Not really a custom, but...

[smonte00]

Hi all, this is more of a restoration job. I bought this Falcon here at the museum here a while back. I had wanted one of these since I was a kid and figured I can try to restore one and not spend a lot of money.

When I got this guy, he was pretty dirty overall. The costume had some red marker stains and was a little grimy. The boots were dirty too and the body had a busted knee and cracked forearm. It took a few months, but I found a POTA T2 gorilla on EBay for the doner body (I guess T2 gorilla bodies are hard to come by cause it took a while to find one).

After the body was complete, I cleaned the head and the boots with dish soap and a soft toothbrush. I was able to get most of the stains off the costume with a couple of rounds of oxy clean. I made a paste with it and scrubbed it into the white sections with the soft toothbrush. Then I let it soak in the oxy clean water solution for a couple of hours.

Overall, I think it turned out pretty good. There is a lot of paint missing on the head, but I don't think I want to touch it up for fear of messing it up.

I couldn't get the pics to load. I'll try to upload them separately.

-Steve

[smonte00]

IMG_1701.jpg

IMG_1937.jpg

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[PNGwynne]

He looks fantastic, great job! With a little patience and effort, cleaning Mego vintage clothes can yield surprising results. Those knits are surprisingly forgiving. You'll notice that back vest has a little natural yellowing because it's polyester, while the front with the screen-printing is whiter because it's cotton.

Dish soap, white vinegar, rubbing alcohol, Oxy, and toothpaste are my go-to items for cleaning.

[LonnieFisher]

You cleaned him up real nice.

[smonte00]

Wow, I never thought about the toothpaste. What do you clean with that, the heads?

[TrekStar]

Very nice job, this is a good thread to save for others wanting to do the same, to bad you didn't have pics of the figure
before you fixed it up just to compare, it really came out nice.

[smonte00]

The first and last pics are the before pics.

[TrekStar]

The first and last pics are the before pics.

Yes okay I see it now, of course humongous difference, was looking at the pics on an iPad, my mistake.

[PNGwynne]

Wow, I never thought about the toothpaste. What do you clean with that, the heads?

Yes. Rubbing alcohol on a swab is a good first step in cleaning heads, it's also helpful for removing vinyl exudate from heads. I use a soft toothbrush and dish soap or cheap Colgate toothpaste with warn water to clean heads if they are grubbier.

[smonte00]

Thanks guys!

[daz71]

what a difference you did a great job.

[Riderfan]

Reminds me of when I got my childhood surviving Megos out of my parents' basement-Falcon survived well, but suit was kinda grungy (though not as bad as what you started off with!)

But after an Oxy clean bath the suit looked almost brand new again.

You do make a good point smonte00 that this isn't a custom, but rather a restoration. However there's really no dedicated place here for restorations, either before/after like you've done, or for sharing info/tips like PNGwynne did here.

So to the moderators I respectively suggest perhaps adding a restoration sub forum. Just a thought.

Back on topic, your Falcon cleaned up really nice! And all Mego too!

K

[smonte00]

Thanks, Riderfan. Restoration thread is a good idea!

[Makernaut]

Great job! That's a big difference.

My favorite part of collecting is just what you have done here; finding figures that need a little TLC and bringing them back to their former glory.

[TheNewGiJoeWithKungFuGrip]

We need a "Mego Restoration" forum.