Repair Thread

[myname0123]

Hey I just got my Alternity Prime last monday and it sort of broke.

The abdominal/ stomach mechanism is not working so when I fold the front half of the car up and down the ab piece just hangs there. A piece did snap off from near the top of the ab piece. Right now the stomach piece is just dangling there (loosely) and it does not fit properly when transformed into the car.

If the pictures show up you could see how the inner mechanism works so as you fold the front half of the car the inside moves allowing things to lock into place but mine does not move front all the way so that the ab piece cannot fit into the decided hole.

Oh yeah and when transformed into robot mode the front part of the car cannot fit into its intended area, as you can see from picture 2, so the ab piece cannot connect with the lower body it is stuck just hovering atop the lower body.

It was working when I got it but its not working now... sorry for such a long post but I am just heart broken right now.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks in advance.

GC

[Omega_Prime]

Is there any way you can remove sun damage?

I can't look it up because sun isn't long enough hahaha

If there's a way, what's the step by step procedure and where can I get the products to get the job done

[Bruticus82]

Originally Posted by Omega_Prime

Is there any way you can remove sun damage?

I can't look it up because sun isn't long enough hahaha

If there's a way, what's the step by step procedure and where can I get the products to get the job done

Apparently soaking in Hydrogen Peroxide in a glass jar, and leaving the jar in the sun, does the job. How long you soak depends on how strong the hydrogen peroxide is (3% v. 20% for instance). Be careful there are no other additives in the hydrogen peroxide, some (like when used to bleach hair) have additional ingredients which might harm the plastic. Diluted Hydrogen Peroxide, without additives, is apparently safe.

I've found a more "fast acting" version, but never tested it on transformers. It was designed for commodore 64 computers, but the active ingredient is still hydrogen peroxide, but they add ingredients to turn it into a fast acting gel instead of soaking it for hours... http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/Retr0Bright+Gel
That's some formulas, the rest of the website goes into lots of detail about what causes the colour change, and why hydrogen peroxide works. They've really done their homework!

Note: While this is usually safe for plastic like that transformers are made of, any pieces that you're somewhat worried about (translucent pieces) should probably be removed.

There is a guy over at...either tfw or seibertron.com who does just the soaking in hydrogen peroxide, and he's posted amazing results in all but the most severe cases (severe fading on a dark purple blot didn't come out perfectly, but was much better).

Bonus: It also apparently helps on those spots on the rubbery plastic of pretender accessories.

[Bruticus82]

Originally Posted by myname0123

Hey I just got my Alternity Prime last monday and it sort of broke.

The abdominal/ stomach mechanism is not working so when I fold the front half of the car up and down the ab piece just hangs there. A piece did snap off from near the top of the ab piece. Right now the stomach piece is just dangling there (loosely) and it does not fit properly when transformed into the car.

If the pictures show up you could see how the inner mechanism works so as you fold the front half of the car the inside moves allowing things to lock into place but mine does not move front all the way so that the ab piece cannot fit into the decided hole.

Oh yeah and when transformed into robot mode the front part of the car cannot fit into its intended area, as you can see from picture 2, so the ab piece cannot connect with the lower body it is stuck just hovering atop the lower body.

It was working when I got it but its not working now... sorry for such a long post but I am just heart broken right now.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thanks in advance.

GC

That's tough...who would think such a little piece would make such a big difference. While I can understand why it might not "snap into place" because that litlte piece is broken off, I can't quite understand how it is that it doesn't slide back all the way...unless there is another broken piece in it's way or something of that nature.

In any event, I don't have the mold, so I'm going to be of little help. If it were me, I'd do some exploratory surgery, try taking some of the pieces apart in that stomach area carefully, and understand how the mechanism works. That might give you some insight into what is going wrong, and how to possibly fix it.

[chans formers]

Originally Posted by Omega_Prime

Is there any way you can remove sun damage?

I can't look it up because sun isn't long enough hahaha

If there's a way, what's the step by step procedure and where can I get the products to get the job done

this weekend i should be able to post some results from the last 2 weeks of me experimenting with the same technique that bruticus82 is talking about.so far im blown away by what the peroxide can do.wait till you see the picsit does work though.

[Omega_Prime]

Thanks guys, I'll wait for your results chans!

for a non Chemist here, how do you even get Hydrogen Peroxide?

Say I use it on one figure, is it wasted and I have to use a new jar of H2O2 or can it be reused for another figure?

Last question, I'm going to be doing this operation on Beast wars TM2 toys so they have a lot of chrome and several coloured parts. How do you go about doing these figures?

[Bruticus82]

Originally Posted by Omega_Prime

Thanks guys, I'll wait for your results chans!

for a non Chemist here, how do you even get Hydrogen Peroxide?

Say I use it on one figure, is it wasted and I have to use a new jar of H2O2 or can it be reused for another figure?

Last question, I'm going to be doing this operation on Beast wars TM2 toys so they have a lot of chrome and several coloured parts. How do you go about doing these figures?

Hydrogen Peroxide can be found at the dollar store in 3% concentration, brown bottles.

It can be found in pharmacies apparently, probably in higher than 3% concentration (used to bleach hair or something?) but be careful for contaminants/additivies, you want it only diluted with water.

Also you can apparently find "food grade hydrogen peroxide" whatever that means, at some nature/organic type health food stores. *shrugs*

I haven't used it myself. If figures are multiple colours of plastic it should help all the pieces. Not sure about the vacuum metalized "chrome" pieces. Maybe use it on a test piece from a junker first? I believe there is an issue with having to dry off screws (or remove screws) or else it encourages rust...but it's a small issue.

I'm not sure how long you can reuse hydrogen peroxide, but I'd say it depends on the strength, because the stuff is reacting, and getting "used up" as a result.

[Galvatron007]

I am looking to clean up a few old G1 figures and then apply fresh stickers to them. I am wondering:

(1) What is the best way to go about removing old
stickers from the toys?
(2) What should I use to clean the entire figure?

Any help would be appreciated in terms of products and methods to use for this task. I am looking to clean up G1 Bruticus, G1 Perceptor, G1 Devastator, and G1 Galvatron.

[Bruticus82]

Wow, sorry I didn't notice this message sooner.

Soap and water is generally best at cleaning and removing stickers. If the stickers are really tough, some rubbing alcohol can help.

Use and old toothbrush to scrub into the hard to reach dusty spots.

Careful of galvatron with the electronics. The rest you should be able to fully submerge...uhm, maybe not perceptor's glass lens though, dont' want moisture to get in and fog it up.

[myname0123]

Hey thanks for replying and trying to help Bruticus82

But I can't really take him apart since most of prime is held together by pins...

So here's what I was trying to say in my last post, there is a strip of plastic sandwiched by the two metal halves of the body (outlined green), that's 90 degrees from the silver stomach piece. The plastic bit gets pushed up and down as you bend the front half of the car so that it pushes on the stomach piece, pushing it down and into place in vehicle mode. The area outlined red is a rectangular piece on the stomach that is supposed to fit in the hole on the plastic (Also outlined red). Only problem is I think that the strip of plastic is unable to move all the way forwards and back (up and down) since the rectangular piece doesn't fit in its rightful place, and I think that either something is in the strip of plastics way, or the strip of plastic got out of its track therefore restricting its movement, and restricting the pieces from attaching.

So if you have any suggestions on how to fix it, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.