Pop Vinyl Repairs – How To

Pop Vinyl Repairs – How To

How Can I Clean Off Marks?

Magic Erasers seem to be the most popular solution in the Pop community. It is a block of Melamine Foam, and is sold under many different brand names. For Australians, it is a Chux product, available in stores like Coles. Other solutions include a small amount Rubbing Alcohol or Eucalyptus oil on a cotton swab. I have also read some people use acetone on a swab, but this sounds a bit aggressive to me, and will likely remove paint. I STRONGLY recommend you do not use this method. For those who want to give it a go on really stubborn stains, tread carefully and press gently, and don’t say you were not warned!

How Can I Straighten A Bent Dagger/Knife/Sword/Body Part?

There are two widely used methods, both involve heat. For thin parts, a hair dryer can be used to warm and soften the material, then maneuver the part into the correct location and hold it there until it cools. For thicker part, run it under hot water, or submerge it in hot water until it softens. Again, hold it in the right spot until it cools.

How Can I Make The Head Sit Straight?

Bobble Heads – Force a few cotton balls up inside the spring and manipulate it until the head sits correctly.

Non-Bobble Heads – Submerge the head in hot water until the glue softens, then gently manipulate it until it is in the correct spot, and hold it until the glue cools/dries again.

How Can I Repair A Crushed Box?

We all hate it when a Pop arrives crushed, but I have read on some boards that people have attempted to repair damaged boxes with some success. Whilst it is definitely not recommended, it seems crushed boxes can be improved by removing everything from the inside, flattening them out, putting a pillow case over them, and gently passing a warm iron with NO steam over them. Obviously, you would need to concentrate on the cardboard and steer clear of the plastic, but if the box is already trashed, you have got nothing to lose. I personally would opt for a stack of heavy books instead of an iron…

How Can I Secure A Loose Clear Plastic Window?

Use a regular glue gun to add a drop of glue in an out of sight place.

How can I re-attach a part that has broken off?

Know a good glue to use on Funko Pop Vinyls? Let us know about it by leaving a comment below.

Fix a dodgy home button on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

iphone-4-home-buttonI’ve noticed recently that the home button on my iPhone has become a bit dodgy. It doesn’t always work, especially when I double click it for multitasking/app switching.

I had resided myself to believing that the actual button mechanism had worn and was malfunctioning, when my wife told me how to recalibrate it. I was dubious at first, but this little “fix” has solved my problem, and my home button is back from the dead!

To start the recalibration process, press and hold the lock button on the top of your device, just like you are going to turn it off.

turn off iphoneInstead of sliding the red button with white arrow to the right, press and hold down the home button.

iphone-4-home-button-highlightedAfter about 5 or 6 six, your phone will go back to your home screen, and that is it! During that 5 seconds, your phone re-calibrated your home button, and with a bit of luck, everything will be like new again!

Watch AVI files on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, Even Network Shares, without Jail Breaking!

AVI IconAlmost all of us were, and are still using Windows based computers, even though we have locked ourselves firmly into the Apple world by buying iPhones and iPads. I am sure you have noticed (Like I Have) there are definitely some issues that arise by being “Multi Platform”. Slowly but surely, the software writers of the world are delivering apps that allow your iPhone and Windows 7 Laptop to co-exist a little more seamlessly.

One such app is called “Buzz Player“.

For over a decade now, all of the home video I have, all of my DVD backups, TV programs I have recorded, in other words, my entire video collection is in AVI format. My movies are in DIVX format (I bought Dr DIVX years ago to rip my DVD’s and have stuck with it), and everything else is in XVID. That’s just the way it has ALWAYS been! And I sure as heck aren’t going to convert them all to Quicktime, I’ll be dead before it finishes re-encoding.

Enter Buzz Player, or in my case, Buzz Player HD for iPad. Buzz Player is an app for your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad (Even iPhone 3GS) that will allow you to create folders, copy movie files to your device, and play them seamlessly without the need for jail breaking your device! And my favorite part, it will even stream from your network shares!

Woo-Hoo

 

To get started watching AVI files on your iPad/iPod Touch/iPhone, download the correct version of Buzz Player for your device from the iTunes app store, and in my opinion, the nominal fee of $2.99 for this app is ridiculously low for the functionality it provides.

Buzz Player 1Once it is installed and open, you can start creating and organizing folders for your local media (media that is physically on your device), or if your like me, your gonna want to start watching stuff from Desktop and your Media Server. To watch stuff from other devices (In my case, my Western Digital WDTV Live Hub) click the icon that says “SMB/FTP”. This will query your home network and display a list of all devices that are set up to serve media on your home network. It also tells you the protocol they are using to serve.

Buzz Player 2I noticed that some devices appear more than once, and I expect that is because they broadcast different services that they are able to provide. I selected my WDTV’s Samba feed, and was asked to input credentials.

Buzz Player 3As my network shares are not password protected within my own home network, I used “Guest” as my username, and left the password blank, and was able to connect easily. I tried to click “Connect As Guest” but that didnt work. I guess my WDTV needed to have at least the username of Guest. If your shares are password protected, this is the place to enter them to gain access. Don’t worry, Buzz Player can remember your devices and logins if you want it to, so you only have to do it once. Just remember to add it to your source list before you disconnect.

Once you have connected, you can see a list of all of the available drives/folders/files being shared.

Buzz Player 4Now, Its just a matter of selecting the file you want to watch from the appropriate directory, and selecting it. What comes next is pretty cool! Buzz Player asks you if you want to copy the file to your device, or if you want to watch it from a stream! YEAH BABY!

Buzz Player 5In my case, Im happy to watch the stream, so when you click play, it spends a few seconds buffering the file, and then starts to play your video!

Buzz PlayerAs you can see from the above screen cap, I’m streaming Family Guy “Death Has A Shadow.AVI” over Samba, and watching it flawlessly on my iPad!

great-successBuzz Player supports: .mpv, .mov, .mp4, .m4v, .3gp .avi, .divx, .dat, .vcd, .wmv, .bin, .iso, .vob, .mkv, .rmvb, .ogg, .flv, .swf, .rm, .ts, .nsv, .ram, .vfw, .mpg, .mpeg, .m1v, .m2v, .dv3, .gp, .mqv, .ogm, .ogv, .asf, .dvr-ms, .m2t, .m2ts, .rec, .bik, .dv as well as many audio codecs.

**HINT** – If your playback is choppy and/or breaks during playback, CHECK YOUR NETWORK!!!!!! I’ve seen a lot of people slagging this app because they cant stream a 2GB 720HD video over their 802.11g networks! VIDEO FILES ARE HUGE! Your network might not be capable of streaming it in real time, so COPY it to your device, and then watch it uninterrupted.