Ebay Questions!

[Ray (Flock Man)]

I'm going to post some ebay questions here since many ask the same questions day after day.

[Ray (Flock Man)]

[glow=red,2,300]Q:[/glow] Hi will this work on Ken?

A: The process will work on a Ken figure, but I would say it’ll be too long for a vintage Ken head. The flock on an old ken head is .030 I would guess. It’s been a while since I’ve seen an old flocked Ken, but as I remember he had a very fine velvet flocking on him as do some of the Bratz male figures. The flock would work don’t get me wrong, but if you’re going for vintage look GI JOE flock is longer fiber.

[Ray (Flock Man)]

[glow=red,2,300]Q:[/glow]Will your glue come off if I make a mistake? I asked this because I have bought other flock kits and the glue wouldn’t come off after a mess up on the finished repair. It was darker than the rest and I wanted to do it over, but ended up stripping the whole head.

A:“Aye there’s the rub.” This is my opinion, but for a repair on a vintage head I would use an adhesive about as strong as the original. My reason being- the rest of the vintage flock can come off so why do a permanent repair just in one spot. I mean what does it help. Now if your talking a whole reflock on a figure that you plan to play with in water- an epoxy would be best, but over kill if the figure is going to sit on a shelf as part of a vintage collection. Note; on the epoxy- you didn’t have to strip the whole head. Just wait and give it a bit of time and crack it off. Once it’s brittle it’ll pick off clean. That’s just the nature of vinyl. You may end up with a bigger rub, but you won’t have to strip the entire head.
Remember if repairs are too dark, use a yellow dry erase marker very lightly on the vintage flock and you can blend the new with the old. It’ll freshen the old faded flock (because rayon fades over time). I would use the dry erase over other markers only because if need be you could wipe it off or at least lighten it. Use a lighter color than what’s on the head. Yellow seems to work on all the heads. Lightly though don’t go digging into the vintage flock roots or you’ll have more hair loss.

[Ray (Flock Man)]

[glow=red,2,300]Q:[/glow]I’ve seen repair kits that come with more stuff than yours and I wonder which would be better to buy.

A:Hmmmmm? Of course I am going to say ours, but my reasons are not $$. It’s color, size, and amount. Say you become a pro at flocking, which just takes practice and you want to offer reflock service to those in your collector club or in you area- hell everywhere. For $25 you buy our kit. Out of that kit or four pack you’ll be able to do at least 16 heads up to 20 heads (with good fiber recovery). That’s full head reflocks. So, say you charge $8 to $10 a head- that’s $128 to $160 ($8) or $160 to $200($10) per $20 to $25 spent on fiber. If you were going to buy this fiber from a supplier in the right colors which you’ll then have to mix, it’ll cost you at least $100 to $200 per hair color (excluding black, but even at that their black is not the ebony color we offer.) How can we offer this, like this and not in small micro bags? We buy un-dyed fiber and pay our guy to dye it the color and the way we want using the basic vintage recipe from 1970’s Pawtucket, RI. Then consider the non-ionic finish treatment(more$$$). It’s a deal and a half to buy our flock.
This is not going to make me rich by any means and if we could give away the fiber like we do the information on how to apply it we would, but it all costs money and we try to give you the most for your buck without going broke doing it. Our original plan was to offer a flock unit plus the flock for $35, but legal issues came about if we were to sell a high voltage flock unit so we did the next best thing by sharing the flock unit information. ;D

[Ray (Flock Man)]

Purchased a single pack not a Flock Repair kit!



Q. hi, i did recieve the flock in the mail today. but what kind of glue do i use? i have a bag of hair but don't know what to do, lol. please help me. thank you.


A.Dear XXXXXXXXXXXX.XXX,

We're sorry if we didn't send to an email with the link to our site. flockconcepts.tripod.com
You should find all the answers you need there. On adhesive many are using 30 minute epoxy for full head reflocks and either acrylic flocking adhesive, or a mix of craftbond and clear coat acrylic for small repairs. E6000 does not work, gorilla glue does not work. I note these two because every adhesive pro asked says to use either E6000 or gorilla glue, but in our tests it doesn't hold. We use Acrylic poly flock adhesive, but many find it to be too expensive for a small repair $35 to $45 a pint. If you really are in a jam we could send you a small amount? Right now the adhesive Pros at Nyatex are testing a new adhesive for us, but it'll be a few weeks yet.
Best to use a easy to remove adhesive until you to learn how to apply it the right way (from our site) Very easy to do and useful for many things other than GI JOE. Worth it to take the time and learn how.
Thanks
Eileen

Re:
hi, thank you for your reply but i am not happy with this. when i bought your[glow=red,2,300] flocking[/glow] (note not the repair kit) i thought you would at lest have the glue to go with it. i did not know that i had to make a flocking machine as well. i would like to send it back and get a refund.



Re:
It does state no refunds per ebay rules, but you can send this item back to us we will put it on the scale for weight then a refund will be issued minus the ebay sales fee, paypal sales/refund fee . Return to be within 7 days of this email. Thank you.
Flock Concepts

Comment on this:
Please note that there is a learning curve to applying flock fiber. Magic flock fairies do not come in and flock your figures head. If you sit a can of paint on your porch it'll never get on your house without you applying it.
These single and four packs are meant for people who have already purchased a Flock Repair Kit and are willing to learn the process of reflock and repair. Many, many buyers have and are doing this process successfully, but there will be those that do not understand or want to try this. This is not for everyone and it’s is only available because of demand. It is what it is- flock to repair GI JOE rubs. The methods are listed on our website. We do not offer refunds on these Flock items because of the low profit margin (after fees ebay/paypal) what is left over is minimal. These fees(ebay/paypal) would be deducted from the purchase price if refunds were offered so No returns and or refunds on flock repair products. Read the auction, look at the website- if it’s for you- buy. If not please move along no harm done. I do post email questions and answers so if you do not want your insulting or rhetorical comments/questions posted do not ask them. We go above and beyond to help buyers in their Flock repair efforts with Flocking information kept secret, but known by many people in the reflocking and GI Joe community.
Electro-static process is the best method, but others have done repairs without it and have done them well. The process is not what is for sale in these listings -just as a stove, pan and ingredients are not for sale with the chicken you buy at the market. Flocking is the easy part. Finding the right size and color that’s treated for electrostatic is the hard part no matter what so called know it all’s say.
Before I met our restoration person I knew how to reflock for years, but never, could I find a close enough match no matter how much I spent and ordered from flock suppliers. After 20 minutes of conversation with our new friend I found out why. This is why I have faith in the flock we offer.

I do expect negative feedback on this ebay sale, but those are the breaks. ebay told us to refuse refund because it is a no refund listing. ebay sales are minimal compared to what the site has generated.

[Ray (Flock Man)]

Q.Does this kit come with everything I need to flock a bald ken or g.i joe? Does it come with the instructions on how to do the flocking? thank you Oct-05-09


A: Sry this is not the kit. this is a single pack of one color mix (land adventurer) used for repairs after you've learned how to flock. The kits are sold out at this time and we're looking at a few weeks before they get here. The kit's are $25 free shipping and contain 4 packs of Flock, ebony, brown mix, red mix, blonde mix (also a bag of white now). also they have a brush, acrylic polymer adhesive, and mix packets used to lighten or darken the base colors. Instruction is on our website. I would not use it on ken. ken flock is powder. GI Joe flock is around 2mm big difference.

****My first answer- No this is an apple pie recipe like dear old mom used to make. I hide it by listing it as a single pack of flock fiber so no one but you could get the secret to her pies... when you pay for the flock a box comes with some brown, black, red or yellowish stuff and that's the magic dust that makes the pie. Just toss it in the air an say "gimmie tha pie" and you'll have a nice warm steaming fresh out of the oven pie ready to eat. Oh and when you eat the pie your kens and Joes sprout fuzz! ......but after a good laugh I decided against it.

[Ray (Flock Man)]

Message comment:
Just wanted to say that the flocking turned out very nice! I had purchased two joes at a flee market with some bald spots. I made the flocking machine out of the electric fly swatter and then used elmer's carpenter's wood glue. I did some tests with other glues but the elmer's worked the best for me! The glue says its water resistant, but I'm not going to stick it in water! This was spot repairs only! I aslo fixed an atomic man from palitoy!
Thanks for the tips!


See if you take the time to try you'll get good result also! It's a practice thing and over time this buyer will be able to count on doing perfect repairs.