Esco Jackie Gleason & Ralph Kramden in color

Jackie arrived with a broken hat brim and badly broken base.

His complexion and overall surface was also very rough though its not easy to see in these pix.  This is often a result of the chalkware having too many tiny air bubbles.  The rugged skin looks good to a point, but more often than not, it simply looks bad.  Jackie looked bad.

I repaired the base and tried to do a light touch up on his face, but it was just too rough.  Jackie needed a complete "facial."  While I was at it I decided to sand down the entire statue.

The goal isnt to strip the statues bare, but to smooth out the bumps.

The end result with some added color.

Esco Groucho Marx gets a makeover

Groucho came to me in good structural condition but with his paint in terrible shape. Much of the original paint was badly cracked, and  he'd also suffered at the hands of a lousy touch-up paint job.  Though the picture below doesn't do justice to how bad he looked, I was tempted to throw him away and find an easier project because Groucho was in need of a complete overhaul.

The the most time-consuming part of the process is to remove the loose and cracked paint, and then fill and sand the rough spots..

I try to retain the look of the original while still applying a like-new finish.  

Esco Jimmy Durante finds a new home.

I acquired Jimmy in fairly rough shape; his iconic nose was partly broken off and his hat had lost numerous chunks from the brim.  His colors were also badly faded.

Jimmy cleaned up really well and made his ebay buyer very happy as evidenced by this message:

Subject: Re: mikekydd sent a message about Jimmy Durante Esco ENHANCED Statue Free Shipping #321337684792

Sent Date: Mar-10-14 11:09:41 PDT

Dear mikekydd,

I had to let you know how pleased I was with the condition of the jimmy Durante statue you so carefully packaged as you said you would!! The statue is a reminder of my childhood experiences with our first tv. The "doctor" who did the plaster of Paris surgery was indeed a miracle worker. I'll be looking for any escos you market in the future. Thanks for being a quality ebayer of the highest order. 

- scamperingscot

Esco Bob Hope Loses his Head!

Bob suffered a very common fate during his journey to my house via USPS--his head was broken off.  Most such decapitations result in a clean break and therefore are usually a fairly easy fix.

Bob is back in one piece again.  He also had a complete make-over from shoes to hair.

Esco John Wayne gets a new hat

The Duke arrived with a broken hat brim.  Other than this he was in great condition with nary a blemish on his skin tones.

The hat was a very easy fix as it was a clean break.

The Esco John Wayne is one of the few statues that looks really good with a rugged complexion.  It also has more life-like facial detail than most.  

I touched up the Duke's hair, gun and holster, but otherwise he remains all original.

Esco Louis Armstong

Louis arrived in very worn condition and with a badly damaged base.  Fortunately he had no other structural issues.

Once the base was put back together, I went to work on Louis' skin tone. Most Louis statues seem to suffer from a discoloration of skin tone--they often turn a sickly greenish brown.

Here he is next to an already restored version.

This Louis was completely repainted from head to base including his famed horn.