4/24/2007

Toy Rehab

I currently have three toy rehabilitation projects under way:

1)Star Wars AT-AT
This is one I got back when I was a kid. Been in the attic for the last 20 years. It's got the dings and scuffs probably every kid that ever had one put on theirs. All of the stickers were faded and cracked, and the adhesive from the stickers was somehow baked onto the vehicles plastic. The left front knee was warped and bent to the side about 5 degrees. The left rear flexor joint was loose. The electronics didn't work, the chin guns didn't move back and forth or light up. The whole thing was covered in a fine layer of dust.

Gameplan
I plan on disassembling the whole thing. I want to clean off all the old stickers/adhesive, figure out why the right rear leg is loose, and try to re-align the left front leg. Ideally, I'd like to also repair the electronics through new wiring and/or a new motor. My long term goal for this is to make a fairly accurate recreation of the AT-AT's cockpit as well.

2)Star Wars AT-ST
Suffered from the same problems as the AT-AT minus the electrical isses and warped, bent parts. Same rehab plans. Clean it up, make it look nice.

3)Transformers Decepticon Blitzwing
I purchased this in a loose/no accessories condition. The condition was described as "C-7" whatever that means. The joints are all nice and tight. There's a lot of paint wear, especially on the cockpit/nosecone and the yellow highlights of the figure's head. There is nothing structurally wrong with the figure except for some stress marks on the wing tips, and the die-cast vertical stablizers have some scuff marks.

Gameplan
I plan to disassemble this figure and clean it up. I'm going to lightly sand and buff the entire figure in hopes of cleaning up most of the minor and scratches. I'm going to repaint the gray of the nosecone and cockpit as well as the figure's head. It has no decals applied, and I'm am currently planning on getting a set from Reprolabels.com, although I probably won't apply all of them.

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