How to take care of your PVC figure's

My first PVC figure was Altair from the limited edition of Assassins Creed. Having it for a wile I recently picked it up to dust of my shelve and made a sticky discovery. Dust had clutter'd on the figure and made a sticky dust layer. Now I still have to clean him up, But I was kinda fearing this would happed to my (more expensive) Hatsune Miku and Black Rock Shooter. So A bit of Googleling landed me on a post from http://www.hobbyfanatics.com. It explained what kind of material figures are made of and why and what there pro's and con's are. But more importantly, what to do, and not to do to keep your most precious figures in tip top condition.

You may already know this, or down't. But I think its a wise idea to read it. And thus I am sharing this with you.

What is PVC, Resin, cold cast, ABS, etc. --> Taken from http://www.riuva.com/?p=301

COLDCAST

Basically, no heat is applied when the material is set in the mould. By mixing two types of liquids, a tough plastic compound is formed. It is the most expensive type of material for figure. Nicer and more live color compare to PVC.

POLYSTONE

Polystone is the common name for Polyethylene, just another plastic. But there are two main types, High and Low Density. High density is used for the figurines. Polystone offers good resistance to moisture, impact, heat, sunlight, cold and has good rigidity. I mean good compared to PVC. Everything here is compared to PVC.

Polystone distorts of about 80 degrees Celsius. It is not that ductile, lighter than water, and can be moulded, machined, and joined together using welding (difficult to glue). It's a thermoplastic as well, meaning it can be heated and reshaped and cooled. This is easy to mould and rather durable. The higher heat resistance and rigidity also means figurines do not lean or distort, or worse, start degrading in sunlight. But for this added quality, polystone figurines are more expensive than PVC ones and the selection is a lot less.

Unlike PVC which is more ductile, Polystone does BREAK because of the higher rigidity. So shipping overseas is a bit more of a risk for these. Use EMS at all costs.

And yes, it's also known as polyethene, the plastic bag. So people who have been fooled by the fancy name, please hang your head in shame.

Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC)

PVC is one of the most common plastics used in the world. It's quite similar to rubber and the toughness/malleability of PVC is dependant on the plastisers added. More plastisers = more softness, since they straighten out neatly the long macromolecular polymer chains into neat rows. Some figure collectors complain of an oily film after a while and I would think this is due to the plasticisers migrating to the surface of the plastic. Small plasticiser molecules are pretty mobile and after a period of time, they accumulate on the surface to produce a oily crud.

This is also why PVC tends to get a bit crappy and brittle after a long time. Oh yeah these plasticisers are quite toxic too. And if you have a fire at home, dump your figurines at them to extinguish it, since the chlorine produced retards the flame. Btw, some plasticisers are thought to reduce the quality of MAN SPERM.

A very large percentage of the figures sold are made of PVC. From gashapon, trading figures to 1/6s, these are mainly PVCs. Cheap material cost, easy of moulding, ductility (it won't break much, just bend) are the reasons why it is used.

Never leave them in the sun. Ultraviolet rays produce free radicals on PVC, chlorine free radicals, that combine to form chlorine gas and the material is decomposed. The sun also heats them up and PVC distorts at a temperature of 60 degrees Celsius. Being a thermoplastic, you can actually heat it up and bend it, then cool for it to maintain that shape.

PVC, due to the addition of chlorine atoms which have a pretty high molecular mass compared to C and H, is heavy for a plastic.

ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)

ABS is commonly used for the bases of figurines. It's pretty recognisable, just think of LEGO blocks. That's what they are made of. ABS has good impact strength and is not really flexible but rather stiff. These properties plus the glossy surface make it a suitable material for figurine bases. Interestingly, unlike all the above, ABS is not a compound but just a blend of 3 types of plastic.

"ABS is an amorphous thermoplastic blend. The recipe is 15-35% acrylnitrile, 5-30% butadiene and 40-60% styrene. Depending on the blend different properties can be achieved.

Acrylnitrile contributes with thermal and chemical resistence, and the rubberlike butadiene gives ductility and impact strength. Styrene gives the glossy surface and makes the material easily machinable and less expensive." -Designinsite

ABS is more expensive than PVC and is slightly lighter too. Its price is commonly used as the dividing line between common plastics like PVC and more expensive industrial plastics. ABS has a higher distortion temperature at 75 degrees. Its properties are also easily modified by varying the proportions of its components. Its natural colour is an opaque ivory but dyes can be applied.


Now, lets begin step by step to keep your Collection perfect for a long long time.

I have 10 years old PVC figure and it still like new. No cracking or discolorized.

Here is the simple list of how to taken care of your PVC figure:

1) Keep it on cool temperature. (Hot temperature will cause your pvc to produced oil and it will easily crack in the future). Why it will produced oil? What is that? Read above!!.

2) DONT EVER PUT YOUR PVC DIRECTLY TO SUNLIGHT. Dont put them near strong light that produced heat wave, e.g halogen lamp and filament bulb.

3) Once every few months, put your figure inside freezer for about 20 minutes (Not too long).

4) If by any chance your figure starting to produced oil (Because of heat), put your figure to freezer for 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

5) Use blower to clean your figure. Personally, I use hair drier to blow all the dust (!!!!! REMEMBER TO SET THE HAIR DRIER TO BLOW COOL AIR, NOT THE HOT AIR). If you rich, use dust remover that used to clean up computer part or other electronic stuff.

6) Do not clean your figure with chemical liquid. No warm water as well. If possible avoid water; only use small amount water to clean very dirty part of your figure.

7) If you have a hard time to remove the figure from the stand (most of them are made of plastic), do not use force. Just put the figure inside the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes. It is because plastic will shrink and expand more then PVC, coldcast, etc..

8) If you have more then 1 figure stand close to each other, please make sure dont let them to touch each other. After long time, it will leave a mark ont he other figure.

9) (THIS IS NOT TOO IMPORTANT. IT ONLY HAPPEN WHEN THE FIGURE USED CHEAP PAINT. Famous brand such as Max Factory, kaiyodo, alter, good smil company, etc.. will used good paint) Try to put a plastic to every joint that removeable to avoid direct contact that will leave a mark after a long time. Do you know the reason, why manufacture always put a plastic bettwen the joint that removeable when you bought a new figure? It is because when they touch each other, after long time, it will leave a paint mark.

10) This is for PVC figure Only.
AVOID puting heavy object e.g. weapon, items, etc.. on your figure hands. It is because PVC will bend over time. For more info about this or how to fix this, go to http://www.happysoda.com/archives/142

How to Fixed broken part of you figure:

1) Clean both part. Make sure no dust stick on the broken part that you are going to glue.

2) Use Super Glue. Gel type work better because it will not spill.
WARNING!!!!
DO NOT use Glue special for PVC. It is because PVC glue will melt the PVC in order to stick them. You do not want to melt anything on your figure.

3) Before apply the super glue, make sure that the broken part have flat surface or match in the crack (This is to ensure that enough surface for the glue to stick).

4) Apply a very tiny amount of the super glue to 1 of the broken part (dont apply on both side). Wait a few seconds before put them together. CAUTION!!! IF YOU OVER APPLIED AND THE SUPER GLUE DRIPING TO THE OTHER PART OF THE FIGURE, YOU ARE SCREW. IT WILL LEAVE A MARK FOREVER.

5) After glue them together, do not touch your figure for a few hours. It is to make sure that the glue really dried up.

6) Sometimes the color of the figure on the broken part will a bit decolorized. It is normal. Just use permanent marker with the same color of the figure and just color them back (DO NOT USE IN A LARGE AREA).