My "new' copy of HeroQuest - Restoration project

[iKarith]

Hey everyone, I just picked up a HQ set on eBay (out-sniping Kurgan at the last minute LOL), and it's arrived … but it's had 30 years of use and then neglect, as these things tend to. The plastics are in phenomenal shape! Some of the cardboard components (tiles, cards) were kept in baggies and are also in good shape. The board, the screen, and the box probably spent 20 years in an attic though, and it shows.

The foul workings of Chaos follow. But fear not brave heroes, for it is not as bad as even I feared. A brave hero may yet save the empire! (Modest, ain't I?)

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I've hit the attachment limit on this post. There were some character sheets and the start of maps in the box. I'll be scanning those.

Again, the plastics are all in amazing shape! Unpainted, mold marks, twisted from sprues, etc … but in great shape. This set was taken care of when it was in use to the best you could expect, with only the larger cardboard elements showing the effects of long storage without climate control.

I'll be proud to restore this set as much as can be done. I'll repair the peeling/torn paper on the box as best I can, but … the box will have some battle scars. The screen may as well, but I'll repair both as best I can.

Card bits of the furniture are also fraying at the edges, but … that's a standard fix for a set from eBay.

[iKarith]

The first thing to fix is that box. If I can't get it not-collapsed, I can't glue it. Spoiler alert, I CAN!

The first thing I did was take the box top and set it on the counter in the bathroom and run the shower on hot for about 20 minutes. It got pretty steamy in there, but it didn't soak the cardboard or anything. Perfect.

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Essentially, I figured the slightly steamed box would be a bit more flexible so that when I pressed it flat with the box against the stack of foam sheets, it'd keep that shape.

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In the meantime I should make some chipboard dust. Apparently adding that to the PVA gives it a bit more strength.

The plan here is to add some chipboard dust to PVA and brush it across both sides of the tear, then clamp everything so the torn edges can bond. PVA bonds EXTREMELY well in this kind of application. Next pic may take a couple of days because the only PVA I have right now is tacky glue, and I need a those brackets. Hopefully my next post will have the box repaired and show how I'll repair the torn and peeling paper on the cover. I've gotta figure out how to get some adhesive under there without re-warping the box or peeling any more of the paper trying to get it in there. Suggestions welcome!

[Kurgan]

Excellent. How fun to nurse this set back to health and make it adventure ready! You can make up for out-sniping me by delivering a success story on this little rehab-project.

For the used vintage set I got (years ago), after gentle removing the yellowed tape, I used bits of glue-sticked (yes, school glue stick!) cardstock to brace the busted corners of my box (and safely stick down peeling label paper), steam iron (with tissue paper in between for extra protection during the ironing process) to flatten warped boxes, and Vellajo acrylic (plastic) putty to put little "flames" on the sorcerer's table (followed by acrylic paint and varnish to match). The dust idea is interesting. Good luck!

[iKarith]

The hole in the box is sealed, save one little hole about 1mm where the glue didn't set up as well as I'd like. Despite the cardboard dust, glue feels a bit weak structurally. There's some tacky PVA residue on the outside paper where it need not be, but I know that I can just wet a corner of a paper towel and carefully wipe that away that excess when the seam is strong enough to risk some of the glue getting wet again. It just isn't even close yet.

Part of the reason the gap was so wide is that I didn't really have a way to clamp to the top of the box. Best I could do was clip L brackets to both inside and outside of the box wall in a _|_ shape and weight the flats down with books and hand weights kinda like I did to un-cave-in the box. It almost worked, too. What it did was let me close the seam just enough with the partially cured PVA that this fresh bead is pretty much closing the gap without clamps. NOT ideal, but it's working. Cardstock is touching cardstock.

What I think I will do when this is basically dry to the touch is turn the box over, brush the smallest amount of water right across the seam(!) and immediately follow it with a a bit more PVA on the outside, trying to soften any glue filling space between cardboard just a smidge and giving it some reinforcements.

To the touch, right now it's cardboard-touching-cardboard. Except it's probably not really. Not quite, not yet. It's close though. Fortunately it takes awhile for this stuff to fully cure I'm taking a lot of advantage of that.

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Now the question is … what's my best bet for sealing this when I'm done? Hmm. Will it need sealing once the glue fully cures? It might not.

ETA: Kinda like this on the outside of the seam. Oh, and you get a preview of how the repair to the rips in the artwork came out. Not perfect, but … greatly improved!

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[Daedalus]

Good work. Is it worth/possible coloring the repaired seam? Not necessary if you prefer original. I have two sets, one in bad shape. I'm gonna remember your method--thanks for sharing.

[iKarith]

Good work. Is it worth/possible coloring the repaired seam? Not necessary if you prefer original. I have two sets, one in bad shape. I'm gonna remember your method--thanks for sharing.

I need to take more pictures. I've done a lot more.

If I was a little more careful, I maybe could have repaired the artwork a little better. What you've got now is PVA-reinforced chipboard/paper. You could totally paint the artwork over. But then, on some level, you could just cut chipboard to the appropriate size, print a carefully made recreation of the box art from scans, and make a new/pristine/stronger than original box. I don't really have the skill to adequately repaint the damaged artwork, and there are wrinkles from the box being collapsed a bit in storage, so it's fair from pristine.

But like I said, I need to get more pictures. I've been pretty much tearing my place apart and putting it back together for the past several days, and during that time I didn't have a working workstation so … priorities.