Non-TCG question I grant but something that may be useful for others too! Do any of our esteemed collectors here know how to clean off the small Tomy figures without damaging paint?
I am getting ready to do my Collection thread, and currently sorting through a 80litre box of figures, books, games etc to add some interesting flavour alongside my card pics!
Almost every single figurine has lines of paint where they have been stored against other figures. For example, a red streak of paint across a Jigglypuff.
& My Pokédex looks like an explosion in a crayon factory.
Does anyone have experience cleaning these off in a non-harmful way? If not I will be willing to pop to the shop, experiment tomorrow, sacrifice a few Ratata and post results. For science!
Pictured: badly stored but immensely loved goods spanning 25 years.
I had some second hand figurines which had paint scuffs and trying to find a solution online, a lot of people recommended the brand ‘Magic Eraser’. Unfortunately I could not find that brand or anything equivalent to where I am located so I ended up using cleaning alcohol (diluted IPA) with q-tip and then cleaned with a damp cloth afterwards. I think I managed to remove all scuff marks till they were unnoticeable.
Mine were really cheap second hand toys so please do test on a few Ratata whatever you try out.
Thanks, this sounds like a really good shout and was the first thing I came to from my miniature painting experience. I like this as a solution and will give it a go, but hopefully others may have some insight!
So long as we don’t end up with a Blastoise-Sandpaper experience…
Sadly I think the only mu(c)k and grime(r) in there is actual dust and paint! XD But yes I am looking forward to decanting it all, giving it a bit of a cleanup and appreciating it in a new way with the thread.
Even though my special interest lies in slime i’m anyway always super excited to see people collections, especially if they have a lot of variety and non-tcg/figures/obscure niche items included
Update: IPA (isopropyl alcohol, not Indian pale ale) works and is the least abrasive of the substances I’ve tried.
Acetone works but strips all, airbrush cleaner (alcohol based) also does not work, and acetone based brush cleaner does not work at all. Tried an oil cleanser at my gfs suggestion and that also has no effect.
A thorough wipe off with a non-fragranced sensitive wipe (like for babies) works best to displace most surface dirt with minimal impact and then an extremely targeted IPA attack using modellers q-tips (pointed) works best for plastic scuffing on the models that are coloured plastic.
Anything painted, i.e. with details that are not by virtue of the plastic they’re made of need to be treated with extreme care.
That said, so time intensive I literally cannot be bothered so also bear that in mind!
