DA's newbie pony questions update 6/29 few more pics added

[teresat]

I'm with Cat on this. It's either cancer or mold. It's really hard to see in the pic. I hate chopping off heads but it could be worse on the inside and if so it definitely needs to be fixed. I have a bunch like that.

[NovelNerd]

Alright so not to sound stupid or anything, but I've been soaking her head for for periods of time over an hour in a bowl of pretty hot water. I can feel the difference in her vinyl, but the glue is not letting up on the neck. I've only popped the heads off my other G1s and using hot water seemed to work fine. How else can I get her head off without just destroying her neck/plug?

[hathorcat]

Alright so not to sound stupid or anything, but I've been soaking her head for for periods of time over an hour in a bowl of pretty hot water. I can feel the difference in her vinyl, but the glue is not letting up on the neck. I've only popped the heads off my other G1s and using hot water seemed to work fine. How else can I get her head off without just destroying her neck/plug?

The key is to melt the glue...first make sure her hair is out of the way and then do you have a hairdryer? Set it to hot and focus it on the area...you should only need a little of the glue to start to melt to give you a starting purchased to pull the remainder of the head off.

[Mismatch]

For the record, I hate beheading wingers.  It's hard to get a good grip for taking the head off, since the wings are in the way, and I don't know if it's just me... but anyone notice that flutters and wingers tend to have stiffer plastic and weak neckseams?  I outright refuse to behead flutters with stiff plastic anymore (shudders).  The risk of permanent injury to both parties is too great (ruefully eyes knife cuts on hands and dismembered flutter ponies). 

[hathorcat]

Oh and I didnt answer one of your earlier questions...yes her wings will fade - winger wings are notorious for discolouring so make sure to cover them up too...good luck.

[NovelNerd]

 Eeep sorry I vanished, my family has been visiting for the holiday.  Anyway I didn't get a chance to work on her with my family over, and I've been so scared of hurting her....but Maniah is giving me advice. I will say after I washed her under the water the other day I noticed she has a kinda weird funky flea market smell that will not fade .I'm hoping maybe it's just really determined mold and not cancer?

;-; I would remove her head if I didn't have to. I'm very scared of it.

[hathorcat]

At the end of the day she is your pony for your collection - dont feel that you have to do anything with her...a proper surface scrub and hair wash and then display her - there is no harm in that and maybe re tackle something more serious with her in the future.

[NovelNerd]

Oh I mean I do want to clean her out. I don't want her to have possible mold or something worse in there. It's just me being new to this pony cleaning thing. I've only cleaned out my old G1s and their heads came off easy, except one....and I accidentally killed her neck plug. I'm having so much trouble with Glow being a tiny winger I'm just sure I'll rip her plug out. I'm buying a few baity wingers though that will need their heads off....maybe after I practice on a few that bait, and I don't already instantly love as much? I just wish the darn glue wouldn't be so stubborn and come off. 

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Have you tried dipping dental floss in acetone and running it along the neck seam? 

[hathorcat]

Have you tried dipping dental floss in acetone and running it along the neck seam? 

Awesome idea!

@madhatterda - it is sounding as though to get her neck loose you may need to use an small scalpel [xacto knife] to get you a purchase point to start to "pull" and separate head and neck - personally if I cant get a head off with heat and strength I tend to leave it unless the pony has a serious issue as the potential damage to the plastic even if you are super careful can sometimes out weigh what you are trying to fix. At this stage I would try a sunfade first.

[HollowZero]

I use a letter opener to get the heads off ponies, works wonders. I just push it into the seam, and wiggle back and forth (and back..and forth..etc) until it decides to give way. I do it all the way around the seam.

I used to do it with knives but, after I cut myself I stopped that. I bled all over poor Heartthrob. Sounds like your Glow is manky inside though, from the description of the smell.

[NovelNerd]

I hate to sound weird or stupid, but what exactly is acetone and where do I buy it? I might try that first. Her neck seam is weird on the display side I can literally see the glue dried around it and it's kinda shiny. On the non display side, and I don't know if this is typical she has an outside edge, like the part of the seam coming from the actually body that forms a little lip that almost covers the neck part of the seam.

I got an exacto knife and wiggled it around a little, and I'm having a little progress. I might try the floss though.

Cat: Another question. Assumings he is all moldy and gross inside because of the smell will the sunfading and the heat do anything to help kill that off or will it just kinda reduce the mark?

 I have noticed guys that the black mark on her neck is on part of the neck where she has the glue that is shiny and wiped. @_@  I do feel now though that I probably def need to get the head off since it could be moldy.  The acetone thing sounds like a good idea if someone can tell me exactly what it is and where to find it. If not I'll probably break down and just kinda slowly work on her with the knife. I'm just doing my best to avoid damaging her. 

[hathorcat]

Your description of her neck seam with the minor overlap can occur reasonably often - particularly in certain poses where the head and body dont quite sit right. The shiny glue is residue from manufacture. You dont need pure acetone just something with an acetone content - nail varnish remover or even superglue remover - make sure its untinted nail polish removal.

The sun fading will reduce the mark assuming it is removable by sunlight - it wont remove the smell. If she has a really bad smell I would recommend that you get her head off in case something yucky is inside her - a good internal scrub with toothpaste or bicarb and you ll have her nice and non smelly!

[Mismatch]

Yeah, the neckseam overlap seems to happen all the time with Baby Cotton Candy


Sometimes if you run it under hot water, try the knife, rinse and repeat, that works too... it depends on what her plastic is like (brittle v. soft).  Sometimes, if you can work around enough of the neck, you can insert a dull-edged object, like a butterknife, into the gap, push it past the neckplug, and use it as a lever.  Generally it's better to run the pony under hot water first, since it softens the PVC and decreases the risk, I think, of deforming the plastic while doing this.  There is a chance of very minor deformation to the plastic.  My main concern when doing this is not catching the groove of the neckseam and ripping it off from the base.