Question about "Lips" - paint still tacky

[Dearth]

[FONT=arial,helvetica]Hey gang,

Sorry if this has been covered before, but I just bought a Series 9 "Lips"
figure for the first time, and when I opened him last night, I noticed that
the paint on his poncho (and on the two Java Muppets) was still tacky after
all these years.

I had a Phil Van Neuter whose shoes were the same way, and I remember they
never did get any better.

Is there a quick fix for this? Can I wash them in soapy water or somethng?

Or is there a fixative that I can spray on it to seal it?

I really want Lips and the Javas to join my other Muppets in my dioramas,
but I am worried about handling them too much. It would be a shame to lock
them back up in their little plastic prisons.

DN[/FONT]

 

[The Narrator]

With one of my Lips figures, putting him in the freezer for a couple hours worked--well, decreased it to the point that it was bearable.

My other Lips figure is still tacky, though, even after leaving it in the freezer overnight. So, hopefully, you'll luck out and a freeze will reduce the problem for you. The tacky on Phil eventually went away for me, but that one Lips figure is the one that I never could fix.

 

[The Narrator]

Ah, Zoot had a good suggestion in a prior thread about this. I never did it because I can't be trusted with brushes, but... Check out his post from this thread.

 

[Dearth]

I tried some Krylon spray sealant, but it doesn't seem to have helped. I put them in the freezer now, got my fingers crossed.

DEFINITELY don't get it under water, though. I first tried just PLAIN TAP WATER and part of the black paint ran. I had to touch it up before I sprayed the sealant.

DN