Hi, All!

This painful tale begins a little while back, when, as I've so often done, I woke up next to Caitlyn (4-Woods Neo), and gave her a gentle kiss. This day though, I noticed something odd about her left breast - a thin small ridge along the inside. I gently brushed it with my thumb - and it became a split. Her thin outer skin gave way, revealing a separation or delamination of sorts, where the cup that forms the thicker skin of her breast has simply come away from the wall of her chest. Other than the very thin layer of silicone (about 1/2mm or so) that forms her immediate skin, it almost seems as though there are three separate pieces involved here - the doll's chest wall, a very soft insert forming the softness of her interior breast, and an inverted silicone cup which forms her outer breast glued over it. (It all works though, lovely feel, those 4-Woods breasts!)

My hours at work having recently been cut, an emergency "official" repair kit didn't seem like my best option, so I picked up a tube of GE Silicone II about a week ago, and had a go at reattaching the poor girl's boobie. As I'd done before (but now in much hotter weather), I cleaned both sides of the injury (as well as a couple of smaller dings on Ginny, my tin-cure RealDoll) with naphtha, and again with acetone. I drew a bead of the adhesive caulk where it needed to be (actually injecting it into the 4-Woods' breast - of course, making the tear longer...) and left the girls alone to cure. Only . . . they didn't.

The silicone remained tacky, semiliquid, completely uncured. Today, I wiped the Silicone II out of both dolls - it was like cleaning up sticky snot. Yecch. I've cleaned both girls' dings and tears with A) naphtha, B) acetone and C) isopropyl acohol, in that order, and left them to dry, but I don't want to repeat whatever the mistake was that caused the previous attempt at repair to fail so miserably! I find myself wondering what caused the Silicone IIs failure to cure - was it the heat of the air, not enough acetone (or any alcohol) after using the naphtha, or ? ? ?

I'm planning to attempt repair again tomorrow morning - if anyone's got any thoughts or advice, I'd love to hear 'em!

Photos of the 4-Woods breast at the below links (I tried the BBCodes, but could only see the word "Image" where there should have been pictures!):





It's growing, every time I mess with it . . .

~B.

For my 4Woods NEOim I have used ShinEtsu 1 Component RTV (KE-42-T) silicone glue, which I got from 4Woods Europe. And all went well. Also for a tear between breast and body (on the other side, below her armpit). This repair is almost invisible.
First I cleaned the tear with acetone. I mixed the silicone with a little color (the silicone is transparent, and color is used to create skin colour) and mixed it with some hexane (about 10%, to get it more soft). Don't forget to use some primer for adhesion.

Maybe primer is the clue. I don't know what kind of chemical is used as primer. I did get everything from 4Woods.
My advice is to contact 4Woods and ask them for a repair kit.

Thanks, Nescio! I may just have to do that . . .

Thanks also, to the anonymous Moderator who fixed the image links in my original post!!

~B.

Well, for what it's worth, I had another go with the GE Silicone II with the RealDoll . . .

I peeled all the old silicone I could from the velcro "dots" in her X-Face mask, cleaned all of the areas in need of adhesion with naphtha, then with acetone, and a final time with alcohol. Allowed to dry for approximately 24 hours. Applied silicone, and left the girl to cure for a while. Like, a week. The velcro dots in her X-face are still not attached. Her big toe fell off again. This just isn't working _at_all_, and I don't know why.

Ratz.

~B.

Maybe you have a faulty tube, something that's on the shelf for too long... then, the silicone won't cure either.

GE Silicone has a use by date on all their tubes ... if the tube was past it date it would begin to harden and you would notice a problem with it's consistency immediately.

Ratz,

To effectuate a lasting repair for the 4 Woods doll, contact the manufacturer or use Sil-Poxy. GE Silicone is Not the proper material to use.

As for the velcro dots for the RD Face, contact Abyss or try the Sil-Poxy. I remember reading A Lot about the velcro detaching from the faces on these dolls before. You can try and go thru the RD Forum here to find solutions that worked for others but I think the Sil-Poxy will work.

Ouch! I guess you should throw that silicone tube in the trash and get a new one.

Thanks, AlexKnight, SiliconeLover & RaDiv!

I only tried with the RealDoll this second time 'round - and the date stamp on the tube is well into 2013, so it's not expired.

I guess both girls will just have to wait on the sidelines 'til I can get the appropriate kits ordered in, and we'll have another go!

~B.

Best of luck with the Brest Repair Paleonaturist !!

Get Sil-Poxy from smooth-On.....expensive but it still works after two years in the refrigerator. Use staples pressed in the skin to hold the repair closed for 24 hours....staples for the standard home stapler will work.....just press them in with your finger but wipe the excess Sil-Poxy off before the staples go in and while holding the repair closed with your fingers.

Thanks, AlyDolly, and Bill, yeah - it sounds like the SilPoxy is going to be the ticket.

Was just a bit surprised & disappointed after hearing good reports about the Silicone II for doll repair.

~B., thankful for all opinions, tips and positive wishes expressed in this thread.