How can I give this pony the love she deserves?

[StarberryTart]

I recently won an auction for a momma Gusty and a baby Gusty. Well, baby Gusty is a bit... under the weather. Unfortunately, she looks a bit demonic, to be honest. After having a bit of a giggle with my husband and making a "THERE IS NO GUSTY. ONLY ZUUL!" joke, I decided that I should try to figure out how to care for her properly and make it so that she displays a little better.

Another unfortunate fact is that I have no idea what I'm doing. 

I'm pretty new to collecting G1s and have no idea what I'll need to be restoring and how to restore things.

Here's the listing that has a few pictures of her: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-MY-LITTLE-PONY-GUSTY-BABY-GUSTY-/221188425773?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=xUEx9NjrFp%252ByG07Th7hzUJW4GGo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Just looking at her pics, I think maybe the bites could be repaired with a bit of clay smoothed into the cracks. However, what do you do about rusting BBE? And what about her body discoloration?

I don't have her yet, but I'm expecting her fairly soon in the mail.

[rybett]

Pop her head off and into some hot water.  When it warms up, you can pop the eyeballs out by pushing from the inside.  I cleaned a set with 409 cleanser/toothbrush, then put them into a bit of rice for a few days to dry out.   

[hathorcat]

I think everyone is a little different but personally I don't take the eyes out [mainly as I worry about not being able to get everything 100% back together again ]. I use this quick tutorial - http://www.mlppreservationproject.com/symbols.html

And that website is amazing for covering most things when it comes to restoring to be honest so it should be helpful to you.

Initially for cleaning her up I would try a magic eraser and a good scrub inside and out as the discolouration you are seeing could be rust build up inside her to be honest and that may help her over all colour. 

[Eldarwen]

Magic erasers are awesome. Always try those first, and ofcourse a good bath. But if she stays yellow, even after a good bath.. I dont usually recommend acne creams because they are kinda dangerous. Especially on colourful ponies. But you have a white, already very yellowed pony. If she stays yellow even after a bath, I really recommend trying this.

Here is my Baby Glory when she arrived, she already had a good bath:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


And here she is after 2 days of acne cream:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Just avoid her eyes and symbols and you should be fine. Acne creams can cause yellowing, but if you already have a yellowed pony that just wont go back to white, you really dont have much to lose.

[zabe77]

I didn't know you could pop the eyes out so easily! Good to know!

Evelynea, you did an amazing job with Baby Glory!

I hope you can help Baby Glory out... she looks a bit zombified! Her mom looks fantastic though!

[Galactica]

Wow! She seriously looks SOOOOOO SCARY!   

Looks like you already got some good advice on how to restore her-  if it were up to me, I'd pop her eyes out permanently and replace them with gem eyes...

[StarberryTart]

I thought about doing gem eyes because I LOVE the twinkle eyed ponies. Gusty is one of my favorites, so I would love a Gusty with some aquamarine gem eyes. 

What brand of acne cream did you use for Baby Glory? This might solve my problems with securing a pure white Starshine as well. Do acne creams work the same as bleaching? Did you wash her several times or just lather on the acne cream and let her set for a couple of days? Do I need to avoid getting the cream on her hair?

Would it be okay to use an electric toothbrush for scrubbing or is that too harsh? It's just a kid's toothbrush.

[Loa]

I think a kids toothbrush would be fine!

[Baby Sugarberry]

Generally you can scrub G1's as hard as you want, so long as they aren't:
- So Softs
- Iridescent - Twinkle Eye's eyes, Princess Ponies medallions, Princess Brush n' Grow forehead gems, etc.
- Glitter - Early unicorn/pegasus/rainbow ponies' symbols
- Mechanical - some of the mechanisms are delicate, such as BBE's.  Attacking them with a toothbrush isn't a good idea, as the posts that make the eyes swivel can snap off if you put too much pressure on them.

I'd avoid scrubbing super-hard on painted areas as well just as a precaution, but in general you can't take the paint off a pony with elbow grease alone.  It'll take some chemicals and/or abrasion - worth noting that Magic Erasers contain a fine grit, so if you scrub exceptionally long/hard with them, they can cause paint loss.

[Eldarwen]

What brand of acne cream did you use for Baby Glory? This might solve my problems with securing a pure white Starshine as well. Do acne creams work the same as bleaching? Did you wash her several times or just lather on the acne cream and let her set for a couple of days? Do I need to avoid getting the cream on her hair?

I live in Finland so we probably dont have same brands, but anything with "benzoyl peroxide" in it will work. Not all of them has it, so check that before you buy. Its the 'peroxide' part that makes her white, so kinda same as bleach. But for some reason i've had more success stories with acne cream than bleach. But I find this easier because its easy to use it without ruining symbols or eyes. You can only use this on white ponies though. And I would only use it on ponies that are already yellowed so there is nothing to lose.

I just put the cream all over her in the morning, and just wipe it off before going to bed, and then change the cream. And repeat next morning. I dont know if its needed, but I like to change it so I know it will work. For Baby Glory it took just 2 days, Surprise needed 4 days.

This is how she should look:
visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I avoid touching her hair, but sometimes the cream goes there anyway. Nothing bad has happened though. But I would still take the hair up like that so its easier to avoid. 

[KarentheUnicorn]

Great whitening job on the ponies there!!!

....but just wanted to point out that is baby Moondancer, not baby Glory 

[Eldarwen]

You're right, Moondancer, not Glory  No idea what I was thinking there! I dont even have a Baby Glory in my collection. Well, they're both white...

[hathorcat]

I also think its worth pointing out that acne cream tends to have a pretty bad after affect - on coloured ponies it will almost always result [some times weeks or months later] in a bleaching effect. And in white ponies again after some time it can mean the lovely white plastic turns yellow. Always make sure to completely remove it although it does seep in to the plastic pores and always monitor after you have used it.

[Eldarwen]

Indeed, you need to be very careful with it. As I said before, if you already have a very yellowed pony, then you have nothing to lose really. The worst thing that can happen is that it goes back to yellow. Or it can stay white. But with colourful ponies I would be very, very careful. 

When I was new to collecting, I ruined my childhood Baby Cuddles.  I didnt know acne cream can bleach ponies, and now she is full of white spots. I was so lucky though, I also used it on Baby Sapphire but nothing happened to her.   

[reanna-mator]

Wahhh! :O That acne cream job really worked well! I've got to give that a try on some of my yellowed white ponies. I wonder if it would work on Cherry Treats... >.<