The Dreaded Felt Pen and Blueing removal tips please

We all must of come across our hero , with those permanent felt tip marks , and the blueing that seems to happen to some heads . So what`s the cure ? I know there is quite a lot of info on this , but most of it is old , and from what I can tell , a lot of the suggested spot creams that may of actually worked have disappeared off the market . I believe in a tutorial I watched on YouTube that suggested you need a spot cream that contains at least 10% Benzoyl peroxide , I have not managed to find a cream containing this yet . The tutorial I see was seven years old . So if you know where to get a cream with the above content , or of a cure that ACTUALLY WORKS !!! Please post it here .

10% Benzoyle peroxide is an acne treatment only available by prescription. The normal, over the counter concentration is 5%. A better solution, might be baking soda toothpaste, such as the one by Arm & Hammer. I have not tried this, but apparently, it works well on removing stains from silicone and TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomer.)

Some years ago I had gotten a Defender figure whose face had been "painted" with a marker,
I'm guessing to give him a painted "camo" look. I had read on a forum about using acne cream.
At the time an ex-lady friend was also into toy collecting. I guess we had discussed it.

Anyway, she took acne cream, smeared it over the Defenders face. Then put him in the back deck
of her car for a few days. I don't know what kind she used, she decided to do it when I was at work.
I didn't even know about it for a couple of days. Since she had no prescriptions, I'm guessing it
was over the counter acne cream.

It's my understanding you apply the acne cream, then put the item in a window that sees lots
of sun, for a few days (I'm thinking at least three). Put the cream where it's needed. After the time
you just take a cloth to wipe off the cream.

This was years ago. I'm sorry I can't give you anymore information than that. But it worked really
well for the Defender I have. He looks like he never had the marker on him.

I found 10% Benzoyle Peroxide acne cream on eBay. I used it to remove extremely dark stains from a Phicen body. It took repeated applications over the course of about three weeks, but eventually the stains, which were a deep black, completely disappeared.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185295149408

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224844319401

As TNShooter suggests, I have heard that liberally applying the acne cream and then leaving the figure in the sun will hasten the process. I left the figure I was treating on a shelf in a dim room. Perhaps sun would accelerate the process; or bright sun might further damage the plastic and bleach out the original color.

The sun is the key factor in activating the zit cream Mark, like Dave and Daryl outline. Smear the spots with cream then wrap the head in cling film to stop it drying out - that's also important. Leave it in very bright sunlight outdoors preferably to let it bleach out the ink. Gunner did an inked on Hitler mustache one an Action Man head some years ago I remember. He will give you some further information. Toy Polloi on You Tube has an action man vid on this too. The characteristic blue sporting on these old heads is more difficult to remove though as it's a plastic reaction over time.

Thanks for the info chaps , it appears Gary is right , as I can find nothing in the U.K with that strength . I fear with all the rulings ect that this country seems to of suffered , anything over the counter at that strength will not be available . It`s getting the right cream that is the tough part , the technique is well documented all over the place . The links you sent me were from India Dave , and the feed back was not encouraging , though I found other sellers from India and Hong Kong with better feed back . All seem expensive .

I got some cream containing the 10 % Benzoyl , I have applied it to the Gent , number 4 in the photo , maybe not so obvious in the photo but he has a faint red felt pen pretty much covering his face . I also have another Head , I have named after my best friends Husband " Paul " , who gave him to me , very sadly now lost to Corvid . Paul has a red felt pen across his scar . I have applied the cream and covered the heads in a plastic bag . They remind me of one of the torcher scenes from the movie " The Killing Fields " . I will try and get some pics of the figures as they sit in the sun on the windowsill .  



 Do I need to change and re-apply the cream ? After a Week , two weeks ?

I didn`t find the time to see how it was going , but I think it`s been about a week now , here is how they look under first treatment , I feel for them .... included a pic of the cream I used , you can not buy it in the U.K over the shelf anymore at that strength . I will try and see how they look soon and update .

Thought there might be a bit more interest here but ho hum . I guess it shows the lack of interest in the vintage side of things . Never mind , for those who look and don`t bother commenting here are some results .

OH MY GOD !!! the results are amazing . The head missing his hair I believe was one of my originals , he had a noticeable but faint red covering of felt pen , it virtually covered his face . The 2nd was from my friend Paul , he had red felt pen across his scar . I can`t tell now , that cream seems to of removed all it`s presence , once his brows are touched up , and he has been re-flocked by Kev , he will be ready for new assignments !!!

Chip wrote:

Thought there might be a bit more interest here but ho hum . I guess it shows the lack of interest in the vintage side of things . Never mind , for those who look and don`t bother commenting here are some results .

OMG! The results truly ARE amazing!!!!

Seriously! That's impressive!

Also... the topic had a fair bit of input early on, from more members than usually post on any one topic.

Plus, forums slow way down in the summer. It happens every year. All the other forums I'm on have pretty much gone to sleep these past few weeks.

As for me.... I was waiting to see what the results would be after you "bagged the heads" for a while.

I was expecting it to take a couple of weeks to see an improvement. Instead, after a few days, the marks are gone!!!!

That was impressive!

Now you know it works!

Thanx for bringing us on board for your entire process, from figuring out what to do, to tracking down supplies, to getting to work, and finally showing the results!

I somehow missed your post before last. Nice results! That's how it worked for my Defender
figure, although I wasn't involved in that process. My ex did it without my knowledge. She
also decided to re-glue some arms of an Intruder figure I got, with bad success. I was really
steamed when she did that.

TNshooter wrote:

She
also decided to re-glue some arms of an Intruder figure I got, with bad success. I was really
steamed when she did that.

She probably thought she was helping and her success would please you.
Sadly it didn't work out as planned.
Re-glueing plastics is fraught with traps for young players, .....and old pros! There are just so many different types of plastics. Glues that work on some totally fail on others. Items are often composed of more than one type too.
Plastics "age", and change composition.

The problem is she used too much. The upper arms had separated and it now has
major glue runs on the arms. I'm sure she was trying to help, but part of collecting
is doing repairs, she didn't give me a chance to do it myself. I would have done it
differently, carefully applying the glue instead of just squirting it on.

SCU_HQ wrote:

Chip wrote:

Thought there might be a bit more interest here but ho hum . I guess it shows the lack of interest in the vintage side of things . Never mind , for those who look and don`t bother commenting here are some results .

OMG! The results truly ARE amazing!!!!

Seriously! That's impressive!

Also... the topic had a fair bit of input early on, from more members than usually post on any one topic.

Plus, forums slow way down in the summer. It happens every year. All the other forums I'm on have pretty much gone to sleep these past few weeks.

As for me.... I was waiting to see what the results would be after you "bagged the heads" for a while.

I was expecting it to take a couple of weeks to see an improvement. Instead, after a few days, the marks are gone!!!!

That was impressive!

Now you know it works!

Thanx for bringing us on board for your entire process, from figuring out what to do, to tracking down supplies, to getting to work, and finally showing the results!

Think I got up out the wrong side of bed yesterday , sorry folks .

I think this is quite a major bit of info , seeing such a process work so well on a common annoying issue , well I was chuffed with the results .

Chip wrote:

... well I was chuffed with the results .

Your results were excellent, and fast! It took me a lot longer to remove clothing stains from a seamless body. But I did not use the "plastic bag method." Perhaps that is the trick.

Good to know this works so well on vintage vinyl heads! Many an Action Man now has a chance for a new beginning!