Sunday, December 22, 2013

Nendoroid Dirty Experience Part 2.

This is a continuation from Part 1, which is over here!

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A short recap: 
I had decided to soak all the parts in a mild Detergent solution, before using a Cotton Bud to rub off the dirt with Hand Wash gel.

After leaving them to dry, I returned back to cleaning..

And now, the Faces!

I started off with the ( *゜д゜) face, from Nendoroid Kurisu Makise!

D-don't look at me like that!

Cute overall, but really dirty. I used a clean Cotton Bud and rubbed the dusty areas to removed any easily removable dust from her Face, then soak another Cotton Bud in the Detergent Solution and rubbed her Face gently. 

After that, I used the Hand Wash gel to clean her sides, and only on spots with dirt. I try my best to avoid areas which contain prints (Like her eyes) and paint (Like her mouth). 


Must.. avoid.. glare..

Lastly, I ran the face under tap water, using a tissue to rub off any leftover solution.
End Results? Beautiful!
That's not a face of gratitude!

Pretty good if I say so myself! I left it to dry along with the other pieces I'd previously cleaned, and moved on with the second Face!


That.. face..

Well, from the front, it's just a speck of dust across her face (Which looks like a Mustache), but the worst has yet to come...
AHHH!

Yes! Those yellow bits are some terrible, terrible stains (The camera is really forgiving). Makes me wonder how my friend managed to achieve such stains sometimes. 


Rub-rub-rub

Anyways, I did the similar steps as with the previous Face, and although it took longer than before, due to the heavy amount of dirt on the sides, things went off without a hitch!


Success!

Finally, I left everyone out to dry...


And Kagami's on Guard Duty!

That's all! The entire cleaning experience took me roughly 2 hours, including preparation. I hope you all found this post (And my previous post on Stickiness) a little helpful! If  there's any questions, feel free to leave a comment! Even though this may be a 1.. or rather, 2-posts Blog, I do check back once a while!

Take care everyone, and remember to take good care of your Nendoroids as well!

Cheers!
Keita

Nendoroid Dirty Experience Part 1.

It has REALLY been a while since I last posted. I remembered saying that this was suppose to be a one-post blog, but I guess I was wrong! 

So, why the new post? Well, a few days ago, a friend of mine took along his Nendoroid when we were on an outing, and I realized that 2 of his Nendoroid faces were really dirty...


Kill... me...

Yes, Nendoroid collectors would recognize that Face is from Nendoroid Kurisu Makise (White Coat Ver.) from Wonderfest 2011. Next up is...


She's got a mustache, and it's creepy 

This would be from Nendoroid Kobayakawa Rinko, from the Nintendo DS Dating Simulation, LovePlus! 

The dirt marks aren't that visible (I blame my photography skills), but aside from that, I offered to clean them up for him.

I'm aware that many sites like the official GSC Mikatan had posted tips on how to clean your Nendoroid/Figures, but I'm just posting this up just to let others know my personal experience as a figurine collector trying to maintain his Nendoroids.

Now, like the last time, before I continue, there's got to have Disclaimers!
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I'm not taking responsibility for any damage to your Nendoroids by following these instructions.

I'm also not saying my steps/procedures are correct or recommended. If any step/procedure seem dubious to you, please reconsider, verify with others, or perform with care!
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Now that we'd gotten that out of the way...

Before preparing the tools needed for cleaning, I looked through some of my other Nendoroids, and checked if they too, need some cleaning.

Sure enough, there was one...
Under-boob Dust?

Yes, that'd be the body of Nendoroid Mimi Usa. She attracted quite a lot of dirt and dust on the shelf because she was not contained within any dust-free container, and was near the window (Sunlight is a dangerous enemy to figurines). 

Yes, so this is kind of, my fault... Anyways, I decided to wash her body as well!


Oh?

Here it is, some of the tools I'm going to use.. There's mild Detergent, a pail, some cotton buds, Hand wash and.. what's that?


Oh!

That's Nendoroid Kuro Kagami threatening to kill me if I try to do anything funny with Mimi's body.

Jokes aside! Let's continue!
Just a little

I took roughly a teaspoon worth of mild Detergent and added it to lukewarm water in a pail. I stirred it and added the parts I'm planning to clean.
Whoa, Rin!

Some may recall Nendoroid Rin from my previous Blog Post. Yes, well, after taking her out for events/trips for the past few months, her hair became sticky again, and even worse, is that some dirt began sticking onto her hair.

Yes, again, my fault for not maintaining her properly. So remember to take extra care of your Nendoroids when you're taking them outside, especially on hot and sunny days!

So I'd decided to clean up Rin's hair as well! I soaked all of the parts for roughly 15 minutes in the solution, and then clean them individually.

First off, we have uh.. Mimi's dusty body (?)
Ooooook...

Taking out the body, I gently dabbed it with more of the Detergent solution using a Cotton Bud, followed by just a bit of Hand wash gel.

That little dab of gel over there

If anyone is curious, I used Protex Hand Wash for this.

Well, this is weird

As you can see, most of the dirt came off with the help of light rubbing of the Cotton Bud and soft tissues, but some of the dust on the.. uh.. Under-boobs, seem to be persistent. Sad to say, there's really not much I could do. 

Scrapping with your finger is not recommended by most people, even me, but I decided to try just a bit, for experience and to let curious others see how effective this method would have been. 
Uh.. huh...

As expected, not much of an improvement. A bit dirt DID came off, but it's not really worth the effort (I did roughly 5 minutes worth of gentle scrapping). 

I'd like to point out that Prevention is always better than Cure, so remember to take care of your figurines properly. There may be solutions to removing tough stains like this, but why go through all the effort if you can prevent it from happening?

As for her Arms/Legs/Pants, the cleaning went without any problems, and same goes for Rin's hair. The steps are similar:

Using a Cotton Bud, I dabbed them with Detergent Solution, and then gently rub them with another Cotton Bud with Hand Wash.

Some of the dust and dirt did not come off after rubbing a few times. In fact, some took me roughly 2~3 minutes to rub them off (Gently, of course)

Oooo

For parts with holes for joints, I rolled a small soft tissue and jab them into the holes to soak up any water within them.
Like so
And as for Rin's hair...
It's tough to take shots and clean at the same time..
I wonder what's Rin up to...
.....
Oh well, she is going to have to wait, because now, it's time to clean the Faces! Onwards to Part 2!