Howdy I have been riding with the inflata-gang for some time now - but - i am relatively new to the wonderful French babes made by "DOMAX" and sold thru poupee-latex -
What i have learned of these wonderful French inflata-babes is that they are among the best looking and one of the best owned type dolls i've had in the 30 plus years having inflata-babes -
Like all things they do get old or require repairs - and the French made latex dolls are no exception - but the design is very robust and lends it self to easy repair if they are done as soon as the damage is noticed -
I got my "Ingrid" poupee-latex doll back in 2010 - and for the 3+ years she continues to be much fun - recently i wrote a post on a finger crack that caused her to deflate - but a while back i had done a much larger repair when the glue that is applied at the factory that is used adhere the vinyl made head to the latex body failed and was causing Ingrid to deflate thru this area -
I had considered trying different type of glues - but rather than guess what to use - i went to a local hobby shop - as they were a big seller of "action figures" sold as kits that have to be built - being i too am in the hobby circle although not "action figures" i asked the counter person that i had an "action figure" -
(Ingrid) - that needed to be repaired but there was dissimilar material used in latex needing to adhere to vinyl - I was sold special glue called {"bsi - IC-GEL"} known as "ethyl cyanoacrylate gel" - http://www.bsi-inc.com
This is made in the USA - in Atascadero, Ca.
This glue is used also by the aquarium folk as well as its immersible -
What i did after purchasing this glue - was remove Ingrid's vinyl head from her latex body - i did this very gingerly so as not to cause any tears of the latex body while pulling the latex off the vinyl - this was done very easily as the bead of glue from the factory was not very well done and i was able to complete this in one sitting - i then removed all old residual glue from the vinyl head and latex body - i then cleaned the whole area and let air dry
With that done i then applied a new bead of glue on the vinyl head - ensure you spread enough to cover the entire circumference of the vinyl head - this is very important as any area without glue will allow the air to escape - once this is done - promptly place the latex body up and over the vinyl neck and apply pressure to the latex that's making contact to the glue on the neck to make a good glue contact -
I tend to do these type of repairs - with no rush or reason to be someplace else soon - i say this as repair time shouldn't be a concern - the repair should be central - so take your time with it - ensure good glue contact - because this is a Gel type glue it does take time to set - unlike ordinary CA type that dries instantly - i usually let repairs stand for 24 hours - before doing an inflation test - so too with this project
The results were very good - and while i did this repair in the past - no further action was necessary after this was done -
I am aware that member - fabin - has also done repairs to this area and that his solution was not to use any glue - i decided to go a different route as i wanted the repair to be a more permanent fix as i do not attempt modification from the original design with dolls
Happy Trails -
