MLP Adventures: Rainbow Rust

So I've been restoring My Little Pony (Gen 1's, mainly) for fun and profit.  So now I'll tell you the story of poor Rain Curl.

Rain Curl came from a lot of mixed ponies I bought cheaply (around $14, that's not bad) and the first thing you do when you get a lot of ponies is you assess what needs to be done with them first.  I'm of the sort who will (unless it's in mint condition) pop off the head and take a look inside, especially if I hear any ominous rattling inside the body.  That's almost always a sure sign of something that's broken loose or rusted off.

Hasbro seemed really keen on putting metal washers inside the vinyl of these original ponies.  So to avoid future tail rust, most will opt for removing the old washer.  I'm not entirely sure what the washer is made out of, but if I were to guess I'd say aluminum.  At best, the washer is intact and easy to remove once the tangles have been smoothed out and the tail removed from the inside and out through the neck.  At worst... you get poor Rain Curl's dilemma.

Someone on the MLP Arena suggested I change her name to "Rainbow Rust".  The idea is certainly tempting, poor creature. ;o;  So when I finally got it all separated, I saw that the insides were completely coated with rest, nasty rust!  There wasn't a single inch of her insides that wasn't coated like the landscape of Mars.

So now I'm really contemplating buying some Rit Rust Remover for retackling her insides and the roots of her hair plugs.  The inside of her head and the top of her head was just as riddled with rust and stains as her lower body!  So I bought a few inexpensive tooth brushes at the dollar store and scrubbed for what seemed like an eternity over and over again and thankfully the brush was narrow enough to get down to the bottoms of her legs and the inner corner of her muzzle.

So after a lot of work and replacing the inner washer with clear plastic zip ties, she's looking much better now.  I've touched up her symbols (cutie marks) with some acrylic and clear sealer.  She'll never be back to mint condition, so I may just keep her for myself to look after all the other little abused ponies I rescue.