Galactica head shrinking

[GUYx1]

BBP has managed to push me to doing my own head shrinking.

I have been shrinking the Galactica human heads all week, but I am pretty new to the shrinking deal.
As I didn't have a problem with the paint jobs, it was was sad to see the paint just wash off,
creating a glass o' BROWN SLUDGE.

The customego site stated that some heads could EXPLODE after 5 minutes.
I was watching my lined up glasses of heads outside with a stop watch until it began to annoy my wife.

I had to abandon them for an hour. Then for 2 hours.
The BSG heads took an HOUR before they even started soaking in the acetone
I woke up at midnite and had to take the spongy heads out after 4 hours.

Adama is looking pretty decent, but Apollo & Starbuck still have Giganto hair.
I never knew it was so hard to shoot for a specific size with acetone shrinking.

Has anyone else tried shrinking the BBP heads yet?

[EMCE Hammer]

It's hit and miss. If the hair area is considerably thicker than the face, it will absorb the acetone at a slower speed, and as it dries out the face may shrink faster and possibly tear. I recall that some of the old Playmates Trek heads would slowly continue to shrink for months.

[MIB41]

Would love to see some pics of your results.

[johnmiic]

You should take progress pics after a little time passes to compare the shrinkings. No one has posted something like "time lapse".

[sprytel]

It was my first attempt too... but I shrunk Starbuck.

I did a first dip but it did not shrink nearly enough. So I did a second dip. The second dip did much better... still a little bigger than I hoped, but unfortunately I had to stop because the head started splitting along the hair line. Luckily it super glued back surprisingly well. (Sorry, I didn't keep tracking of my timings).

I still need to give it a proper paint job, but I did a quick repaint just to better judge the results. I will post some pics later when I get a chance.

[nobody]

I hoping to do this after they are 5.00 each on clearance.

[Chris]

If you ask around you can probably find some repro heads that are in scale.

[johnmiic]

Why damage the originals? Why not mold the original and cast in a shrinkable material that gives a more even reduction? Or is there no such thing as a material that evenly shrinks?

[Neutron X]

I hoping to do this after they are 5.00 each on clearance.

Where are they on clearance?

[nobody]

They're not of course, but probably will be eventually, like the retro action, and others.

[Neutron X]

Wishful reading on my part. Thanks!

[GUYx1]

John,
I think most of us would cast heads if we were experienced at it. But contrary to popular belief, not ALL mego collectors are experienced with recasting heads in resin.

On that note, it appears after countless hours Adama & Apollo are at a nice size. (I keep a John Boy and a Chips Jon head on hand to compare them to.) I just have to get Starbuck to catch up.
What can you do to balance out the reaction between 3 heads when two are doing fine?
Starbuck has been in the dunk tank for 12 hour sessions at this point. If this starts to finally kick in...
I would think his head would be micro sized by now.
Sprytel, what were you doing to expedite the reaction that caused the cracking.
None of mine have had any cracks so far, but I'm just soaking for many hours
and then letting them sit out to dry for days.

[sprytel]

Why damage the originals? Why not mold the original and cast in a shrinkable material that gives a more even reduction? Or is there no such thing as a material that evenly shrinks?

Personally, I really like the look and feel of a classic vinyl head and was hoping to preserve that. Didn't work out exactly as I planned, but that was my thought process.

Sprytel, what were you doing to expedite the reaction that caused the cracking.

I didn't do anything special. For whatever reason, I did have much more dramatic effect on my second dunk, after it had dried out from the first time.

[megoscott]

Somebody better take some photos of this soon.

[nobody]

Somebody better take some photos of this soon.

Who Does the "this thread is useless without pics" icon?, and why isn't it part of the emotionicons by now?