a very delicate restoration

[tornadoe]

A long time ago I bought a replacement tail for one of my origanal six ponies. Things didn't got to plan when I was removing the head and what made it worse was the superglue sliding down the body and my fingers. At the time I felt that a repaint would be best but at the time my painting was pretty aweful.

Multiple coats lateras well as splitting the mane holes when I tried to reroot him and this is my situation. I want to strip the paint off but some is over the glittery symbols. Only accetone seems to work and if I am careful, they symbols stay on. The mane is held  in with epoxy sculpt and he is now a lovely shade of orange. This pony was once a windy and I don't know how to fix this. I can repaint the eyes and carefully remove the paint but he will still be orange. I don't want to touch the mane as it may not be rerootable.

I was such a terrible customizer in the early days. Most of my current customs are ones from those dark years that I am now re doing and it is so fustrating trying to scrape paint from a pony that just will not come off!!

I love this pony. I had him from the start and I want him to look just as stunning today as when we first met.

anyone have any ideas?

[Xenotropos]

What kind of paint did you use on the pony?  Was it acrylic or oil-based, or some kind of nail polish/enamel stuff?

[tornadoe]

Acrylic.

[Xenotropos]

As simple as this sounds, you could try just soaking her in plain water.  If you're going to re-hair her, take the head off first, then soak the body and head overnight in water, making sure she's completely covered.  You could even try lightly sanding her first - not to remove all the paint, just to score it up a little without touching the actual plastic.  I'd start with very warm water, hot if you think she can take it, and then let it just sit like that - use a few marbles inside her to weigh her down.  Acrylic is a beast to get off but this could help and it's worth a try.

[Duenia]

Are you planning to try and restore her to the Windy she once was or are you planning to customize her again?

I feel like at this point based on what you've said I'd try to strip her down as much as possible (I'm guessing the orange paint has stained the plastic?) and repaint her. Whether it be as Windy or someone else.

[Artemesia's Garden]

As simple as this sounds, you could try just soaking her in plain water.  If you're going to re-hair her, take the head off first, then soak the body and head overnight in water, making sure she's completely covered.  You could even try lightly sanding her first - not to remove all the paint, just to score it up a little without touching the actual plastic.  I'd start with very warm water, hot if you think she can take it, and then let it just sit like that - use a few marbles inside her to weigh her down.  Acrylic is a beast to get off but this could help and it's worth a try.

This sounds good to me.  Very find sand paper on a foam block, then soak in near boiling water and scrub with an abrasive dish sponge. Then magic eraser before painting to smooth over before painting.

[tornadoe]

A full restore if possible or turned into a white windy but the mane is so bad that if I removed the clay that holds it all in, I may not be able to reroot. Plus I need to keep the symbols as I can't redoo them.

[Artemesia's Garden]

Ok i wouldn't use acetone near the symbols because it will affect the glue even if not immediately. I would still go with warm water soak but maybe not hot, then see if you can rub gently with a cotton bud around the symbol. Acrylic paint comes in a water based medium so I don't think any other solvent will work any better. However there is a  thinning media for acrylics. Maybe you could try applying that and wait until nearly dry before washing off. Hopefully it will bring some paint off with it.

As for the hair you I'd soak the pony and remove the hair and re root it. To do this I would try the following: apply epoxy sculpt or something similar into the holes on one of the two lines. Wipe off any excess. While still tacky, wrap strips of cling film very tightly over the holes around the whole head and re root through the cling film. Clean and dry your rooting tool in between plugs if there is clay on it. When done remove the film. When dry do the other line. Once dry, add PVA glue inside to secure.

Just some crazy suggestions that I've never done but I'd probably try!  Without soaking in warm water your only options are abrasives afaik. To go from orange to lilac or white you're looking at a  FBR afaik, painting around the existing features and hair with a very steady hand.

[tornadoe]

How do I paint him without loosing the Symbols?

[Artemesia's Garden]

I don't know if it would work but you could try painting around them carefully and build up very thin layers of paint. Since the symbols are dark purple you might be OK. Try getting an eyeliner brush.

I was just thinking I'd try for lilac rather than white because you may need fewer layers, also it would be less likely to show up any other imperfections.

[tornadoe]

I'll try. I will probably try to reroot him as well but I don't look forward to it.

Post Merge: April 19, 2017, 02:45:40 PM

I have just had an idea. What if I built up the symbols with clay to make it 3D. Easier to paint and easier to put glitter on.

[tornadoe]

I did the epoxy resin and cling wrap, and it looks very promising.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I did the epoxy resin and cling wrap, and it looks very promising.

That's awesome! I can't believe that worked  did you do anything different at all? I was just thinking might be tricky to judge when to take the cling film off because it needs to have set enough to hold the ripped plugs together... If you can improve the method I wrote that'd be great!

[Duenia]

I'll try. I will probably try to reroot him as well but I don't look forward to it.

Post Merge: April 19, 2017, 02:45:40 PM

I have just had an idea. What if I built up the symbols with clay to make it 3D. Easier to paint and easier to put glitter on.

The 3D symbol sounds like a really good idea. It would solve a lot of the issues you're having with the symbols as well and give her some unique flair

[Artemesia's Garden]

^ I agree, but since the pony was in such a rough state in the first place you could consider doing a FBR and then re-glittering with a microfine glitter, the colour and texture of the glitter might not be exact but I think you'd be unlikely to make him to look 'factory' anyway.

Can't wait to see an update can you post some photos?