Tips

Our Staff has complied some Decal Setting Tips:

There are so many ways to decal, almost as many ways as there are decals!

Here is one of the easiest:

 - do a light spray coat of the same finish as the decal (gloss for glossed decal, matte for matte decal) let dry.

 - apply waterslide decal and position, let it dry then apply decal set to get the decal to snuggle into place.

 - when dry, clear cote with your desired look (matte, gloss, satin, etc.)
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

here is one recipe for getting a decal to lay down flat and stick.

 

1.  Use fresh decals.  After a year, or more, the film dries out and cracks and tears. 

 

2.  Apply over a good coat of paint. 

 

3.  While dry (before wetting)  cut the individual decals loose from the main sheet with a small pair of scissors.   Trim the decal closely, removing as much excess decal film as possible.  Trim all the corners round to prevent a loose corner from lifting up.

 

4.  Soak decals one by one in water, in a saucer.  The decal paper may curl, wait for it to flatten (after a few seconds),  lift decal and paper backing from the water. Carefully slide the decal off the backing paper and lay flat in the proper place.
* The decal adhesive is water  soluble. If you leave the decal in the water too long the adhesive washes away and then the decal won't stick.  *

 The decal film may want to stick to your finger and wrap itself up like a pretzel.  Don't let it, you will never get it straightened out again.  Steer the 

decal film to the proper place and get it square and centered.  A small paint brush or a needle or the point of a #11 Xacto knife all work to steer the decal.  Blot up excess water with a Kleenex.  Too much water and the decal will swim away from it's proper spot.  Let it dry long enough to stick in place. 

 

5.  Apply decal setting solution.  We carry Walther's Solvaset  & Microscale's - Micro Sol.  The setting solution is mostly formaldehyde which softens the decal film and lets it settle down around

 surface details- like rivets.  DO NOT attempt to move a decal after applying the setting solution, the decal softens 

so much that it will tear.  Let dry over night.

 

6.  After decals are good and dry, spray a coat of DullCote over it to make the decal film blend in. (Testor's DullCote). 

 

These tips are our opinions and they work for us. They may or may not work to your satisfaction.

Product Tip:

Here is Microscale's description for each product:

 

"Micro Set is a very versatile decal setting solution that does several things to the Microscale Decals to improve application. Micro Set should be applied to the surface of the model where you will be sliding off the decal. This prepares the surface with special wetting agents that cuts the oils in new paint and converts the adhesive on the back of the decal to a stronger and more lasting one. And finally, Micro Set slightly softens the decals film to make it more flexible so that it can conform better 

to the model's surface. Better adhesion by the decal to the model prevents tiny air bells from occurring and results in an invisible carrier film or the so called 'painted on look'. "

 

"Micro Sol setting solution is for the most difficult irregular surfaces you find on models. It completely softens the  Decal allowing it to drape down onto the surface of the model conforming perfectly and without distortion. You can get the most amazing results in seemingly impossible places, because Micro Sol actually makes the decal part of the paint. For that reason you should coat Micro Sol on for only a few seconds and then leave it alone, it does the work. Do not touch until dry as the decal is very soft at this stage and could be easily damaged. "

~~There are many different products to use with decals, these are the ones our guys like to use. If you have a different suggestion or something to add, we would love to hear it!
Valerie

National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day

March 29th is ‘National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day.’ As the name says, this day is to celebrate and give attention to those small business owners. These people normally put in long and hard hours because there usually aren’t many employees. Things still need to get done so the few people that are employed at these places have to get the work done no matter how long it takes. Normally these people don’t mind these kinds of hours because the work isn’t overly bad. After all, they do not have to listen to other people really because they are their own bosses.

Small businesses like these are vital to the economy and many people prefer going to these places instead of the big corporate companies. Customer support usually is way better and quicker. People know what they are talking about and are more willing to help because they know that’s what keeps businesses alive.

This holiday should be promoted by people shopping in these stores. If you generally pass up these shops to go to the corporates, take a moment today to stop in and see what they have to offer. These are people’s livelihoods and they are very passionate about what they do. I know firsthand what this is like as my grandparents and parents own a small hunting and sporting clays club. They appreciate every person that walks through the door to support them. Everyone is greeted and treated like they are valued, which is how everyone should be all the time anyway. Make someone’s day happier by shopping at the small ‘mom and pop’ places in your area. Thank them for their hard work by buying things they sell. Have fun and good luck!

Source: BY: AMANDA THORSON

How The Holiday Started:

On National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day we honor the small, family business owners who bring so much to our communities. As they labor to grow their enterprises, they bring jobs, revenue to other local businesses, and general good fortune to the area. The success and desirability of many communities is closely tied to the success of nearby enterprises.

According Rick Segel, the son of the "mom and pop" who started this holiday, it was created on March 29th, 1939. His parents were the owners of a hat shop called "Ruth's" in Everett, MA.

Tips On Gluing Clear Parts

Many of us have done a model where we are following the instructions- only to find out the glue we used to put our masterpiece model together has clouded up our canopy, windows or other clear parts. After you stop cursing and yelling and pick up your model and its bits off the floor, you wonder what happened and can I fix it?

Ah, well - the what happened is easy. The fumes from the glue have reacted to the plastic and you can't fix it. You could alter the clouded plastic part and make it look like the window smashed, or  if its a car you could do a diorama with teens making out in the car (steamed windows - good imagination helps).

To prevent this in the future? You need to use a clear parts glue. At Chinook & Hobby West we have two different kinds: Testors Clear Parts Cement and Cheap Stick Hobby Glue.

                        

Use fine beads of clear parts glue to secure the piece in place. Hold it in place for about 1 minute to set enough to let go of it. Then leave it overnight to cure. It dries clear. If you need to remove excess glue use a fine file so you don't mare your clear part and can control where you are filing.

Come down to our stores, call us or email us if you have any other questions.

Ph North - 403-984-3438                     Ph South - 403-243-1997
email    hobbywest@gmail.com                email    hobbywest@shaw.ca

Check out our website Ezine page for more tips, info and ideas!
http://www.chinookandhobbywest.com/chinook-breeze-ezine.html

Thompson River Route Blog 4

Now that I have been getting back to work on this project, there are some new things to write about. Since the last blog I have done a section of ground cover, completed ballasting the mountain stretch, and completed the river below. I think most will agree that largest challenge behind this list of tasks was ballasting. Ballasting is a skill which often takes us several attempts to get good at. However, there are ways to fix a poorly ballasted section of track, you can usually add a thin top layer if it comes out lumpy or pull out the bad section with a hobby knife.

The ballast I have used on this project is Woodland Scenics [1]  medium grey blend. Being a grey blend, this ballast has a mix of light and dark grey rocks, relatively appropriate to the location I am modelling. The first step for many is to apply a coat of rail brown paint to the track and ties. The rail brown gets rid of the unrealistic silver shine of the rail sides and weathers the ties; especially if the ties were black. When applying the paint, whether by airbrush or paintbrush, be sure to wipe all of the paint off the top of the rails before the paint dries. In the case of concrete ties, the colour is meant to stay light grey so a full spray of rail brown would ruin their look. Instead, I will be ballasting first and then using a paint pen to coat the sides of the rails and the loops holding the rail to the ties.

When ballasting, the first step for me is to pour out an approximate amount of ballast onto the track, working in small sections at a time. With some ballast ready to be leveled out, I take a wide paint brush and gently brush out the centre of the track. This will still leave pieces of ballast on the ties but do not worry about those yet, they will be brushed off on the later steps. With the centre roughly levelled out, I use the paint brush to push away and level the sides to roughly the rail tops. Once the ballast along the entire area is level with the rail tops, I use a piece of cardboard to push down the ballast on the ends of the ties. This will not expose the tops of those ties completely but it will compact the ballast and make gluing easier. The next step is to run my finger along the ends of the ties to clean the rest of the ballast of the tops. You could use a paint brush for this step, however, I have found that a paintbrush likes to throw ballast back up onto the ties and the bristles get between the ties which clears too much ballast out from between them. A paint brush is less destructive to your finger but I have simply had far less frustration and far more ease with using my fingers. The same trick works well for cleaning the centre of the ties. Once all of the ties have been cleared of any ballast on their tops, I then us the piece of cardboard to press a nice slope into the sides of the ballast, this technique gives a very clean and level look to the ballast.

Now, the critical point in ballasting track, gluing it down. This process can be detrimental to the perfect look of your newly laid ballast. The problem is that due to dust and oil on the surface of the ballast particles, water and glue does not like to soak in and adhere to the ballast. Instead, it will clump up and force the ballast around leaving it anything but clean and level. To get around this problem, first apply a generous number of sprays to the ballast with a mixture of water and a few drops of dish soap. The dish soap will allow the water and glue to easily cling to the ballast. The glue I like to use is a 50/50 mixture of water and scenic glue (or roughly a 3/1 mixture of water to thick white glue). With my glue concoction ready, I use an eye dropper to apply a good amount of glue to all of the ballast. Since the ballast was pre-soaked with water the ballast will run into the ballast evenly. The only other thing to be careful of is putting too much pressure onto the eyedropper, the wet ballast is very easy to push around which means to much pressure behind the glue stream will create unwanted troughs. Once the ballast has been thoroughly soaked with glue, allow it a day to dry and it should be solid to the touch.

The next thing I will explain is ground cover. For this project I will not be using much grass and foliage as the prototype is almost barren as well. It will mainly consist of dirt and rock, all of which was collected from a near by forest. I started by covering the steep banks in a layer of fine dirt. I applied a layer of white glue to the bank and ran dirt down from the top, this eventually covered the entire bank and because it was run down from the top I got vertical streaks just as the prototype has. Next, I created piles of larger rock along the river's edge and on any level points on the bank. The glue mixture used for ballasting works well to seal in the ground cover. One exception being any rocks larger than half a centimetre in size, these should be laid on top of a layer of thick white glue. I then added some other small details along the river bank. Small branches from deadfall make great driftwood stuck in the rocks. The occasional pieces of ground foam (grass/bushes) can be added to gaps in the rock where dirt can collect and grow plants. A spray from the water bottle and a generous coat of glue concoction will seal in all of the ground cover.

The last element of this project that I will discuss in this blog is the river. This was a relatively simple addition which consists of some paint and Woodland Scenics water effects [2]. First I start with a light grey/brown shade of paint along the river bank, followed by increasingly darker shades towards the deeper points in the river. With the landscape I am modelling I expect the river bank to drop off pretty quickly and go to a significant depth, so there is very little light colour along the bank before going into a black centre. Once the paint has dried, I squeeze some water effects paste onto the surface of the river and spread it out with a wide paint brush. This is where some creativity and maybe a photo of a rushing river will come in handy as you spread out the paste to resemble the waves bouncing off rocks and rapids in the river. Lastly let the water effects dry and you will be left with a clear but three dimensional flowing river with realistic depth.

That sums up this blog, the project is starting to take shape nicely and is fun to just look at now. Next time I will discuss weathering the track work beyond painting rails and will hopefully have some work done on the fictitious town to share. As a little bonus project I will talk about the signalling I have just installed with a makeshift system to operate them automatically.  ~~Tyler Fedoroshyn

Please leave your comments!