Rather than clog up the latest acquisitions thread, I thought I'd start a discussion here 
Has anyone else had a go at improving the new Retro Collection figures?
I've had mixed results with the stickers. Most came off fine, hairdryer then gently peeled one edge. Takes a while to get it started. Once you've got enough peeled to get grip, you can heat and pull. Some left some residue, which comes off with patience and furniture polish. Need to be careful here, as the litho on these is nowhere near as tough as on vintage cards.
However, the ones on Greef and Cara were awful! They were welded on and just wouldn't peel in one piece. Both damaged the litho, so I ended up putting one of the stickers I got off in one piece back on to cover the damage on the Greef card
The leaflets are easier, just used a Stanley knife inserted at the bottom of the bubble where it's not stuck down, then carefully followed the line of the bubble edge down into the bottom left corner and about a third of the way up the left hand side. Then used tweezers to remove the leaflet and sealed back up with clear PVA applied with a brush (as per palifan's advice years ago!) and then clothes pegs to hold together for a few hours. You wouldn't know they had been opened 8)
Here are a couple of mine:
Has anyone else had a go at improving the new Retro Collection figures?
I've had mixed results with the stickers. Most came off fine, hairdryer then gently peeled one edge. Takes a while to get it started. Once you've got enough peeled to get grip, you can heat and pull. Some left some residue, which comes off with patience and furniture polish. Need to be careful here, as the litho on these is nowhere near as tough as on vintage cards.
However, the ones on Greef and Cara were awful! They were welded on and just wouldn't peel in one piece. Both damaged the litho, so I ended up putting one of the stickers I got off in one piece back on to cover the damage on the Greef card
The leaflets are easier, just used a Stanley knife inserted at the bottom of the bubble where it's not stuck down, then carefully followed the line of the bubble edge down into the bottom left corner and about a third of the way up the left hand side. Then used tweezers to remove the leaflet and sealed back up with clear PVA applied with a brush (as per palifan's advice years ago!) and then clothes pegs to hold together for a few hours. You wouldn't know they had been opened 8)
Here are a couple of mine:
