How to clean safely plastic figures?

JoeJungle71 wrote:

I use a liquid soap made of glicerine and coconut with a tooth brush...it works nicely on them !

Welcome here!  

Hello, Joe

Wellcome here, and thankyou for the advice  

Good information, thanks for sharing your experiences everyone
Well my figures are mostly new and I keep them inside a rack so there is not much cleaning to do as of now but this info might come in handy later

This is some great advice. Usually, I just run them under tap water to clean them , particularly the ones that are hard to dust.

I have a question too. Does anyone else have figures that become sticky due to old plastic, and if so, how do you clean/unstick those figures?

barracudacat wrote:

I have a question too.  Does anyone else have figures that become sticky due to old plastic, and if so, how do you clean/unstick those figures?

What brand are they ? I know that Starlux can get a bad bacteria, - so if it is Starlux don't let it near other models, as it is infectuous

Breyer can also get som "illness", but I don't remember much about it

Quote :

What brand are they ? I know that Starlux can get a bad bacteria, - so if it is Starlux don't let it near other models, as it is infectuous

It's an old CollectA model and just one, fortunately. It more or less is in isolation although I do think the stickiness is due to old plastic. Is there any way to fix it?

barracudacat wrote:

Quote :

What brand are they ? I know that Starlux can get a bad bacteria, - so if it is Starlux don't let it near other models, as it is infectuous

It's an old CollectA model and just one, fortunately.  It more or less is in isolation although I do think the stickiness is due to old plastic.  Is there any way to fix it?

That is first time I hear of that problem in a collectA model
I just checked my oldest CollectA models, and fortunately they are ok.

It sounds like the plastic is dissolving Not a good sign How about the paint ?
Hmmm...I can't think of anything that can stop it...perhaps you should write to CollectA and ask ?

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It sounds like the plastic is dissolving Shocked Not a good sign Crying or Very sad How about the paint ?
Hmmm...I can't think of anything that can stop it...perhaps you should write to CollectA and ask ?

That's what I think too, and it is an odd problem. Fortunately, I was able to halt it a little bit by washing it with soap and the paint is doing fine.

It's my Paraceratherium, and while I do like him, he's very inaccurate and probably needs replacing anyway. Hopefully, a nicer one will appear on the market soon.

Hello

I started moving my collection of about 200 Schleichs, when I realized, they were for at least 5 years in heavily smoked area.

They have brownish tan and smell terribly. Any bulk reccomendation? Dishwasher, but with what kind of soap?

NO DISHWASHER !!!!!
No! No ! No! No ! No! No ! No! No ! No! No ! No! No ! No! No !

The smell of smoke will only go away if you let the model stand in an airy place ( Without sun) for a LONG time, - several months.

But cleaning off most of smoke colour is rather easy.
However, if it is VERY bad, they may never get completely clean.
My mom smoked 40 cigarets a day, so I know the problem.

But try this :
Make a mix of luke-warm water with sulpho and a few drops of Ammonia solution . I use 3% Ammonia solution, and still only a few drops per liter of water .
Do not inhale the Ammonia solution !!!

Let the models soak for maybe 10 minutes, clean with a soft brush, rinse thoroghly in clean water and wipe them in a soft cotton cloth

Thank you for the answer! And your time.

In the end, I didnt have access to the amonia sollution so I tried with vinegar and soap, owernight soaking.
Well, they aren't damaged but they still smell. Maybe my solution wasn't strong enough.

Now I'm trying to air them out, because it was such a large undertaking and I don't really have the opportunity to do it again :/

Ohh, yes ! I can see that it is a huge job !

Well, airing will take the rest eventually, but it can take many months

That is why smoking is strictly forbidden indoors here !!!
Good to get some fresh air while smoking, isn't it ?

I wished I could forbid people to wear perfume or aftershave too, but that is harder

With gypsum sculptures, I've heard of burying them in cat litter- regular clay works- to remove the smell as much as possible.

pipsxlch wrote:

With gypsum sculptures, I've heard of burying them in cat litter- regular clay works- to remove the smell as much as possible.

CLEAN cat litter, I suppose ?

It sort of makes sence. Most cat liter absorbs smell. But it is also quite messy

Worth trying with a few models first, though

You can put them in a box with a little container of cat litter or line the bottom of the box with cat litter. You can also wrap the models in dryer sheets and place them in a plastic bag. Another option is to Put them all in a plastic bag and liberally coat them all in baking soda. With any of these I would swap out the products for fresh every week or so. Good luck! It takes a long time to get the smell out but hopefully these should help

I think it is easier just to let them air out , - it works fine...eventually

I have bought some figures smelling of cigarette smoke and has had luck with removing the smell by washing and/or soaking them in vinegar (the kind you use to make pickled beets, in danish "lagereddike"). That removed the smell unless you put your nose right next to the figure - them you could still smell a bit on the worst of them.

The figures did not have loose painting / very old, so do not know if this can be affected.

anyone know how to remove the sticky residue left from those Schleich sticker tags placed around the legs of figures? I just got two Bayala foals and they both have it. I have something called Goo Gone that works great removing glue residue on plastic, glass and did wonders removing gum on my mom's sweater, but it says not to use on rubber and Im worried it could remove the paint off the figure's legs as well.

An effective way to removee residue of sticker glue is to heat the area .
Then it is easy to rubb the glue off.

I found this on the net once, when we had put "funny" stickers on the fridge and were struggling to get them off again.

The problem, I imagine, with the models may be that they can not take too mucht heating up

But perhaps you could try, carefully, with a hairdryer ?

heat? Ill try that!
I really wish Schleich and other figure makers would stop using those tags.

terrorchicken wrote:

heat?  Ill try that!
I really wish Schleich and other figure makers would stop using those tags.

I think Schleich and Bullyland are the only ones who still use them

Safari, Papo, and Collecta have tags attached with elastic bands, which is wonderful ! You can take them off, keep them, and put them back on later if you want, - and no sticky residue