A little backstory- I’m working out of town for a few months, and promised my daughter I would find her some things while I’m away and send them to her. One of these things is a “smooth” princess, by “smooth” she means not stuffed, but hard like PVC. So I found several at the local toyshop, but none are really doing anything. My wife and I don’t want to discourage her princess phase, but we both agree that if the princesss(?) she plays with can be self defending and active that’s better than the type waiting around to be rescued or doing nothing. Schleich has a few that are riding horses, but they’re all riding side saddle as that is historically accurate. I want one that’s riding just like everyone else, and brandishing a weapon.
To cut the babble, I found one, but she isn’t riding a horse. Her legs are spread as though she should be, but the girl at the shop assured me that is just her fighting stance. She will not slip onto any of the horses. So I thought I would buy her and one of the horses, boil her and then remould ner so she can be riding. Is this idea crazy? Is there a way to change her shape ( not too drastically, if her legs were less than one centimeter further apart she’d fit like a charm) without damaging her or her paint?
Naturally I will also take links to action princess figurine selling sites, provided the figurines are not sexy babes wearing slinky armour riding tigers like you might see airbrushed on the side of a shaggin’ wagon. Think 4 year old girl folks.
Thank you in advance!
This is a common problem, but I digress.
If the doll is made of PVC I do not think there is a mechanism to make it malleable without damaging a painted surface.
A funny and sadly informative response. Thanks Chief, for the pedantry.
That’s going to depend on the paint. The softening temperature of PVC lies somewhere between 75 and 100 C. This temperature range likely isn’t high enough to damage most paints, per se, but brittle paints might crack when you try to bend the legs. However, some paints are elastic enough that they might survive the bending process intact as long as the bend isn’t too extreme. Unless the figurines are expensive (and being PVC, how expensive could they be?) it might be worth trying it.
If you’re feeling ambitious you can use “green stuff” and modify to your heart’s content.
Heat her up and bend her. If the paint cracks, repaint her. If you do repaint, use spray fixative, like Krylon, to keep the paint from scratching off so easily. People remake doll and other models all the time.
Have fun!
Hey, if you buy one and try to mod it and mess it up completely, what’s the real loss? A few bucks? If it works, you can tell us how it went and benefit a multitude.
Maybe you need a backup, but I think the risk is justified.
I applaud your motives, by the way. I hope to pass such stuff on to my potential daughter(s) one day!
Thanks everyone! I’m off to the toy store, then I’m going to boil a princess. I’ll post the results. Sadly, I’m nowhere near artistic enough to repaint her if she flays, but I hope she emerges unscathed.
OK emilyforce and any other interested parties, here’s the skinny. I went and bought the “princess” with the sword, she was about 6 bucks all in. From a company called Papo. I went all out and bought a winged horse from Schleich for her to ride on, a little spendy there, but a fighting princess needs to be able to fly to battle dragons on their own turf.
The first thing I did was boil the kettle and pour boiling water on her arm to try to reposition the sword because as it was it was for sure going to bother the horse. Her arm got all floopy, I twisted it to a better position and held it there, and when it cooled- presto chango - it stayed in the new position. Her paint remained completely unchanged.
Next I made a little wire harness, boiled a pot of water, and let her dangle in there for a minute. I took her out and shoved her astride the winged horse, but the result was less positive and her arm had re-flooped to the old position. So I put her back in for 90 seconds, shoved her back upon her steed and held her arm in the correct position. Seems to have worked quite satisfactorily.
Thanks to all who encouraged me to give it a go. Y’all rock!