Newbie collector needs cleaning tips! (Images included)

[Bekuno]

Sorry for the crappy photos, my room has bad lighting.

So I was looking to clean up my first three ponies. They dont have any extreme problems but they could still use a little fixing up.

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Moonstone has the worse of it. Her front leg has some bright pink highlighter-like spots on them. She also has another bit on her that looks more like nail polish.

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Lemondrop has some orange spots on her neck (Possibly marker?)

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Scoops has what I thought was built up dirt on her forelegs? The pictures does no justice but its brown and looked like dirt but the magic eraser didn't get any off. She has it on her ear and face too.

I just want to make sure I don't do anything stupid and ruin them because they're my first and I love them a lot!

[Katika]

The first couple deep-cleanings are always kind of hard   The best advice is to tread carefully around the symbols, eyes and blush.

The bad news is that highlighter and marker is usually pretty difficult to remove.  I've had the best luck by dabbing a little bit of acne cream (whatever the cheap, generic brand stuff is that's just a plain white paste - can't remember what the active ingredient is, though, hopefully someone will!) carefully over top of the marks.  Some people will suggest putting them in the sun for a few days with this "mask" on, but I never have.  Most of the time, I'll wash it off after a few days and the marks will be faded considerably, sometimes they are gone.  **WARNING** I will warn you, though, that this can sometimes result in discoloring of the plastic, as well, I've noticed it the worst in purple/lavender colored ponies (Windy gets it BAD), so if in doubt, put a dab under a hoof and see what it does.  I've heard of others *just* using sun fading to remove marker, but I have never had any luck with it, personally.

Due to the plastic fading tendencies of the first suggestion, I would suggest trying to use acetone (you can get it by the nail polish remover at the store) on a Q-tip to try to remove the marks from Lemondrop.  Again, be mindful of how close you get to her paint, but I have yet to see acetone damage the plastic of a pony, itself.

I wish Scoops' picture was a little bit more clear so I could better gauge what I think the discoloration is, but if it's just surface dirt, you can try putting her through an Oxy Clean bath.  I get a plastic container (like one of the Ziploc/Gladware ones), put a scoop of Oxy Clean in with water as hot as the tap will run it, submerge the pony and fill the container as full of water as I can.  I leave them to soak until the water has cooled to room temperature, then while I'm rinsing them clean, I'll use either a Magic Eraser or sometimes a Scotchbrite (VERY CAREFULLY!!!) on persistent dirty spots/marks.  This also can help with the removal of pindot mold, once you encounter that   Rinse the pony well, and condition the hair after these soaks otherwise you'll have a yucky residue on them.

As I mentioned before ALWAYS be careful around any part that has been painted when you're cleaning, as the paint can be damaged relatively easily.  For the most part, though, the plastic itself is pretty resilient.

[partypony566]

You have some good advice already nail polish can easily be removed with pure acetone, however depending how long it's been on there it may have stained the pony.

[Bekuno]

I'll get to work on that! Thank you very much. Sorry the scoops photo was bad, I managed to get another one if this is any better?

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its right at the bottom of her hoof

[hathorcat]

Its up to every collector but I would advise trying everything before you go to acne cream. Its pretty potent stuff and can actually work on the plastic to bleach it over years never mind over just a short period of time.

Your problem depends on what the issues are. If the marks are simply surface stains left behind over the year, and magic eraser has not worked, sun fading is pretty much your only bet.

However, if the pink marks are integrity issues with the plastic breaking down unfortunately there is nothing which can be done.

Before worrying that its the latter, I would try sun fading on Moonstone and Lemon Drop first.

Its tough to make out Scoops issue but I am going to guess its in grained dirt - you may need to give her a proper soak in boiling water [minus her tail of course] and then scrub her feet, using the edge of a butter knife or similar along the top of the plastic to help remove any dirt raised out is helpful.