We were recently commissioned to restore some original blow-mold plastic Playmobil Christmas figures, and the client wanted sturdy fiberglass replicas made from the rotted and broken plastic. While blow-mold plastic is sturdy and cheap, it does not last long, and once the plastic starts to rot and degrade, the heat-sealed seams start to open which creates problems for repair.
So our repair and restore project had to first start with getting the broken plastic repaired enough to be able to make production molds off of, and then make the parts out of sturdy fiberglass. It's not readily apparent at the start just how many sections and mold pieces there will be until you start to dissect the figure. In the end, the outcome was beyond fantastic, AND, the fiberglass will never rot or degrade....
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| The starting point; parade of broken toys... | Even Santa's reindeer were broken and rotted | Little Miss Christmas angel is waiting her turn | Even Mr. Snowman needs TLC.... |
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| Prepping Santa's arm for molding | Arm mold being made to replicate part | Even Santa's beard gets a makeover | Santa's beard mold ready to make parts |
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| Santa's head as he gets flanged to get molded | Santa's hat gets flanged down the middle | The bottom half is flanged, and ready to mold | Santa's chest section before flanges are attached |
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| Santa's chest section, molded | Chest section being sanded and prepped for paint | Meanwhile, reindeer being prepped for dissection | Mold parting lines being laid out |
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| Drawn and quartered......... | One of the legs being flanged | The reindeer head flanged, ready for molding | What the head looks like molded, before trimmed |
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| Some of the molds that make up the final figure | New head getting some pre-paint touchups | New head with new paint | New torso with new paint and add-ons |
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| .....Out with the old...... | .....................In with the NEW............... | Size comparison | Ready for action !!!!!! |
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| Coming up; reindeer, snowman and Miss Angel.... | Start at the head, and work downward ! | Legs attach to lower torso.. | And seam work makes it look clean |
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| With upper body attached, now ready for the head | With the head attached, it's ready for painting ! | Last minute touch-ups | Finished ! ( client did NOT want body painted ) |
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| Little Miss Angel is next....... getting flanged | Doing her first arm | Next comes her head | Now comes her painting and stars |
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| Time for her robe stars | Little Miss Angel is now done with her makeover.. | Starting point; original plastic parts | Making a new upper and lower body section |
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| Making his top hat just right ! | Giving him a good coat of epoxy primer | Now comes "snowman white" paint | And we now have a fantastic looking snowman !! |
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| So it's time to see where we traveled from........ We started here................ | And ended up here............ Looking REAL good !!!!!!!!!! |
