Mego Melting, Can anything be done to stop it?

[jemboy2004]

Mainly this happens with the 12" Female dolls/figures like Wonder Woman and Cher but does happen with the 8" females head and necks too.
I have used n tool I bought from the craft store it's a type of knife and I did a pretty good job of cutting off the melting on all my wonder woman dolls and then washed the dolls with a cleaner for action figures called 911 (that was the name before 911 became what it is today) which takes off anything from the dolls that doesn't belong there. It's really awesome cleaning stuff for toys.
I noticed after cleaning them they have a chalky look to the hard parts like the torso and chest areas. I wonder if the cleaner helped remove what may cause the melting? As it only did this on the hard part which is what usually melts and then the arms and legs falls off and ruining the clothes too.
Anyway I was thinking of adding power to them in the areas where the melting usually accurs in the hopes the power may help prevent of slow this down besides what I have already done. Do you think this will help of hurt?
Anyone know of anything that will help with this problem? Any help would be GREAT!

[Hulk]

Short of hermetically sealing the figure, I don't know of anything definite to stop Mego melt. If it is due to breakdown of the plastic, it may just be unavoidable.

[megojim]

This is a reaction of the soft rubber in contact with the hard plastic. The gases that both omit together cause the softer rubber to decompose (melt). The only way to prevent it is prevent the contact. This happens with a lot of vintage toys (major matt mason) is known for this as the figures are soft rubber and the equipment is plastic. I think that big jim figures have this as well but not quite as bad.
so there really isn't a sound solution but trimming of the melted parts and cleaning them with good ole soap and water does help a little.
-jim

[cjefferys]

Is there anything that causes this reaction to happen faster? Some of my female 12" figures are fine, but a couple do have a bit of melting, and they were all manufactured in the same year. Temperature, perhaps? I don't think it would be UV light, as the parts of my figures that have some melt have never even seen light (eg. the back part of the hip joints).

To the list of known toys with the problem, you can also add some Captain Action accessories (eg. plastic guns in rubber holsters), and the wrist joints of Kenner's large size Boba Fett and Stormtrooper (rubber hands, plastic arms).

[jemboy2004]

Thanks everyone for the info. I was thinking it was something that is unavoidable but was hoping other's had some tips on slowing it down.

I was thinking that cutting the melting off to keep it from touching less was the best idea. I do think that it starts with heat. If you keep them at a nice temp it seems like it helps. I noticed that one of my Wonder Woman dolls that has always been in a case and kept at a pretty even temp. never has had even a bit of melting. While a few I put in storage where the heat did get high during the summer were totally ruined. I am so glad it wasn't my Wonder Woman dolls. I only put a couple of farrahs and a cher doll in the storage.

I think I may keep do what I've been doing as I noticed it seems like once I do this It does help to cut it down and then keep the dolls at a nice even temp. about 68-70 all the time will help to slow it down. I am also thinking of getting a clear type of thin plastic and cutting it to put into the joint perfectly and that will keep the 2 types of plastic from touching. I hope this will do the trick or at least slow it down.

I think it's interesting that barbie from the 60's is made of vinyl and hard plastic too. Similar to the 2 types of plastic used on the 12" mego female dolls and even though they are older they don't have this problem. That's what made me thinkg it was something other than touching but Abmac and Buk pointed out to me that Mego's plastics are very cheap and this is what the problem may be.

Any other ideas from anyone?

[cjefferys]

I think I may keep do what I've been doing as I noticed it seems like once I do this It does help to cut it down and then keep the dolls at a nice even temp. about 68-70 all the time will help to slow it down. I am also thinking of getting a clear type of thin plastic and cutting it to put into the joint perfectly and that will keep the 2 types of plastic from touching. I hope this will do the trick or at least slow it down.

Both of those would be a very good idea. I'd imagine that they could help slow things down quite a bit.

[ctc]

>I am also thinking of getting a clear type of thin plastic and cutting it to put into the joint perfectly and that will keep the 2 types of plastic from touching. I hope this will do the trick or at least slow it down.

Hmmmm.... that might not be a good idea, since the figure plastic might react with whatever plastic you use as a separater.

>I think it's interesting that barbie from the 60's is made of vinyl and hard plastic too. Similar to the 2 types of plastic used on the 12" mego female dolls and even though they are older they don't have this problem.

There are all sorts of plastics, and older figures were probably made with a different formula than later figures.

Don C.

[Titan4ever]

>I think it's interesting that barbie from the 60's is made of vinyl and hard plastic too. Similar to the 2 types of plastic used on the 12" mego female dolls and even though they are older they don't have this problem.

There are all sorts of plastics, and older figures were probably made with a different formula than later figures.

Don C.

Actually, it depends on what specific plastics we're talking about and when. It's been pretty much established that the Mego-melt occurs between the softer vinyl limbs and the brittle polystyrene-based bodies.

Barbie, for the most part, doesn't suffer from this because Mattel wasn't using a polystyrene plastic for her torso, except for a few years from '70 until about '75--and her limbs are notorious for melting solid and/or breaking off on those products now, just like Cher and Farrah. More often than not with Barbies, you'll find kids who kept these dolls swapped the heads onto non-afflicted bodies.

I always wondered if a teflon or acrylic washer would help, or where a tight fit is concerned, if even just a cut to fit piece of saran wrap might help.

What I'd like to know--are there differences in the 8" female neck knobs in terms of composition? Why do the supergals always seem to melt more than Ellen Walton or Dinah-Mite? Or am I the only one to notice this?

[RG]

What I'd like to know--are there differences in the 8" female neck knobs in terms of composition? Why do the supergals always seem to melt more than Ellen Walton or Dinah-Mite? Or am I the only one to notice this?

I also notice that, and right now my Batgirl has a body from a mary ellen. I asked a question about 8" wonder woman neck melt some time ago, and another member said that older Dinah-Mite bodies were made with a slightly different plastic ... something about shinny vs. not so shinny torso. I know I switched the neck on my 8" Wonder Woman due to it being about half gone with melt. I have been keeping my eye on the new neck ... so far so good. I did wash her head and neck hole good.

[jemboy2004]

I posted this in K's tip for the Andorian but thought it was better here. On my quest to find anything to help my mego Wonder Woman and like dolls from melting I came across a cher site where it was recommended to me to use Vinegar on them. Hope some will find this useful. The tipster told me they did this to their dolls years ago and have not had any melting since. Hope they are correct.

Also another tip For anyone who likes the female 12" dolls and the skinny Kiss and sonny dolls, someone suggested to me to use Vinegar on them to help stop the melting. They claim it helps stop the out gassing that causes the melting. I don't know if it's true but thought I'd mention it to anyone who's looking to help save their dolls and willing to give it a try. I'm not sure if it will work but am hoping it helps. You will also have to remove any melting already there and I suggest using the twin pines doll cleaner after removing any melting there and keep the dolls in a cool place. Best if keep in AC. Also put powder on the limps and in the shoulder and hip areas. Get as much in the cracks on them as you can. The powder helps alot!

[jds1911a1]

Is there anything that causes this reaction to happen faster? Some of my female 12" figures are fine, but a couple do have a bit of melting, and they were all manufactured in the same year. Temperature, perhaps? I don't think it would be UV light, as the parts of my figures that have some melt have never even seen light (eg. the back part of the hip joints).

To the list of known toys with the problem, you can also add some Captain Action accessories (eg. plastic guns in rubber holsters), and the wrist joints of Kenner's large size Boba Fett and Stormtrooper (rubber hands, plastic arms).

All plastics loose resiliancy over time (think of the old rainex commercials car dashboard all spilit and faded) application of polymer restorers will help to replace some of the chemical breakdown but ultimately there is no way to stop it

attic storage would have accelerated the process of rubber rot/ plastic decay. Tire shine polymer can help but is might discolor so only use it at your own risk.

[batmanmc]

rics ideas will work he has collected dolls over ta 20 year span and has tried several things. im going to try it on my wonder woman. mike