some questions about restoration

[Astralwing]

hey, i recently got back into pony collecting and found quite a few of them in an antique mall, and i was wondering what i could do to help restore them? (sorry if this is in the wrong forum, it's been a long time since i last visited this site)

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cheerilee here has a lot of scribbles on her forehead; what would be the best way to eliminate or at least lessen the pen marks?

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these little fakies and mcdonald's toys are crazy frizzy - what would be the best way to help fix that? i've used the flat iron method in the past for frizzy hair, but i'm not sure if the hair on these is made of different stuff, and i'd hate to accidentally melt them because of it

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last but not least, light heart seems to have what might be glue sticking out of her tail? not sure if just plucking it out would be the best idea or what? additionally her hair is pretty messy; what would be the safest way to clean her off without threatening to get water stuck inside?

any help with these would be super appreciated!

[TheBeatlesPkmnFan42]

For the marks on Cheerilee's head, I would first try using a Magic Eraser, always the first go to to see if you can remove marks. If that doesn't work, you may need to sunfade her.

[Baby Sugarberry]

 For surface paint/marks, the things I try in order, from least harsh to most:
dish soap/water -> ethanol-alcohol -> nail polish remover/acetone.

Magic Eraser is sandpaper, it's not going to take care of an ink stain if the dye has seeped in.  In that case, your only recourse is likely sunfading.  Please take appropriate safety measures when working with chemicals and keep them away from eyes/symbols/paint that you want to keep!

[Astralwing]

bumping for help with the rest of the ponies

thanks for the advice on cheerilee!

[Nonnavlis]

For dirt/marks/stains that have settled into the vinyl a bit, a porous cream cleanser like Vim sometimes helps more than a magic eraser would. Best to keep it away from paint, though. In my experience it takes a lot of scrubbing using it to get paint to lift, but better safe than sorry.

The glue on Lightheart's tail is because there is supposed to be a plastic ring around it at the base against her butt. If memory serves it was to keep her tail against the post inside it so it can wag or something when you move her head? Haven't had mine out in awhile so I'm not sure exactly what the motion was supposed to be. It should be fine to take the glue out, but you might want to replace the ring with something if you want her to move properly.

I'm not sure if it's safe to iron the G2 McDonalds ponies. If I can find one of my extra ones I don't mind using them as a test subject, though, and coming back with my findings, if no one else has presented an answer by then haha.

[RoseNoire]

For the frizzy hair, wet it, put shampoo/conditioner, comb very VERY gently to remove any knot, separate into many small strands and iron them one at a time with a low setting (From hair plug to the ends), just be slower and careful, don't pull them(Hold the strand at the very base with your fingers). If you're not sure, make some tests on a small hidden part of the hair. Curling or flat irons work well though I came to prefer the curling iron as it seems to reduce melting accident.
I once had to defrizz a G2 McDonald's, it might have taken an hour of work or more even if it was small, but the result was worth it.  You might want to re-wet your next strand as time is drying them.

G2 Defrizzing, before/after

I was still using flat irons back then, so don't be afraid, it won't automatically melt your pony hair.
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Hope that helps. =)

[Astralwing]

she actually still has the ring! it's just not attached to her body any more - i actually thought it was supposed to be a hair accesory at first.
would it be a good idea to try and glue it back together? where exactly does it go?

[Nonnavlis]

Okay so I dug out my Lightheart. The ring sits over the post coming out of her bum there low enough that the nub sticks out past it. The ring spins freely, so the glue is not related to the ring I would expect. I took the ring off mine just to check and while she does have some traces of glue (usually hidden by the ring) they are too low to have anything to do with gluing the ring on, so it must just be part of how her tail is rooted to accommodate the hard plastic body.

The motion she is supposed to have is you can push her head down and it will "lock" and then you can push down on her tail and her head springs back up. This works just fine without the ring on the peg so I guess the ring was just to disguise the peg by making it look like a hair ornament? It just sits on/around the peg loosely (the point of the hearts is facing towards her bum).

The hair does go through the ring, so you will need to use a thread or other small string to pull the hair through the ring if you want to put it back on.