Alright folks,
Just wondered what your thoughts where on a little dilemma I’m facing. I recently won a large lot of Star Wars figures and vehicles from a public auction in my town, an absolute steal really, 60 or so immaculate figures including a Tri-Logo painted dart Fett in the best condition I’ve ever seen, a load of mini rigs and accessories and 4 vehicles (Falcon, Rebel Transport, AT-ST and a Snowspeeder). I won the lot of 60 quid.
My initial plan was to sell everything I already had to cover the cost and donate the 4 vehicles to a friend who has a little shop as it appeared at first that they where very incomplete. However, on arrival it turned out that they where only really missing a couple of parts and just needed a damn good clean. I’ve not really been interested in collecting vehicles at the moment, but had figured that eventually it would happen.
In short I decided this was a great start for such a little price and began the big clean. I actually enjoyed the cleaning and looked forward to restoring the vehicles and hunting for the missing parts.
The problem is with the Falcon, I’ve completely stripped it and cleaned all the parts as it looked like it may have been sat in a shed for the last 25 years and was full of dirt and leaves. It’s actually scrubbed up beautifully and looks almost mint, the dilemma is the decal stickers.
I believe all are present, but they are in a poor state, most likely a result of the shed storage. Most where peeling and cracked, so I decided to carefully remove them all and use double sided tape to re-apply them after cleaning.
The problem is they where a bit too far gone and as they came off the print started falling off. I have them all and have re-applied the stick using tape, but they are in a poor state.

My dilemma is, do I re-apply the original stickers which are a bit crap, onto a now perfect Falcon. Do I quest for a set of un-applied original (which I’ve never ever seen and which are probably crap also after 25 years). Or do I dare I say it, buy a set of repro’s, I do not really want anything repro in my collection and I know I’ll never be happy with it if I do, but I just want it to look perfect.

Any thoughts folks, or does anyone have a set of originals! :scratch:

I would leave the Falcon as it is now and not applying any repro stickers.

You think it might look better, but deep in your heart you know something is wrong, and you will not fully enjoy your Falcon every time you look at it.

Just accept that you collect vintage, and stuff therefore don't need to look perfect. That is the charming part isn't it?

Hope this helps.

Cheers

That is a great story mate . I relly don't collect loose ships, but i get great joy out of making a in complete ship complete and selling it of to a new owner . So i can follow you on your story here .

I think that you shuld get som repo stickers for your Falcon . Put a little note some where on it with clear tape over it . That says it is repo stickers .


This site might have some stickers you can download for free
http://www.toyfixer.com/

Hey Alex,
First off, nice score! About a year ago I had a Droid Factory that was MIB, only thing wrong was the tape just came undone. I emptied the contents to check it out & the stickers literally fell off the sheet! So if you did find original stickers I wonder if they would even stick anymore. I also have a Droid Factory R2 where the sticker was almost completely off, I used a glue stick & have had no problems with it peeling since. For cleaning vehicles, I cannot recommend the "magic eraser" enough, also vinegar works really well & dries with no smell. Vinegar also removes corrosion left behind from batteries. Hope this helps!
Pat

keep the old stickers or let it be stripped
reprostickers are never an option if you ask me

I have a minty Falcon with stickers applied & one where the stickers have come off. Personally I would be inclined to leave yours in 'original' condition. Based on the amount of stuff you got for £60.00 the Falcon cost you next to nothing. If you decided to sell it, the new owner can decide whether to apply repro stickers, or pair it with a vintage sticker sheet, and you could make a nice proffit.

cp

True, some of the loose decal sheets have already lost their glue a long time ago. I've seen this with some XWing fighter sheets. I wouldn't go for repros personally. I'd be happy to keep it exactly as it is and maybe in the future upgrade to one with nice decals. Good score though, congrats.

I had one that I picked up a few years ago. It had most of the decals still, but the glue had dried up, so they were all mostly loose. I went ahead and restuck them on with 3M Spray Adhesive which has worked pretty well. I'm not sure how bad your original decals are, but you might want to try something along those lines with them. Another option could be finding a good falcon shell with the stickers still on and do some part swapping to make a nice falcon.

Almost identical situation for me a year or two ago. I ended up salvaging some and printing out others, then using some glue stick or 3M spray (I can't remember). The Falcon is now hanging on my office wall and looking super sharp. I know that it's not 100% original but it's pretty badass.

So I'd say you're in a great spot w/ lots of options. Since the stickers have already been removed, that decision is behind you. Whatever you do be sure to KEEP them as you may want to use them in the future. In the meantime you can try some downloadable high res options (free if you search for 'em) and do the printing/cutting/gluing yourself. Could be a nice temporary solution (and a fun activity) while you hunt for some original unused sticker sheets. If/when you find some originals those temporary items will come off easily. Just be sure to use a mild glue.

And don't be tempted to pay for any repro stickers off ebay. In my early days I tried that and was deeply disappointed.

You answer yourself :

General Kahn wrote:

I actually enjoyed the cleaning and looked forward to restoring the vehicles and hunting for the missing parts.

Just consider the decals as 'parts' I have found an original sheet with only one sticker missing, so this is do-able, just takes some time.

So I'd say : Leave them on for the time beeing, and hunt for an original sheet

Cheers for the advice guys, it is greatly appreciated.

Pat, that's what I kind of figured, originals are going to be probably not too sticky, but at least intact.

Doc, your right, I'd never be content with repro's, and the more I've thought about it, the more I've realised that 'It's not an option"

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You answer yourself

Your right, the whole point is restoration, and if re-sticking the original stickers with new 'stick' isn't restoration, then what is! Like you said Shoenix, some where down the line I may find an original sheet, and as and when then happens, I'll whack 'em on.






Time to break out the soap and hot water and err.... the wife's toothbrush!
Guess this is the best way to start:



Best thing is, one of the ramp legs was missing, when I opened her up, it fell out the middle... That's one less part to find, and the guy at my local toy shop has a Dejarik table and the floor cover, which he's going to sell me, which just leaves the cockpit!

Cheers again guys,I'll post a couple of pic's of the finished reult when it's done! :falcon:

Just looking back through some old threads and found my Falcon restoration dilemma, said I'd post the finished results, so for what it's worth.


Faired up alright really

DAMN!
Nicely done! Seeing the before pics, I am amazed it cleaned up so well!

Can I ask what did you clean it with?
You said a toothbrush, I assume water, elbow grease... anything else?

Again, nice end result!

NICE score!!


I have restored two falcons over the last year. Both of them were in decent shape. The stickers were mostly there, but like a lot of other stories here they were peeling or off completely.

I just took my time with a glue stick, and salvaged everything I could. The two people who I passed them along to were informed that some of the stickers were missing.

One of them did buy a vintage sticker sheet, and used what he needed. The other, just left it as it is.

I don't support repro stickers either. The stickers actually don't look that bad. But if they bother you, you could always strip them off and leave it bare, or try to track down a vintage sheet and re apply some sticky.

General Kahn that's a nice clean up and that Falcon has very good color!


Well now...I have to respond to this because it hits close to home. If you've read my introduction I posted in TIG then some of my collection was not mine to begin with...I inherited it from my deceased brother, RIP Bro! Anyway...man he had a Falcon that was horrific....looked as if Muddy water had sat in it and then dried up eventually. There were no stickers except a couple cockpit ones and 1 exhaust sticker destroyed!

I am against reproductions which is what drew me to TIG..The Imperial Gunnery is proud to present The Vintage Star Wars Action Figure Weapons & Accessories Guide. I had a collection of Vintage Ships/ Figures/Creatures and the accesories with my 4 year old inherited collection. I've sold some since January, actually allot more than just some BUT I ensured that everything I sold was Vintage original! Never had 1 complaint because of my research that I applied.

Back to the Falcon. So a couple weeks before I joined TIG I had broke down the Falcon, cleaned it all up, got the Motor working and bought a set of Repro Falcon stickers with the intent on restoring the Falcon. I applied a few and next thing I knew I joined TIG, read many many post against repros (which I agree with) and that falcon has sat unfinished since then. So for 3 months now this Falcon has sat unattended with me putting it off until whenever.

I asked someone their opinion about me restoring it as you are doing and their response was this..."I don't see anything wrong with it...just as long if you ever sell it...you make it very very clear that the stickers are not original and you cannot expect someone to pay for the time and effort you put into that restoration." But I still let it sit.

This thread you started got me thinking of Vintage Cars...Do people restore them, of course some people do. Do they have value after a restoration job, yes of course. No not as much as a pristine original one keep in a garage for 50 years but they have value no doubt. I know Reproduction or restoration is Taboo for some fans and that is perfectly fine...of course. But...(there's always a but), but some fans would like to have a Falcon that has good looking stickers on a ship that has not yellowed that they can hang in their Den or Man Cave or where the hell ever they want.

That Falcon I have, that now sits idle looks Dam sharp! Even if I only applied a couple stickers. I will finish the project I began and have an Awesome Falcon with Fake stickers...right next to my Awesome Falcon with original stickers. When I die then someone will buy those awesome Falcons at an Estate sale of my belongings and pawn them off on Evilbay which will then be discussed here or on RS in the watchout section

Bottom line. I think if it's for you or for someone that would appreciate your love, time and effort with fixing her up...then go for it! But always remember...if you sell it and advertise it as having fake stickers...whoever buys it from you may not be as honest as you when they sell it

Note: I am sitting at a 110 year old desk right now that needs restoration passed down through my wife's family. If I restore it will that be a bad thing? Or should I try to bring it back to a point close to it's original Beauty? Food for thought

FOR THE RECORD: As I stated previously I am against reproductions (except for the Falcon project I began) but my thoughts are to 'Each their own' if it brings happiness to their lives.

if you still need any parts stickers etc drop me a line I picked one up for the motor but it came with lots of extras and if memory serves me the stickers are in good shape. yours did clean up really good to.

I understand where your coming from Sithlord and I too am a firm believer in "to each their own" .

There will always be collectors who are firmly against any type of repo and in general I would certainly put myself in the "anti repo" catagory too - but I do see your point that if the project makes you happy why shouldn't you do it .

I am sure that neither you or I (or probably any other member here) would ever intentionally sell something that is fake .
But , Lets say I had restored some item using reproduction parts and then have a heart attack while I'm out mowing the lawn 2 weeks later (because I eat too many cheeseburgers) . My wife needs money to pay for my past due and outrageous tab at mcdonalds and is forced to sell my restored toy . Unfortunately she wouldn't be aware of it having repo stuff and it could cause a fellow collector like you or I to get burned and most likely end up with my wife having a very disgruntled customer .

I paint custom figures myself but I never paint them to look original nor would I touch a figure up . When I paint them I always do something completely different from originals so that there is no chance they could ever be confused as originals .

This makes me wonder if you couldn't apply the same principal with the stickers on a Falcon

I read earlier in the thread that you can print sticker sheets out yourself if you know where to look . Why couldn't one of you computer wizards out there take that printout and do some complete custom style stickers (using photoshop or some shit)with totally different color scheme and/or patterns ??

I am a complete moron with computers so I wouldn't have the 1st clue but I know that their are alot of talented people here that could do something awesome Basically putting repo stickers on a Falcon is essentially "customizing" so why not do something completely different and cool ? The Falcon would make a bad ass display piece and there would be no risk of confusion later with original looking repos .

If a person could figure out a way to temporarily attach the stickers then there wouldn't even be any potential damage to the vintage vehicle - surely there would be some way to do it - use some type of "Not So Crazy" glue or just lick and stick em

It would be a win win situation - you get a cool looking ship to display and there would be no risk of the repos accidentaly being sold later by someone uninformed to a collector

Just my thoughts on the matter - a chicken trying to think of a compromise to make everyone happy

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DAMN!
Nicely done! Seeing the before pics, I am amazed it cleaned up so well!

Can I ask what did you clean it with?
You said a toothbrush, I assume water, elbow grease... anything else?

Again, nice end result!

Soap and warm water and that is all, I actually took the big sections into the bath one night and scrubbed the whole lot while sat butt naked in the bath (didn't have a bowl big enough!).

It was awkward getting into some off the deeper recesses like the circular ones on the top near the front, but I got there in the end.

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General Kahn that's a nice clean up and that Falcon has very good color!

The colour is pretty good and more importantly it's uniform over the entire ship, the only bits that need replacing where the cockpit, Djerarik table and the smuggler compartment floor. I got table from a friend in a local shop (he was gonna sell me the floor as well but ended up using it on a Falcon he'd aquired), I won an auction for the cockpit cover and floor in one lot which was nice (and cheap) you can't see it well on the pics but the cockpit cover is slightly lighter than the rest of the ship, but I'm not to fussed. The cockpit cover was missing the glass though, so eventually got round to buying the glass piece about a month ago and it was finally complete.

As for the stickers, when I removed them all for cleaning, the print began to flake off as I said in the original post, it was this that bothered me (the Falcon had clearly been stored in some shed or somewhere exposed to moisture) I ultimately decided though that I'd rather have a Falcon with some bad stickers than one with fakes as this is for my personal collection and I don't want anything fake, truth is, the stickers don't actually look to bad, some are pretty poor, but other more significant ones like the engines are o.k. and most are actually there, I think only two stickers are missing in total.

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This makes me wonder if you couldn't apply the same principal with the stickers on a Falcon

Makes sense I guess, at least collector's could identify from the real thing, like you all siad it's alright you selling something and stating that parts where repro, but you can't vouch for the next guy.

Either way, I got a super clean bad arse Falcon with shit but original stickers!

Alex - congrats on the Falcon clean-up job, the before and after pictures are brilliant
Glad you decided against repro stickers. Me personally I think it looks great as is. Original I agree with 'each to their own' but worry about items further down the line being sold as original but with repro parts - either willingly or unknowingly.

Another concern is the amount of figures and vehicles that are being bleached at the moment to whiten them up. They might look great when first treated but further down the line are these things going to just crack and fall to bits? Too early to say atm.

SithLord2013 wrote:

Note: I am sitting at a 110 year old desk right now that needs restoration passed down through my wife's family. If I restore it will that be a bad thing? Or should I try to bring it back to a point close to it's original Beauty? Food for thought

Hi Paul, I can give a little insight into this. I used to be a French Polisher and worked in the antique trade restoring furniture.
I can only speak for back then (some practices may have changed since) but a lot of items that were badly damaged, suffering from tarnishing, deep scratches, hot cup marks, sun-fading etc., would be repolished and declared and accepted as such. Some items just needed cleaning and required minimal work. These were the best examples of restoring an item "close to its original beauty". There were also instances where you did not want to clean or repolish parts because it would remove the natural patina.


Sometimes a problem occured when 'parts' of the furniture were damaged or missing, such as feet, legs, drawer handles, hinges, peeling veneer etc. It was acceptable for these parts to be restored (eg, a newly-turned wooden drawer handle or foot) or be added (a new set of repro brass handles) so long as it was declared.

It wasn't uncommon for some unscrupulous dealers to try and sell repro-part furniture off as original. But experienced dealers would be able to detect this.

Of course we're talking about very old furniture here that was not really mass-produced on a world scale - so there was an acceptance that a lot of the damage could be restored. Vintage SW was mass-produced, is only around 30 years old, and with patience and a willingness to maybe spend a bit more money you can still find good examples without having to support the repro market IMO. Maybe in another 30/40 years it will be more acceptable to use repro parts for vintage SW based on scarcity?

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Another concern is the amount of figures and vehicles that are being bleached at the moment to whiten them up. They might look great when first treated but further down the line are these things going to just crack and fall to bits? Too early to say atm.

This is something that I also read about and had concidered trying out on a yellow Wampa I had seen in a local shop, but ultimately decided, why bother? I enjoy cleaning figures and have derived a great deal of pleasure restoring the Falcon and have then gone on to buy other beaten up vehicles with intent on restoring them also. One of these was a battle damaged X-Wing (coniderably more battle damaged than the original box claimed) this was yellowed and appears to have some form of battery damage which may have leaked from some other source as it is not the Electronic X-Wing.

I ultimately decided against any bleaching of anything, simply because :
1 - I can't see it doing the toy any good in anyway (it's Bleach! The corrosive sign on the back should be enough)
2 - I can't see any whiting effect actually lasting, and more likely yellow returning but worse.
3 - Like you said, who knows what effect this will have down the line, brittleness and breakage, as you stated being the most likely result.

The X-Wing looks a bit crap and is still waiting on a canopy, but at least it will still exist in 20 years! One of the wings had snapped, so I took it apart and glued it and taped it back together. It's fragile, but works and the fixing is interior so not to bad, although if ever I was to sell this (which it really isn't worth the hassle) attention would be brought to tis interior fixing.

Fact is toys yellow, it's best to accept that I guess. proper storage and care can deffinately help combat this process in the form of actual prevention of it in the first place.

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with patience and a willingness to maybe spend a bit more money you can still find good examples without having to support the repro market

True! This is after all what collecting is all about, a yellowed Stormtrooper is essentially the same as a Tusken Raider with the silver paint missing from the top of his head spikes, a common floor with the figure in terms of susecptability to a specific type of wear/degradation, which in turns demands a small degree of premium when buying a 'mint' one.

In the end, washing a dirty figure is just removing superfitial dirt which is not part of the figure, bleaching is actually alterting the actual figure, that's not good really.