Keita's Figurine Blog: February 2013

Click HERE for Part 1 of this supposing one-post Blog!
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From where we left off, I found out (Through testing) that Hand Soap and Detergent are effective ways of getting rid sticky surfaces of my Nendoroid.

While this might be a solution to sticky Nendoroids, and if you want to follow what I did, be cautious, as I do not claim any responsibility to what may happen to your Nendoroid (Or figurine).

Without further ado, let's carry on with my cleaning experience!

3. The Rest of Rin

Let's not think too much about this...

Before I submerge my Nendoroid parts into the pail, I always ensure the water is lukewarm, and not too much detergent is added. With this kept in mind, after 45 mins for each cleaning, the parts came out fine, and sticky-less!

Err..

I dried each part using a cotton bud, and gently dabbing them, and then set them on some tissue papers to dry.

Aww! My Nendoroid Yune's worried if Rin's going to be okay

4. The Heads

I was worried when it came to the facial expressions (Faces), because they were extremely sticky, and not to mention, they have stickers (For their eyes). I've heard rumors that submerging the stickers could cause them to peel off, and I was not going to take the risk.

Better safe than sorry!

I filled up enough lukewarm water till the water level barely touches the eyes, and left them to soak for a while. I knew this method was not going to solve the stickiness of the forehead and the back of the Faces. So I took another cotton bud, soak it in the detergent solution, and dab the faces.

She likes it!

I did the same for the back of the faces, and then left them to soak again.

After around 30 minutes. I checked them out. Sadly, the stickiness did not disappear off the front, neither the back of the faces. I used my fingers and cotton buds and gently rub them, so as to not damage any paint-work.

Rub Rub Rub

After all the rubbing, I ran them under tap water and checked if the stickiness persisted. After a few more rubbings with detergent solution, the stickiness was minimal. As for her "Smiling" face, the stickiness was gone! I dried the Faces off with light dabs of soft tissues (I never dared to rub them), and left them along with the rest of the parts, to dry off any remaining wet areas.

Kira Kira!

5. End Results

Damn, you look so fine and yummy!

After a few hours of drying, she's sticky-free.. Well, almost! Her other faces are still a little sticky, but given enough time (I've got school work to do), I'm pretty sure she could be as good as new! :3

I hope you all find this post a little helpful. I would love to know more, since, after all, this was actually my first time cleaning up a Nendoroid

Cheers!

Keita

This is probably going to be a one-post blog, unless I get something else to blog about.. but anyways, this post is suppose to help others, and most probably my friends, try to clean their figurines, mainly Nendoroids. (When stickiness builds up)

Before anything else...
DISCLAIMER:
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Do not take my instructions word-for-word. It is best you read through what I did first, as this was my first time attempting to clean a Nendoroid. If any part seems uncomfortable with you, or if you're unsure, it is best to reconsider or perform with care.

I'm not going to take any responsibilities if your Nendoroids or figurines start exploding or shoot lasers (That'd be pretty cool though). Or on a serious notion, lose its paint-job.
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End of Disclaimer

A Little Back-story:
As I was at home, doing my work one day, I received a phone message from a good friend of mine, who informed me that a figurine store he frequents was going to sell off a bunch of figurines (Mostly Nendoroids) at cheap prices.

Along with the message, was an image of what were some of the Nendoroids on sale. One of them caught my eye: No. 60 Rin Kokonoe

Oh cute!

On impulse, I replied, "BUY BUY BUY". It was going on sale for less than half of its market price. For a moment, I wondered why would it cost so cheap. I was skeptical if it was authentic goods.

It wasn't fake (Thank goodness), neither was the figure damaged (Even better). However, due to her being in the shop's shelf for a long period of time, she grew sticky (Or what some collectors call, "Sweat").

Nevertheless, I got my friend to get hold of it, along with a discounted Mimi Usa. Since I have a Kuro Kagami at home, this would mean I have collected the Kodomo no Jikan trio (> v<)/

When I met up with him, I opened both of them up. Mimi Usa was, oddly enough, not sticky at all. I assumed the store must be clearing their old stocks as well.

Rin Kokonoe, however, was less fortunate. She was sticky from head to toe, including her school bag and spare parts. Anyways, I took them home and did some searching on the Internet with Google Sensei.

Along came the many forum and blog posts, with people giving all sorts of weird solutions and demoralizing replies like "Get a new figurine".

Amid all the search results, there was, however, a beacon of hope. This useful post on myfigurinecollection.net gave me the information I needed: Click here!

And this begins the cleaning of my Rin Kokonoe!

For the entirety of this post, please excuse my crappy photography skills. I was using my phone camera and I'm really bad at photography.

1. Opening the Box

Welcome, Rin, to my bed!

Here's the Nendoroid in all her stickiness. I first checked for it's authenticity and it's seal. Looks fine so far, but man.. she's so sticky..

I don't blame you

I looked up on the type of plastics Nendoroids typically use: PVC for the figure, and ABS for the base/stand. The Stand/base was not sticky, which is expected. So let's move on...

Pretty standard if you ask me...

2. First Attempt To Clean The Stickiness

I've read posts saying, "Toss it into the Freezer", and some people countered it with, "This solution is temporal". I'd love to test this out, but I don't think I want to risk ruining the food in my freezer.

So first, I grabbed a sticky part from the Box, to test out one of the first solutions I came across, "Submerge it in lukewarm water".

It's filled with water, although it doesn't look like it

I timed it, for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, it's still sticky. So that's one solution gone. Next, I refilled it with lukewarm water again, and this time, added a few squeezes of liquid Hand Soap, and started timing.

Bubbles!

At the same time, I filled a small pail with lukewarm water, and added a slight amount of detergent.
I used regular Fab Washing Detergent, and approximately 3-4 pinches of it, but this is actually dependent on the amount of water you used.
This time, I dropped a few spare arms in this one, and started timing it as well.

More bubbles!

After approximately 30 minutes, I took out the part I left in the basin, which was soaked in Hand Soap. I ran it through tap water, and dried it up with a cotton bud. To my surprise, the stickiness was gone!