Pony cleaning: marks, glue, and weirdness!

[Taxel]

Since I'm going through and deep cleaning basically my entire collection I'm running into some weirdness I'd like to get sorted out. However I don't really need to make 50 new threads so I figured one big mega thread would be for the best!

1. Can anything be done about symbol rust? I don't care about repair so much as preventing it from getting worse or spreading rust to other parts of the pony.

3. Starshine again. I feel like this deserves its own number. His head was practically completed bonded to the body and so hard to remove. I had to pull out a knife and it still was basically just ripping the plastic in half (along the original separations, no torn body/head thank goodness). He somehow has sticky glue inside his head? What is this? His mane is a MESS inside his head, every color is wild and crazy. Its all sticky and left a nasty residue on my fingers. No other part of him is like this (aside from the neck "peg" area) and his body is hard.
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5. Are zip ties still the recommended replacement for metal tail clamps? I worry about the plastics interacting badly but I also don't want to tempt fate by leaving starting-to-rust clamps on.

6. Poor Skyflier arrived with an almost entirely torn off horn. What would be the best way to handle this to preserve the horn? Push epoxy sculpt up into the hole to secure her horn down?
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7. Mommy Sweet Celebration's back looks like its sunken in a little. Looking at photos online I can't tell if the pose is just super weird or she needs a visit to the chiropractor. If she is misshapen, how would you fix this? Get her body all squishy with heat and stuff her with a washcloth?
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8. When putting tails back in without removing the metal clasp, how do you get them to be straight? I popped Lemon Drop's tail back in today and its horribly uneven. Its curling so hopefully the difference will be hidden but I'm really not a fan of how it looks.

[Duenia]

My Applejack has the same whatever that dirt stuff is on her legs. No idea if it's actually pindot but I treated it like it was (really hot water and a toothbrush with soap) and was able to remove most of it.

[Skeen]

2 is oxidation of some sort and you can probably remove it with a good scrub.  If it has stained the pony, it will be harder to treat, especially since it's in a hard to reach spot.

3 is probably plasticizer leaching into the inner part of the head and becoming trapped in the fibers of the mane.  Soap and water will clean it but it may come back if there is more plasticizer still in the vinyl. 

4 is pindot of some variety and the only way to remove it is near-boiling water to open the pores and a ton of scrubbing and scraping when the plastic is softened.   

[Radha]

For the area around the tail hole I have had some success cleaning off those inner ring stains with white paste (not gel) toothpaste- the same kind you use to get rid of tail rust in hair. 

Depending on the body shape I either put some on the tip of my finger or the tip of a q-tip and rub, rinse and repeat as necessary.  I've had a few where I couldn't remove all of the stain but it always helps.

[Taxel]

Thanks everyone

Would my normal pony soap (Dawn dishsoap) be good for the plasticizer leak? I haven't had to clean that up before so I'm not 100% sure. And could the leak harm say, washcloths that are used on the area? I'm not sure how careful I need to be.


I also added some new questions.

[NigheanRuadh]

For the uneven tail, you can push it in a little bit farther and then pull on the shorter side.  If you have the head off, you can check inside to see that the clasp is evenly across the hole.

[Purpleglasses]

For the broken horn, I googled vinyl adhesives and found a product called Loctite Vinyl, Fabric and Plastic Adhesive. I haven't tested it myself but material specific adhesives are ussually the way to go. It comes in 1 oz bottles at most hardware stores. Here is the info sheet for the product: http://www.loctiteproducts.com/tds/CNTCT_VNYLPL_tds.pdf

[Skeen]

Any soap is fine for plasticizer.  It won't harm anything.