G1 how hard did i ruin my pony?

LoopiLerp

Bushwoolie
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May 18, 2020
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I only ever wanted to have two ponies, and this is my second one, andI'm a complete newbie with looking after ponies.

So I mail-ordered a pony, my pony came in, she's in great condition with no vinyl damage, but it turns out her head had been glued back on. I like playing with my ponies, swivelling their heads, so I endeavoured to get the head off.

I guess I should've tried hot water first, but I wasn't sure if it would work on new glue, so I tried sawing the head off with a butter knife. It mostly went well, except for the time I got impatient after an hour, then sawed faster. Then there were obvious saw marks and a gap on the pony's neck at the back right side, and now I'm sad I've managed to damage a pony that has been going so well for nearly 40 years!

It's livable (since I'm using her as a play pony instead of just a collector's pony, and I'm planning on keeping her forever), but it's really annoying looking. Is there any way to close that gap a bit, or should i consider her permanently "ruined", and just wrap a cute ribbon around her neck like a scarf to hide it?


g3Q1i4b.jpg



(top left side of photo below is where the cut didn't go so cleanly)

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I found out the hard way that when a pony head is glued, it's never going to be able to turn. It's such a frustrating discovery! I'm not clever enough to make a mechanism for head turning, but if that gap bothers you, you can always fill it in with a 2-part epoxy and sand it down. You'll have to paint over it to get a color match, but it's such a small gap that you could probably fudge it and be alright.

On the positive side, this is a great time to clean her inside and out before you glue her down forever!
 
G1 pony’s head were always factory sealed, so they never originally had moveable heads. From the looks of it it was a factory seal you cut into.

The damage isn’t terrible at all. The best way to properly seal it again would be to re-glue but if your keeping her for yourself there’s no issue with putting a fashionable accessory on her.

Ultimately, Windy is a fairy common pony so she wouldn’t be that expensive to replace. Also, she has a 35th anniversary version that does have a moveable head that may also interest you. :)
 
Don't feel bad. I was trying to get the head off of a Bluebelle I got at a flea market so I could get an idea of how much rust was in her body, and instead of cutting the factory seal, I was cutting into her neck plug. Thank goodness I realized it before I cut into it any more.

It's a good thing I have no intentions on selling her.
 
G1 pony’s head were always factory sealed, so they never originally had moveable heads. From the looks of it it was a factory seal you cut into.

The damage isn’t terrible at all. The best way to properly seal it again would be to re-glue but if your keeping her for yourself there’s no issue with putting a fashionable accessory on her.

Ultimately, Windy is a fairy common pony so she wouldn’t be that expensive to replace. Also, she has a 35th anniversary version that does have a moveable head that may also interest you. :)

I think the seller mentioned they popped the head off previously so i;'m not sure if it was factory seal. i'm glad to hear you don't think the damage is too bad!

I think it'd be amusing to get a twin of her. I did the exact same thing to a book; I was so happy about receiving it that I stuffed it in my bag too quickly and ruined the cover! Then I got a near identical copy later lol. Maybe if I get the twin, I should put a painting over my first WIndy and gift it to my mum and play with the twin.

unfortunately being in australia drived every price up by a lot due to shipping charges! hopefully another Windy in Australia comes by!
 
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She's ruined so hard! Maximum hard! Hard to the power of infinity! :surprisepony:

:tongue: Just kidding! She'll probably always have that gap, unless you intend on gluing her neck back down, which will negate the entire purpose of removing her head in the first place! But sometimes, pony heads just get super-sealed onto their necks, and there's not a lot you can do! I've taken tons of pony heads off, and I still get impatient sometimes, and wrench the whole plug clean off! Total frustration! Some ponies are destined to have pretty necklines, and some just aren't!

Sometimes, the neck plastic is still hot when they shoved the two pieces together in the factory, and the plastic manages to melt together in places! I've had ponies that I had to saw with an exacto knife just to get the head off! :shock:

What I'm trying to say is, sometimes you do your best and the pony fights you the whole way! Don't feel bad! Next time, I'd suggest something either a little sharper (so you can make fewer, more precise cuts) or more dull (like a screwdriver!) so you can carefully wedge the neck/head apart without cutting the plastic. I use a combo of a sculpting tool (basically an oversized needle, so I can poke the plastic apart and feel my way around the neck plug), an exacto knife, AND a flathead screwdriver! Everyone has their own tools, you'll find your favorites for next time!
 
UPDATE:

Good news and bad news!

Good news is that I've taken up Krose's suggestion on buying 2-part epoxy, and now i'm just waiting for it to arrive.

Bad news was that I was bored, a bad idea popped into my head, and I decided to try ironing poor Windy o_O. It flattened one part that I wanted flattened, but when I tried to see if the heat and weight of the iron could slightly budge some of the plastic down, it just became flaky and did some surface damage.

Good news is that I have a bit of paint at my house and Windy now has a head mark! (to cover the surface damage)

P1040260.JPG


Bad news was that I forgot to wash out some of the oil-paint medium that got in the hair, and now her hair this has gummy turpentine residue.
I'm thinking of maybe acquiring some acetone to see if that can remove stand-oil+turpentine residue since nothing else in my house has worked.

I can't wait for the epoxy to come to close that gap. And hopefully I'll ungummy the hair sometime soon.

(poor windy, hopefully she become a victim of more good ideas than bad ideas in the future!)

edit:

her hair seems already somewhat less gummed up after I used a toothbrush and an awful concoction of toothpaste, dishsoap and shampoo. Maybe I'll just see if her hair can recover first after a few more intense toothbrush scrubs.
 
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UPDATE:

Good news and bad news!

Good news is that I've taken up Krose's suggestion on buying 2-part epoxy, and now i'm just waiting for it to arrive.

Bad news was that I was bored, a bad idea popped into my head, and I decided to try ironing poor Windy o_O. It flattened one part that I wanted flattened, but when I tried to see if the heat and weight of the iron could slightly budge some of the plastic down, it just became flaky and did some surface damage.

Good news is that I have a bit of paint at my house and Windy now has a head mark! (to cover the surface damage)

View attachment 30207

Bad news was that I forgot to wash out some of the oil-paint medium that got in the hair, and now her hair this has gummy turpentine residue.
I'm thinking of maybe acquiring some acetone to see if that can remove stand-oil+turpentine residue since nothing else in my house has worked.

I can't wait for the epoxy to come to close that gap. And hopefully I'll ungummy the hair sometime soon.

(poor windy, hopefully she become a victim of more good ideas than bad ideas in the future!)

edit:

her hair seems already somewhat less gummed up after I used a toothbrush and an awful concoction of toothpaste, dishsoap and shampoo. Maybe I'll just see if her hair can recover first after a few more intense toothbrush scrubs.
Well she may be a little guinea pig but I think the mark you pained on her head suits her nicely :smile:
 
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