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[RH | 4,898]

@MiamiSlice, any clue what it might be?

 

[MiamiSlice | 3,089]

2 minutes ago, RH said:

@MiamiSlice, any clue what it might be?

 

Mud? Dirt? No idea. I just got this box yesterday.

[RH | 4,898]

1 minute ago, MiamiSlice said:

Mud? Dirt? No idea. I just got this box yesterday.

Look at it with a cheap, hand microscope (you can probably get one for $10, I'm guessing, off of eBay or maybe in a toy department) and then try to take out micro-flecks with an Xacto knife.  I'd work from the side if it's tall enough and you're hands are steady.  I wouldn't scrape near the cardboard until I can verify it flakes off easy.

You got to be slow with something like this, but it can safely be done, at least to test if it comes off easy with a sharp pointy blade.  If you can flake it off and if there's residue, try the Bestine.  I've found it works as a cleaner solvent too.  It doesn't work on everything and on plastic is way worse than every other option, but when you're working with paper it's the best only option I've found that doesn't warp and damage the paper.

[Tanooki | 4,931]

I mean what have you used on it so far?  And is that like an NES box, or what exactly?

[RH | 4,898]

5 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I mean what have you used on it so far?  And is that like an NES box, or what exactly?

Nothing.  It’s on a long list of things to experiment with. I do watch videos and read documents from time to time of various conservators because I find that type of work fascinating and I think some of what they do can rub off on this type of stuff. A $1,000 video game doesn’t compare to a priceless piece of art but that doesn’t mean you can learn something about conservation in general by watching their techniques.  Paper conservation is a legit thing and though that can be helpful, I’ve found next to nothing on cardboard restoration or gloss paper. My theories are based off of things I’ve seen book conservators do but a box is much different than pressing pages in a book.

[Tanooki | 4,931]

Just now, RH said:

Nothing.  It’s on a long list of things to experiment with. I do watch videos and read documents from time to time of various conservators because I find that type of work fascinating and I think some of what they do can rub off on this type of stuff. A $1,000 video game doesn’t compare to a priceless piece of art but that doesn’t mean you can learn something about conservation in general by watching their techniques.  Paper conservation is a legit thing and though that can be helpful, I’ve found next to nothing on cardboard restoration or gloss paper. My theories are based off of things I’ve seen book conservators do but a box is much different than pressing pages in a book.

That was directed at him and his mysterious stain I can't figure out what its actually on to give some idea how to hit it, or what might have been attempted already.  For all I know a little windex and a paper towel could get that off with a firm hand, alcohol could work too depending on what the item is made of its on, etc.

I know that conservation stuff a little too watching things on tv and elsewhere on how to do some basic clean up, repair, or if need be heavy repair from the inside as to not show/minimally show from the exterior most would see.  Some years back I had an utterly mutilated box for a toy from like the 1960s, dog in a doghouse that was kind of just a jack in the box, it was basically trisected with rips hardcore.  It was go all in or go to the trash bad, ultimately I settled on going as one might with a horribly destroyed book where the binding has been torn clear away and just deteriorated into waste.  I created a series of quality thick white cut patches piece by piece for the inside and attached them while lining it all up and laying what I could flat and utterly clean from the exterior packaging sides.  Either way once it was done, it was hardly visible, a passing glance wouldn't notice while look at it would.  There's usually a way to fix things to a point or at least mitigate further damage.

[MiamiSlice | 3,089]

It’s a GameBoy box. I’m afraid to do too much. Maybe I should just leave it alone!

[AirVillain | 485]

9 hours ago, MiamiSlice said:

It’s a GameBoy box. I’m afraid to do too much. Maybe I should just leave it alone!

I was going to suggest bleach.... but maybe you're right. 

[MiamiSlice | 3,089]

32 minutes ago, AirVillain said:

I was going to suggest bleach.... but maybe you're right. 

Turns out I'm too stubborn. I was reading an online guide about all the different types of paper damage and it said that if you see reddish-brown stain with the paper being slightly raised / puffy then it's likely mold and can be removed with bleach. So I first tested applying straight-up bleach with a q-tip to some cheaper boxes (4-in-1 Fun Pak 1 and 2) just to be sure that the bleach wasn't going to ruin the cardboard and then took a deep breath (not of the bleach, that would be terrible) and very gently went about cleaning this box and blotting with a tissue after so as not to leave the bleach sitting there. Also I made sure to not put too much bleach on the q-tip and dab it to remove excess before applying. It took 4 passes and there's still a trace of it but here's how it looks now: 

It's still noticeable but far less than before!

[RH | 4,898]

23 minutes ago, MiamiSlice said:

Turns out I'm too stubborn. I was reading an online guide about all the different types of paper damage and it said that if you see reddish-brown stain with the paper being slightly raised / puffy then it's likely mold and can be removed with bleach. So I first tested applying straight-up bleach with a q-tip to some cheaper boxes (4-in-1 Fun Pak 1 and 2) just to be sure that the bleach wasn't going to ruin the cardboard and then took a deep breath (not of the bleach, that would be terrible) and very gently went about cleaning this box and blotting with a tissue after so as not to leave the bleach sitting there. Also I made sure to not put too much bleach on the q-tip and dab it to remove excess before applying. It took 4 passes and there's still a trace of it but here's how it looks now: 

It's still noticeable but far less than before!

It's good work, but I would have diluted the bleach to maybe 1 part bleach, 4 parts water.  You were on a white section, so that probably helped, but I would have definitely tried stepped up.  Regardless, that's a nice fix.

Ninja Boy 2?

[MiamiSlice | 3,089]

20 minutes ago, RH said:

It's good work, but I would have diluted the bleach to maybe 1 part bleach, 4 parts water.  You were on a white section, so that probably helped, but I would have definitely tried stepped up.  Regardless, that's a nice fix.

Ninja Boy 2?

Good advice!

And yes.

[Tanooki | 4,931]

Smart one, I was thinking you'd have a little more free reign on that given it was white, bleach I hadn't considered, same fear of eating into it.  Had I seen what you did with mold that alone would have put my concern to saying forget the risk and go for it because it's insidious, spreads, can wreck anything including your lungs.  I had some exposure like 15 years ago in an apartment and it ruined some things, and me, had to take medicine for like 2-3 years to clear it up entirely.

[bowser | 598]

15 hours ago, MiamiSlice said:

It's still noticeable but far less than before!

Amazing! Excellent job!

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,012]

On 7/29/2022 at 12:18 PM, RH said:

It's good work, but I would have diluted the bleach to maybe 1 part bleach, 4 parts water.  You were on a white section, so that probably helped, but I would have definitely tried stepped up.  Regardless, that's a nice fix.

Ninja Boy 2?

I did pressure washing for several years and how I always got rid of mold on homes, etc. was bleach but a TINY amount. Like 1-2% bleach and the rest water for siding, 4% for roofs, 5% for concrete. Most mold will die with basically any bleach exposure. 

[Nesmaster | 402]

This piece of tape scared me like no other. After 2 1/2 years I decided to try again. It was so jagged and dried out, fought me for every millimeter. After a couple dozen or so lighter fluid soaks and 20 minutes of picking, I'm free from that personal nightmare.

Some fingernail marks on the smaller A from before my ownership can't be helped.

[MiamiSlice | 3,089]

Two restorations!

1. My launch model joycon rail stopped working, the lights wouldn't come on and the shoulder buttons wouldn't respond. Turns out the ribbon cable was creased inside and needed to be replaced. Turned out to not be so bad! And the cable only costs a few bucks. 

A video showing how it wouldn't work with the case closed (when the cable was bent): https://imgur.com/1CqFP3G

The old cable with the crease: 

The new cable installed: 

A video of it working again! https://imgur.com/Ph3LDIf

2. Got a damaged copy of Flower Sun and Rain. Cleaned it up as much as possible with Bestine: 

This would be much nicer if someone hadn't tried removing the sticker in the first place! But oh well!

 

[Tanooki | 4,931]

@MiamiSlice Nice job on that rail and ribbon.  That story I had a year or so ago when I got the OLED but ended up keeping joycons is lightly related.  Some months before my gray ones with the launch system one was fine, but somehow the ribbon cable latch on the PCB failed/hair thin plastic just broke so it was non-repairable without a new board.  I tried to fix it a few ways I had open and it just never worked out, got pretty good fiddling with the rest which is a bit of work given the tiny size of so much in there.  Nice job.

[Tanooki | 4,931]

My turn, and I'm sure some of what I did here will fall under the spectrum of both liking the improvement and some hints of nausea considering the cartridge shell and sticker I did it too, but it is what it is, so be it.  And FYI this is a mystery bastardized cart sometime many many years ago, X2 in an X3 shell.  Go figure.

BEFORE:
Well as you can see, rubbed raw sticker, whole top fold is gone, hole in the dent space low, it's bad, you could do worse, but it's bad.  The rental sticker was caked and maybe moldy around the rear, used a lot of scraping alcohol 91%, windex on this.  Windex hit the sticker on a pad to get the residue and funk of the ages off down to what's left of the sticker, the other stuff on the rest, this took awhile.

DE-FUNKED:
At this point I cracked it open and finished the deep cleaning of the plastic on the inside too and the board, board and pins were in great shape, just an exterior nightmare.  This is where I confirmed they were right, it's MMX2 *NOT* MMX3 in there...eh?!

RESTORED/TOUCHED UP:
Now comes the part some here will be happy or hate what I did, so stop reading or read on.   I was originally going to pull a ranger-x stunt with some post-it and blackening it up to match, could still, but went another route since the label on the fold was utterly toast, just gone, nothing to grip to.  We have a set of small bottles of acrylic paint, one of them, black, and a very very fine tipped small brush.  Before going crazy I got out the painter tape, lined it off along the edge of the sticker on both sides left and right, and then another over the top and bottom of the yellow border around the art to not damage that more.

From there I applied a coat of black paint, as it dried in one area I went onto the next, then the next, went around it twice.  As it lacked a sheen I went in with a shiny black marker then that matches the cheap non-laminate mexican labels and did that in bad small spots, and also over the paint so it would shine closer to normal.  Before that last coat, when black was dry, I color matched various purple capcom carts I had, taped off another spot of a rectangle and put back the 100% missing purple shape to the right above the capcom logo on the cart.

Finally went and touched up a couple weak spots on the yellow largely at the bottom where the hole is, then gave another shiny coat to the hole too.  I know it's not wonderful, but it's not a dumpster fire anymore either, and more than passable given a non-staring glance at it which is what I was shooting for.  I don't think I want to risk the post-it fix.

[MiamiSlice | 3,089]

Nothing too shocking, another sticker cleanup with Bestine. 

[360collector | 289]

man that came ut loooking fresh

[Tanooki | 4,931]

I didn't take images so this is probably mostly a non-starter, but if you recall about six weeks ago I had this crazy flea market pick which just never happens anymore, the broken basically topless NES with SuperC for $2 an untested nearly dead GBA for $5, and other stuff about town that day like wavebirds.

Well that GBA was fubar, no battery door, weird junk in the screw holes, something unholy looking down into the cart slot and pins, switch was basically dead and even on was temperamental at best, lens was scuffed, grime into the lighter plastics no cleaning would help.  The only thing left worth keeping in the end, the rear sticker and the PCB and LCD(not that I did.)  I got tipped off to a fantastic kit for $45 on ali (so invested $50 into this in all.)  It took a couple weeks to arrive, and in that time I picked away at the GBA.  Had to go in with a hard cleaning of the switch a few times until it behaved, the cart slot was so bad only a tear down to the PCB and going in close scrubbing and picking at weird things got it nice again, unidentifiable random brown shat all over the PCB on a couple places I can't figure how got in there, you get the idea.

IPA, toothbrush, picks, q-tips, paper towel strips, etc... it got there, reliably there, then the wait.

I got the kit last week and did the work, just forgot to share it.  That kit had the newest 3" IPS V4 board with 10 lv of brightness and 10 color choices via touch sensors or with 3 wires button combos would bring it up to snuff.  I took an hour doing the job in all and this the result.  I cropped the janky mess into a small pic in the corner to compare.

Always wanted a cheap GBA to do this with, haven't come across one in nearly 5 years.... until now.

 

[Tanooki | 4,931]

Not entirely sure if I'd go as far as restoration on this, but definitely I think it's worth showing if or any reason, as a stop gap and as a sneaky cover to quit further damage to a pair of old NP magazines that deserved better.

The worst of the lot was a subscriber version of the Yoshi's Story magazine, full magazine was fine, but for subs you could flip the entire magazine over in reverse and get another dozen or so pages.  The former owner (who owned all these) was a bit abusive and ripped some hard chunks out of the first 3 pages, shredded bad, curly dangling bits I couldn't cleanly do squat with.  The inner most one I used a little packing tape cut to fit to save a good flap then well everything else was sadly cut smooth, then sealed over to stop any more rips.  I took no picture of this, wasn't very pleased other than saving it.

The other, that one I got annoyed with because the front of the magazine was jacked up but I got this bright idea, sticker skin graft, patching up the victim in style.  This was that dudes last issue and had this huge annoying sticker all over the front of the magazine covering the entire title of the magazine and a bit of Mick Foley there too.  A little steamy heat and a slow move I removed that entire sticker intact, not a sign of damage to it or the magazine frontage.  Putting that gently to the side, opened up the magazine to the inside, got some printer thicker paper, and used an exacto knife and cut me a patch for the chunk out of the front of the NP.  From there I perfectly lined up the transplanted sticker from where it was to the dead on corner of the magazine flush to the edge.  I applied some glue stick to give a little added grab piece by piece, then finally to the patch piece too.  Held that firm for a moment to set, and done.  Externally it looks great, inside has the white patch over the rip and chunk out.  That to me, that's a win.

 

 

[fsped09 | 223]

19 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Not entirely sure if I'd go as far as restoration on this...

Counts! Nicely done. Another piece of Video Game history preserved!

[Tanooki | 4,931]

fcgamer sent me a nice little single game package in the mail that arrived a little ago (we are having mail issues, carrier quit, backup out sick...you get the idea.)  Anyway, I know it worked and all, but going by that whole other topic we got going at the moment about clean, test, play...what order?  Yeah this went to pet project mode to see what I could do.  Yes the back isn't shown that was largely gone, stained largely gray/brown fuzzies, nothing left, so I pulled the remains off.

Removed the sticker/tape using a fine grab piece by piece, guessing it was some rental in the day.  Then went bear hand and squeezed it with my hands to pop the clips and get the board out.  Inside had some weird stuff in there whoever had it before, cleaned that, the board entirely nice and shiny, went with the alcohol and qtips in there in all the cracks and corners.

Then after a solid wipe with that too on paper towel that was anything but white.   Then due to the amount of stuff that had caked on and turned the surface plastic gray/light gray and brown I hit it with the novus plastic polish and buffed it out with 3 coats around the sides, then alcohol again on that to get the black back, finished it up after with windex as a polish a couple times.

And well here's the before and after:

[Tanooki | 4,931]

So let me preface this one I know it will make someone mad, keep that to yourself, just put a growly face on this if you want.

I got these 2 manuals taped, stapled, sealed in a bag for $3, yes... $3.  It was a gamble, one looked rough, the other didn't, but hey... no brainer.  Lufia II was fine, just some cover wear.

MMX3 -- the term dumpster fire fits.
- Cover detached
- Cover nearly ripped in half with 1cm of the center still holding
- Wear marks, a hole, writing in two kinds of ink
- Well the rest you can see... and a rental sticker.

Here's there the fury sets in.  I not only cleaned this, but patched up the damage best I could because I'd rather it be intact than fall apart entirely which is near has.  First was cleanup and mitigation.  A bit of hot steamy breath and a finger nail, slowly, I warmed up the rental sticker and got that off, then used a little windex on a paper towel to wipe away left over adhesive successfully.  Next the writing, loosened up as much ink as I could using a q-tip damp with acetone to get the darkest tones of the ink off.  Dried (was fast to) I went in with an artists white rubber eraser and did streaks, swirls, and good pressure and got off like 95% of the ink from the ball point pen, the other one maybe 60%.  But from there... where I can hear the shrill cries of collectors...

Mitigation: First I cut a long strip a clear tape, full width, and centered that on the inside along one half, then lined up the other as it was nearly toast and set that.  Then on the exterior same but cut the strip about an inch thick, lined it up using the edge of the yellow box on the front and did the same folding over the tiny excess inside.  Next I dealt with the hole, conveniently with the non-removable ink.  I cut a small rectangle of paper beyond the edges to cover the ink and hole, then another piece of tape with a 1/2" border around the patch like a band-aid, and laid that flat.  Flipped it over, used a black crayola marker, and much like the spine where it was shredded, I colored it in...then did a tiny bit of tape on that side to seal the deal.  FInally I popped the staples, got it straight, the popped holes into my new spine, then re-threaded the pages back into the book and called it quits.

It's a $1.50 pick up for the manual, even a poor shape one is well...costly, so I really don't care, it's saved from the trash heap.  I could probably remove a bit more ink, but don't want to damage it further.