HOBBY CHAOS - Bruneian Otaku | Geek | Entertainment Blog: How to Take Care of Your PVC Figure

I had a trouble cleaning my 1/7 Ignis this afternoon. It is made of PVC and any reckless movement could damage it`s paint and I don`t want that to happen! PVC is known to get a bit crappy and brittle after a long time. I googled for tips and found a great article on how to take care of a PVC figure.

baibaiman from Hobby Fanatics shared 10 useful tips but before we move on, here`s a bit introduction of PVC:

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.

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).

2) DONT EVER PUT YOUR PVC DIRECTLY TO SUNLIGHT. Don`t 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. You can even 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 on the other figure.

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.

I hope the following tips will help you and do share with me if you have more way to take care of your figure!^^,