Blowmold repair ideas needed

ChristmasBuddy

ChristmasBuddy

New member
I had a lucky find. I was driving thru town here and i noticed a yard sale at a local establishment and right on the street were four Christmas blowmolds so after doing a "U" turn I made my way back to that location and saw that they were selling them for $5 a piece. (I'll post pictures later).

The cool thing is they still work.

On a couple of the bases there are some cracks so I was wondering what would be a good repair option? Also, is there a way to repaint faded areas so that it doesn't look splotchy (if that is a word) ?

My family laughed at me for getting them but I hate (or rather dislike) the inflatables.

Thanks!

Buddy
 
yeah I also learned on there to use another piece of plastic and a heat gun or propane torch to melt and fuse the plastic together with another piece of plastic. I did that with my dad on a huge hole on my mrs clause that fell over during testing lights. It worked great, you are going to need 4 hands though.
 
I too bought several broken toy soldier blow molds from a guy off craigslist. He didn't take care of them and sold them too cheap to pass up. Anyway, I repaired them with an epoxy from Home Depot. Make sure you get the one that has "Plastic" on the bottom of the package. I think it's 3M brand or Elmers, can't remember right now. Mix the two parts together as noted in the instructions and use a Q-tip or something as small to apply. Epoxy has very vaporous fumes so use it in a very well ventilated area. Oh and wear gloves too. That stuff is hard to remove from fingertips when it dries.

On one of the soldiers, the base was broken off completely. I temporarily fasten the two pieces together with lots of green painters tape and then used drywall mesh (not tape) on the inside with the same epoxy. Kinda like repairing a corvette using fiberglass repair kit. After the mesh dried I applied a second coat for extra strength. After the second coat dried I removed the painters tape and then applied epoxy around the base where the two pieces separated. After you glue it, let it sit at least 24 hours for full cure.

To paint them use the Krylon spray paint that bonds to plastic. Don't use the cheap .99 cent stuff from wal mart or home depot. It'll flake off the next year and it runs horribly on the smooth plastic surface. If your painting the hole blow mold start with the lightest colors first and the darkest last. Make sure you wash off the blow mold with soap and water. Yes it's very tedious but a painted blow mold with dirt and dust underneath looks even worse than the faded paint.

I can send you photos of how I repaired my soldiers if you'd like.

Hope this helps.
Leglamp

UBotBuddy said:
I had a lucky find. I was driving thru town here and i noticed a yard sale at a local establishment and right on the street were four Christmas blowmolds so after doing a "U" turn I made my way back to that location and saw that they were selling them for $5 a piece. (I'll post pictures later).

The cool thing is they still work.

On a couple of the bases there are some cracks so I was wondering what would be a good repair option? Also, is there a way to repaint faded areas so that it doesn't look splotchy (if that is a word) ?

My family laughed at me for getting them but I hate (or rather dislike) the inflatables.

Thanks!

Buddy
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OUCH that's way too much. I usually pay about $5 to $10 for a blow mold, depending on the size.

There are people out there that are die hard Don Featherstone collectors. Did you look him up on wiki? He's a very interesting individual. Still with us today too. The most they'll get for those is $60 and that's being highly optimisitc.

I'll try to take some pics tomorrow of my repaired soldiers.

UBotBuddy said:
Yes, I would love to see your pictures.

Doing a Craigslist search here in Virginia I found this. Too pricey for me. http://richmond.craigslist.org/for/3235216573.html
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