Palitoy Death Star - box restoration.

As some have you know I managed to finally land a boxed Palitoy Death Star, and as your saw, wasn't packed or described in the ebay listing very well at all.

However, despite the box flap hanging on with old sellotape, it was in pretty good condition and I could see it would clean up and display very well. These boxes are notoriously hard to find in decent condition, almost impossible these days.

Here are some pics of how it arrived:





Luckily the break along the seam of the card was pretty clean and the inner flaps were still present. And whoever did the original repair did a poor job which was also good news as it was starting to come loose in places.

First job was to get the wife's hairdryer out and remove the tape...



Then, using small amounts of furniture polish, I managed to remove almost all the tape residue leaving a much cleaner box.

After a hunt around the house I found some 180gsm grey card that would be great for re-attaching the flap and box. Didn't want anything to thick like corrugated card as this would compromise the fold and I also wanted it to blend as much as possible. 180gsm is perfect.
After cutting the piece to suit I applied a small amount of wood / pva glue and using a scrap of card spread it out evenly over the area:





It's important to get an even spread so the card won't bubble or warp where there is no glue. The pva will also add to thicken the card once it's set.

Now it's ready to fix the flap to the box:




Align the score up carefully then weight it down for a couple of hours on a flat surface...



...and bingo!

Thats a great restoration, looks miles better, glad you could save it,

great stuff! looks good!

When the flap is completely off, there's isn't a lot else you can do.

Another thing you could do is to create an insert. These early Palitoy playsets didn't come with inserts so they're often a bit saggy, but if you find a long strip of cardboard cut to the exact depth of the box that will push in down both sides and the rear then you can give the whole box a great shape and make it sturdier.

Looks good, worth doing for sure

Great save....another piece saved and rescued 8) well done bud.

superb result

Thanks chaps, I'm more than happy with it and unless my numbers come up on the lottery or nobody else bothers bidding I doubt I'll get one of those sealed DS's from Vectis!

Bonsai_Tree_Ent said:

When the flap is completely off, there's isn't a lot else you can do.

Another thing you could do is to create an insert. These early Palitoy playsets didn't come with inserts so they're often a bit saggy, but if you find a long strip of cardboard cut to the exact depth of the box that will push in down both sides and the rear then you can give the whole box a great shape and make it sturdier.

Click to expand...

I did this with a Toltoys Landspeeder box that was so badly creased and damaged there was nothing else you could do with it. If it had been a Kenner box I probably wouldn't have bothered and sold it on as is but the Toltoys version is getting pretty hard to come by, did the trick fine.

I also do this with some of the 'thinner' boxes I have, like my Palitoy Twin Pod, just means it displays better and keeps the integrity of the box more 'box like'!

Great stuff and nice to see the end result.

I have made some internal stabalizers for my Palitoy Snowspeeder, worked very well and also helps prevent further damage.

Great work 8)

Nice work. Double sided tape instead of the PVA glue would have been kinder on the box. The PVA will stain over time.

Cheers

Dave

moosinthehoos said:

The PVA will stain over time.

Click to expand...

You mean the PVA will eventually show through the box graphics on the other side?! Not come across that before, how long does this take?

I find double sided has very little adhesive effect on some boxes, owing to the texture on the card.

Good job! 8)

Sadly no amount of restoration would get my childhood one looking like that! :?

Great job in the repair and a nice piece to add to your collection

SublevelStudios said:

moosinthehoos said:

The PVA will stain over time.

Click to expand...

You mean the PVA will eventually show through the box graphics on the other side?! Not come across that before, how long does this take?

I find double sided has very little adhesive effect on some boxes, owing to the texture on the card.

Click to expand...

This is similar to the way I have repaired boxes. I have always used a glue stick or school grade glue, both work well and I have seen no signs of bleed thru.