Restoration advice - glue

[theslider]

Evening esteemed collectors, yet another blindingly obvious question from my good self. I've just bought a bunch of stuff on eBay including a white Tie Fighter (probably my fave ship that I had as a kid, no Falcon for me ) and whilst it doesn't look too bad the previous owner (or more likely the original owner) has glued the wings in place! The glue is very brown so I would assume it's very old. Therefore, any tips of removing glue? I had a search on the forum but couldn't find anything hence starting a new thread. A search on google doesn't throw up much except a possibility of using nail polish remover (if I use up all the wife's I doubt she'll be happy!)

thanks in advance

stevie

 

[tiefighterboy]

It really depends on the type of glue. If it was an older repair.....you might as well leave it alone. Nail polish remover may work. You can also try goo gone and model glue remover. Do not use a harsh acetone base remover as it may well turn the plastic to goo in the process. You could always just accept it and live with it too.

 

[theslider]

Thanks, one of the brackets has worked loose (probably dried out), I'll dab away at the other one with the nail polish remover and my pen knife tomorrow.

 

[Dublinjeff]

Penknife..... Vintage toys..... :?

 

[tiefighterboy]

Penknife..... Vintage toys..... :?

Hey...if the guy on RS can shave his R2......then anything is possible.

 

[theslider]

Here it is before I start hacking away at it...

I'll repost the after pictures when I've finished!

 

[Princess Leia Organa]

Yes try the nail polish remover use a cotton bud to lightly dab the glue and see if there is any removal if not stop and then uses ultra fine sand paper to remove the glue , then to get any remaining glue off use hot water and a cloth , nail polish remover on old plastic only damages it and makes the plastic soft use only as a last resort . good luck!!.

PS dont be tempted to try and scrape or pop the glue off the glue will have damaged the plastic making it brittle and in pooping the glue off parts of the ship may come away as well .

 

[theslider]

Well, five months after starting this little project, I've finally got it finished! I was waiting on some parts which came from the the US after a long delay so now I have a very clean and fully operational white Tie Fighter.

I managed to remove all the glue residue by soaking in nail varnish remover and then (GENTLY) scraping it away with my trusty Victorinox. The body of the Tie was pretty grubby, so this was dis-assembled and was put in the dishwasher (I kid you not!) This actually got rid of some of the yellowing as well! The cycle was 65c. The decals were carefully removed from the wings (this is a ballache to do!) and they were also slung in the dishwasher. Again they came out looking pretty prestine. The body was air dried over a few days, and then I sent to work on the electrics - this only needed the green build up on the contacts removing with a nail file. The cockpit glass and seat were both clean with good old Mr Sheen. The decals were reapplied with Pritt-Stik and voila! A very good looking, fully functional Tie Fighter!

As you can see there is still some aftermath of the glue being on the body of the ship, whilst not aesthetically pleasing, it is historic and I definitely wasn't going to do what daft Karen said and start sandpapering the thing.

And the finished thing:

 

[CRAZYHAZY]

wow thats a great result, very impressive mate.
Not sure if i could be so dedicated.

 

[theslider]

wow thats a great result, very impressive mate.
Not sure if i could be so dedicated.

Cheers, it's all to do with £££ as I can sell this now and use the money for some MOCs!