Cosmetic makeover for a 23 year old Incredible Hulk

by Darrin Vindiola


While cleaning out the garage not too long ago, I came across an old toy I bought for my son back in 1992.  It's a 15 inch Incredible Hulk Supersize action figure made by Toy Biz.  My son absolutely loved it, and played with it like crazy for many years.  The figure held up pretty good, and could really take a beating.  Check it out..

Here's the Monster of a toy that my son loved so much back when he was approaching two years of age.  Granted, he could hardly lift it.. but he loved it just the same.  Below is another picture to give you some perspective on how big the toy is..

I grabbed the closest random item in my office to give you a size comparison.  In this case, it's a 12 ounce bottle of beer, err.. "Romulan Ale" to be more specific.  Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase beer geek huh?

While the figure functioned perfectly and had no major defects, there were definitely some cosmetic issues.  Paint marks were transferred onto the Hulk from other items that he had collided with during rigorous play sessions.  From the colors on the toy, I could immediately identify where they came from.  Some of the colors came from different painted walls in the house, an old swing-set, a bunk bed, other toys and furniture.

 

With nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon, I decided to try and restore the figure the best I could, to at least give it a semblance of his former glory back when he was some 22 years younger.

I have a little experience with plastics, and decided that paint thinner and a soft cloth would probably work best to coax the varying thicknesses of transferred paint off of the surfaces.  The light green plastic was not painted, so I wasn't too afraid to give it a liberal scrubbing to remove the blemishes.

The dark green hair and purple pants however were indeed painted.  I cleaned these areas with much less pressure for fear of dulling, or damaging those surfaces.

While the paint thinner worked like a charm, I noticed a bit of a haze and dullness to the figure that wasn't there before.  I finally took some plastic polish and applied it to the entire action figure, which in turn rejuvenated and reconditioned the plastic.

I'm happy to say that the figure cleaned up nicely, and looks pretty dang good now.  I will eventually give this figure back to my son so he can reminisce about the endless hours he spent playing with The Hulk. For now however, I think I'll leave him on my shelf for awhile to terrorize the other toys in my collection..