Rubber Ugly repairs

[RubberUgly]

I think it is about time that we figure out the best way to fix our broken playmates. A few months ago I found that my cat had discovered one of my James Rubber Uglies that I had left out during a photo shoot. I put the James away and didn't think anything of it until a few days later when I stumbled across a James tentacle on my carpet!?

The situation stinks, but I believe I may have found the answer. Searching around I have found many very useful rubber-to-rubber adhesive discussions on the internet. From what I have heard, the old yellow label non-touline free Barge Cement works best.

When I get around to reattaching the tentacle, I plan to take many before and after photos.



Has anyone else been in this type of situation, and could you share your repair method with all of us? Before I attempt any fix on a vintage rubber ugly, I'll probably purposely damage a worthless modern jiggler and do a few test repairs with different methods and adhesives.

[surfandturf]

It is so funny you mentioned this. About a year ago, I was playing around with my cat with "James" and I thought I was quick enough to retreat in time and the end result was the very tip of one tentacle was bitten off. What a coincidence it was the same rubber uglie. Needless to say, I learned a lesson not to think you are quicker than a cat with these toys. lol.

[RubberUgly]

It must not be rubber ugly collectors, but the yellow label barge cement is now very hard to find! Maybe I will try out the blue label, but now I will have to hunt down the yellow for comparison since it was so highly regarded.

[iames85]

I had done some experimenting with electric hot knives to repair rubber jigglers... you can get them in hobby stores. They're like a woodburner, but they have a screw-on knife attachment like an X-acto #11. You can re-attach heads, arms, legs, fingers etc to your beloved old jigglers by melting the pieces back together. The best thing is that the joint sets almost immediately, and if you do it right, has the same strength as the original joint.

[JP1000]

I acquired a Joel ("Iris) awhile ago that had the detached eyeball...well, detached. The seller had the figure and the eyeball, at some point the eye must have gotten ripped off the body somehow. Anyhow, I just re-attached the eye with a bit of Super Glue gel and it held perfectly, you cannot even see where it had gotten torn off.

I was a bit worried the glue might melt the rubber or something, and maybe the regular liquid Super Glue might have, but the gel did not harm the rubber in any way and in two minutes Joel had his eye back on his body!