Alps Television Spaceman Robot Paper "Film" Repair

[ckalkhof]

Happy new year everyone!

First of all, I have to say I always liked the cool space scene banner on this forum. It never occured to me it was the same scene from the Alps TV robot! I have been working on my TV robot over the the past few nights and was delighted to see this wonderful scene on the delicate, thin paper I removed from my robot. This leads me into my question; I found two small (about 1/4 inch) tears in the paper space scene in my robot. Since it was so difficult to get this robot apart, I would like to repair these tears before I put him back to together. Does anyone know what would be a good way to effect this repair? I'm flat out of ideas. The paper has to remain flexible so it can bend around the rollers. I'm just stumped.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer. Have a good one!!!!

[Phil R]

Happy New year. This request probably should have been in the ROBOT FILES under TIPS and TRICKS

My name is Phil and you may or may not know that my profession for the past 12 years is restoring antique advertising based on 30 years of graphic arts. What I do with paper tears is either lay them on a flat surface and use tacky glue on each side of the tear and connect the sides if it is a clean tear without missing paper. Make sure the paper is aligned. The glue will quickly set up. Give it time to cure. You may also use archival paper tape on the back for reinforcement. Archival tape is almost invisible. If the tear involves missing paper either fill in the missing area with similar paper that would be placed in back and traced off from the front. Then cut out the traced piece with an exacto craft knife and replace with glue in the missing area as per previous instructions. You can also reinforce the back with the archival paper tape. Any coloring necessary on the replacement paper or slit can be done with acrylic paints easily obtained from craft stores or use color pencils or felt tips.

[ckalkhof]

Thanks Phill!