Talk about the your favorite Ghostbusters Collectibles from Mattel, Kenner, and more.
By RossMay
#4903481
Hi, does anyone have some advice on cleaning a Kenner Stay Puft action figure? I've had some success with a magic eraser, but want even better results. Please don't reply unless you have actually tried a method! Thanks kindly, but I can come up with educated guesses on my own.

For everyone else's reference: Oxi-clean and alcohol are both useless for spot cleaning. Haven't tried for an extended time, though.

Bleach is the obvious choice, but that's a last resort and I want to be careful to not damage the coloured sections.
By Sailerm
#4903493
Peroxide is used to make Kenner Star Wars stotmtroopers figures white after they have yellowed with age. Ammonia is also used to get grimy dust of if figures that have been an a shelf too long.
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By One time
#4903501
I have never cleaned this figure but I have cleaned similar white colored fragile rubber materials.

In my experience the single best cleaner I have used is Quick 'n Brite. It is an organic (non abrasive) soap.

Ammonia, alcohol, bleach, acetone, etc. These are all inorganic (risky) remedies.

I find QnB so effective because it removes dried red wine and ink stains from snow white leather. Yet because it's organic it doesn't cause damage, no change in reflectivity of the cleaned surface compared to adjacent surfaces indicating no abrasion. Those other materials are likely to.

It's cheap too. Just make your figure wet with lukewarm water and apply Q 'n B using a shaving brush (lightly). Let it sit for half an hour if you need to, then rinse off. Test it first on the sole just to be safe.

My 0.2c. And no I don't own any stock in qnb, just used it for ages and know of no better, non abrasive cleaning product.
By RossMay
#4903504
Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll try peroxide first.

Quick n Brite sounds good, but I have never seen it available in stores here in Western Canada. I might try that in the future, though.
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By One time
#4903505
RossMay wrote:Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll try peroxide first.

Quick n Brite sounds good, but I have never seen it available in stores here in Western Canada. I might try that in the future, though.
Good luck.

PS: its not available in my country either. I use ebay to get it.
By RossMay
#4903522
Update

Peroxide did nothing. I covered the painted parts in saran wrap and soaked the rest under paper towel with lots of peroxide, and after 4 hours and scrubbing to help it along it did nada.

The answer was sandpaper! Specifically, a sanding sponge. It doesn't damage the plastic much at all, I got rid of the new marks my son put on the toy, and it came out pretty darn white! Not perfectly new looking, but close to it.

Oh, and regarding the plastic damage I mentioned, the toy does feel slightly different afterwards. It's less slick, but oddly enough if you run your finger over it without applying pressure it actually has a similar feel to real marshmallows. Hah!

So, if anyone ever wanted to clean up a Kenner Stay Puft, I can recommend taking a sanding sponge to one and not bother with chemical cleaners at all.

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