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SWTNZ Toy Restoration - The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2

The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2

Here are two different 12 inch Vintage R2D2's produced by Kenner in 1978,
both were in bad condition with some parts worse than others, so i decided
to dismantle the two little astromechs and make one good one out of the
better parts. At the same time i would get to find out how these toys are
put together and learn a little more about them..

The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2 The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2

In the picture above you can see that the legs can be quite easily clipped off,
but be gentle as you twist and pull the leg away from the body, don't bend the
limb or you may crack the surrounding plastic..

The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2 The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2

Now open the door on its back and you will find four screws at the bottom,
remove any death star plans and place them to the side. Unfortunately only
one of the R2D2 toys have both the plans and internal cupboard stickers
intact. Usually there would be one sticker on the inside of the door and one
at the bottom of the cupboard, so now you have removed the (PK) or Philip
head screws you can easily pull the two halves apart..

The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2 The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2

There is a small plunger button inside which is used to push the back door
open from the front, this will simply fall out so place this somewhere to the
side and have a look at the inside of R2's domed head. This little guy is
full of dirt, looks like the former owner liked to play with him outside in the
garden. The entire body needed to be cleaned thoroughly so use a small
pair of angle nose pliers or other suitable tool and grip the center bolt quite
firmly, rotate anti-clockwise as you would most threads. Depending on the
toy, you may need to apply a little more pressure, be careful though because
the bolt is made of nylon and can be damaged using to much force...

The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2 The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2

Its time for R2D2 to have a bath, you can wash him in cold soapy water and
use a artist brush and even a soft tooth brush if you have one to clean away
the dirt. Now you can wash almost every part except for the back half of the
body because the stickers will get wet and fall off, in this case there were no
stickers so i was able to clean the back with no problems. You may have to soak
the parts a little longer if the dirt wont remove so easily, the dirt can set quite
hard after many years..

The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2
Above, all of the parts after his bath, which he enjoyed immensely..

The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2

Next i took the second R2D2 apart and found that he was very clean on the
inside and needed no washing at all, its interesting to note that the inside of
these toys heads are also coated in silver. But i found that the dirty droids
head had lost almost all his internal silver coating due to the dirt eroding it
away. I now had to choose from all the pieces, all the better parts would
go to one toy and the left over's on the other..

The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2
above, The two Death Star Plans, there is a slightly
different pattern on the reverse side..

The Good, The Bad and The Broken - 12 inch R2D2

Above, The Finished Units.. I only had two fairly good legs for one and
the other has to go limp for a while until i can find him a replacement. These
toys suffer mostly from direct sunlight, the yellowing of the plastic cannot
be removed at all as this is part of the degrading process. A little tip, don't
ever use solvent cleaners on these R2's such as isopropyl alcohol or
methylated spirits etc because it will not only remove the blue paint decorating
his body but it can badly ruin the silver coating on his domed head..


Boxed Vintage 12 inch R2D2, 1978 - Kenner

Boxed Vintage 12 inch R2D2 Boxed Vintage 12 inch R2D2
Click To Enlarge

Although it is always referred to as the 12 inch R2D2 the actual height
of the toy is around 7 1/2 to 8 inches tall (19cm)



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