Any known methods to repair very soft rubbery coating?

[WhiteDove01s]

I got my big box of dolls today, only to find that the reason the mermaid had been shoved in an ugly dress was to hide damage to her rubbery-vinyl (or could be silicone) coated tail. Currently I have swapped her head onto another body so she can go on the Evil Overlord's doll shelf while I consider the best ways to possibly repair her tail.

It feels almost like the stuff fake fishing bait worms are made of, ironically. I have a few possible experimental procedures I could try in mind (Superglue applied very carefully to edges of the tear and the edges held together, working on a little of it at a time. The stuff used to make the aforementioned fishing lures. One of those vinyl-and-leather car seat repair kits. Caulk...). I know any kind of repair is going to leave 'scars', I'm more concerned about structural integrity for now, tho I would of course like to keep the 'scarring' to a minimum.

Here's the damage, for reference. Two large splits at the waist and a smaller one at the fin:




So, is there any method out there currently in use for fixing this kind of thing, or is it time for me to get experimental?

[oniakki]

While I don't know of anything I would suggest to use, I highly discourage superglue, it dries hard with minimal (if any) flex and will likely damage the areas more as the areas are flexed.

[WhiteDove01s]

While I don't know of anything I would suggest to use, I highly discourage superglue, it dries hard with minimal (if any) flex and will likely damage the areas more as the areas are flexed.

Hmm, very very good point. Hadn't thought of that.. I'll drop it from the experiment possibilities list. Thanks.

[SetsunaKou]

You might try the glue 'e6000' (found at Michael's, Jo-Ann and I think even WalMart carries it). It's pretty much one of the only glues that are slightly 'flexible' after it dries (not much, but enough for vinyl) and actually DO stick to vinyls/plastics. However, it's a MESSY business and is not instant dry. It needs about 45 minutes to hold tightly---I recommend 'c-clamps' if you have any, and then 24 hours to set completely.

It's not perfect glue by any means, but after many attempts at finding a glue that will keep vinyl together, it's not bad.

The other option would be the caulk you mentioned but you'd need to try for the adhesive one definitely and that's even less 'sticky' tacky than e6000, so you'd definitely need the clamps for this. ^^

Good luck!!!!!

[WhiteDove01s]

I'll make a note to add that one to my glue shelf... who knows when it might be useful. (and I have a whole box of mini clamps)

After finding out in another thread that the initial cause of the tearing may have been due to a design flaw, I'm actually leaning towards going the extreme route and replacing/redesigning a whole new cover for the tail, probably from fabric. If there's a flaw in the design, repairing it back to the flawed design isn't going to solve the problem... But I may still attempt a glue job first just to satisfy scientific curiousity.

[AquaMight]

You got Mermaid Fantasy Christie! ^____^

The rubber tails tend to rip at the joints over time with too much "playtime". There were many Barbies with these rubber tails including the Fairytopia Magical mermaids, Splash & Style Mermaids and most recently the Splashing Ariel and her sisters dolls.

I love these tails, they're my absolute favorite Mattel mermaid tails ever! I have my mermaids boxed but I have had an extra Mermaid Fantasy Barbie deboxed for a little over 9yrs now and her tail is still in perfect condition. I have had her on a stand though and I don't really handle my dolls much unless it's for photoshoots. The tails are quite durable just don't hold up over time with rough play.

[WhiteDove01s]

The tails are quite durable just don't hold up over time with rough play.

Ah, so it's a matter of just too much use, not a 'breaks 5 minutes out of the box' sort of thing. Hmm, in that case, if I can find a way to repair the tears it might be worth the effort and I won't have to think about making a new covering. I've always been careful with my things (y'know, except for the detail where I ooak dolls or disassemble broken electronics for parts, and so on). To the point where I still have both a baby doll and a stuffed tortoise that are as old as I am.

She already has a different head... The Evil Overlord initially claimed her, but didn't want the body once the tail turned out to be broken. I had a spare Fashionista body with the same skin tone, so a head swap was done. The Evil Overlord has the Mermaid Fantasy Christie's head on the Fashionsta body, and I have the damaged mermaid body with the Fashionsta head on it for now. It actually looks fairly decent. Y'know, except for the 'battle damage'. XD

My current best idea is to track down that e6000 glue mentioned. Tricky, with no transportation, but if Walmart has it they might have it online. I pretty much have to have everything delivered.

If that doesn't work, based on the feel of the tail itself I'm thinking of looking for one of those kits for casting your own fishing lures, and see if I can use the stuff in it instead to patch the damage, maybe even ooak it a little bit in the process... I mean, the areas where the front splits are wouldn't really be unreasonable areas for some little semi-decorative pelvic fins... But that kind of idea might be overcomplicating it for now.

[victoriavictrix]

Fear not. You can order it online from Fire Mountain.

http://www.firemountaingems.com/itemdetails/h201949tl

[WhiteDove01s]

Fear not. You can order it online from Fire Mountain.

http://www.firemountaingems.com/itemdetails/h201949tl

Yay! *promptly adds to next month's shopping list* If I can just get it to hold enough, I think I'll still look into some kind of casting silicone and design smaller decorative 'fins' to add to her tail to hide any 'scarring'.

I hadn't thought to check there, tho the Evil Overlord (who is about as nuts for jewelry as I am for dolls) gets a catalog from them and I'd been pondering looking through to see if any of their beads and such might be small enough for 1/6 scale jewelry... or large enough for other accessories (I have a cup with some 1cm fake pearls in it, waiting to be repainted someday into a set of billiard balls...)

[WhiteDove01s]

Apologies for doublepost, project update. Right now I'm also possibly considering this:

http://www.amazon.com/00688-Household-W ... cone+caulk

If the tail contains any silicone, and it certainly feels like it, then the most likely thing to stick to it would be more silicone.

A test glob of all purpose caulk applied to the side of the fin just fell right off when dried.

Amazon also has the e6000 glue, so for experiment reasons I can try one on the rip on one side and one on the other. The Evil Overlord was not interested in adding it to a Fire Mountain order... Apparently, as soon as the head was on another body she's lost interest (pretty much said I should just give up and throw it away).

Ordering the glue and silicone might take a month or two tho. I just placed this month's Amazon order already and I probably won't have funds for another one until March.

I'll keep everyone updated on the experiment tho, no matter how slow the progress, because if I learn something that works and this is a common thing to happen to these, it might be useful to someone...