I bought a Grumpy kit 2nd hand. It appeared fine but I wiped it down with W&N. No factory paint on the limbs but the entire head was covered in factory paint! I would never have guessed just looking at it. I do not see any apparent defects like marks etc. but the vinyl is overall every so slightly less pink and more yellow than the limbs. I think the factory painted it to make it color match? Anyways, those of you who have stripped these down and reborn them, does the vinyl hold up fine and not turn any weird color down the road like more yellow? I would hate to reborn it and sell it and have a customer have issues later on.
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Ive had mine get shiny like melty shiny so I started baking at 260° I also had grumpy whole face turn yellow. My grumpy kit had some yellow spots under her factory paint but not on her face, those turned up after I stripped her the second time and started creasing.
Others have had yellow spots appear out if no where which they treated with zit cream and they faded but came back sooooooo… yeah I’d be cautious about selling
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The yellow spots on my Ruby got a little darker when baking but not ouch to where it showed up much in end
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I don’t know if it’s with all of them, but I thought I’d mention it.
I got a RB Harlow with factory paint (only on the head) and I noticed after stripping that there were tiny tears all in the creases and in the line on the bridge of the nose between the eyes. I’m putting her to the side because my creasing color keeps getting pooled all in them and I’m afraid they’ll split wide open with baking or any pressure
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I have Alexa, Johannah, skya and Ruby, all of them are top quality kits, anyway in all of them yellow spots have appeared, especially on the limbs, with Alexa was on the head, I also noticed little black spots like inside the vynyl, I also try to disappear the yelow spots with acne cream without any success, also notice that the toes and hands of my Alexa become increasingly bright when bake them, Alexa, skya and Johanah were bought 1 year ago approx. Ruby It’s from the new litter
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I don’t think it is at all ok for BB to sell these dolls, seems even the non seconds have really intense issues, I don’t think it is reputable, and completely unfair for artist to work so hard to paint a doll only to wonder if they dare sell it! I have been a BB cheerleader for a couple of years, I have admired them and their business practices, but this situation has changed my high opinion of them. I know this Covid mess has brought them much hardship, but I don’t believe this hardship should be passed on to their customers. I know this is a very difficult issue to make right, but again to make this right I believe they need to give refunds! I have also wondered why the other doll supply stores to my knowledge have not had the cover ups by BB new Chinese factory. Have they tried to save money, probably, but is this new factory very poor quality ingredients? I feel guilty talking about BB this way, but I also feel bad for you folks having to work so hard to produce your pretty dolls, and still not trust the finishes product.
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In all these cases I noticed you mention baking. I don’t bake, I use air dry. I am wondering if it is the heat that is bringing out the issues in these particular vinyls? If that is the case, then maybe she will be ok. I will just lay her aside and watch her for a while before I paint her to see if she changes coloring any.
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Has anyone tried air dry painting over the factory paints?
Does anyone know what type of paint was used?
Just thinking out loud.
I bought a couple of the seconds but have not checked them yet. I bought them to make raffle babies for my family Christmas party
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I tried ultimate fusion on one after having major problems with GHSP not sticking, the ultimate fusion did not stay on it either, it kept wiping off or not showing up. I ended up setting that baby aside after trying everything, varnish, primer, mediums, etc… I had a few others with factory paint, they mostly painted ok with GHSP, the areas that wouldn’t take paint were mostly on the head under hair so it didn’t matter. They did have random yellow spots that I just painted over that didn’t show after I finished painting.
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That’s great to know, I hope the yellow spots on my babies do not show after all 
The 3 first babies I purchase a really time ago before all of this covid situation I think was more a 1 year and half , So I don’t think it’s possible to refund it at this point.And Ruby I purchase from another artist here in the forum, she was half stripped, when I continued to take out the paint I noticed the factory paint on one of the legs, it’s very hard to see, so I started to take it out and lowered the paint there was a black dot and a yellow spot, which spread further when I tried to take it out with the acne cream, she’s first quality, the girl who sold her to me sent her to me with her certificate.
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May I ask how long do you bake it? I’m having exactly the same problem with my Alexa, hands and feet shine, and try to fix it with matte Varnish but it’s not working
What kind of oven are you using? Do you have an oven thermometer?
I have a nuwave and the temp is pretty accurate. I bake at 265 for 8 minutes. I bake the newer kits at 260 for 8 minutes.
I used to get shine before I bought my nuwave because I was using an off brand oven and trusted it until my kits started melting. My Darren head ended up as a puddle before I switched.
Alexa is old factory and shouldn’t be getting shiny 
It is the newer ones that have different vinyl that seem to be an issue for me
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The Ruby kit was the first one we noticed issues with. The artists were the ones that found the paint on the new kits because it was scratching off when they were washing them and prepping them to be painted. BB was unaware of the problem
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I use this oven that I purchase here on my country, here we can not get that type of oven that you use, but this oven that I use is also infrared and yes I have a thermometer, but the kit still getting shining, btw Alexa was a older kit, I purchase her before Covid
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I add some photos of my wip on Alexa her hands and her Feet are very bright, maybe I did something wrong, as I’m a beginner maybe I’m not doing it right, I also add the photo of Ruby’s leg that was stripped, I hope you see the yellow stain and the black dot, I think that the person who sold it to me did not realize this because it was really very difficult to see (paint factory) but anyway I’m very happy to have bought her I hope to make it work
They do look super shiny!!!
Do you bake with your heads standing up? Have you noticed the neck collapsing at all? That was my first clue on mine. I just thought the kit had a heavy he’d 
Your oven does scare me! But I understand you can only get what you can get in your country. I’m talking 265° F it does look like your parts may be getting to hot! You can turn it down and test your paint to see if it is curing. You can wet a qtip and rub it on a painted area and if paint rubs off it’s not cured. So be extra sure you can use your thinner on a qtip
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I baked with the head upright, I haven’t noticed it collapsing or something like that, the thermometer sets the right temperature, I was baking it for 9 minutes, maybe it’s that, or maybe the thermometer doesn’t work either, but it’s a good suggestion to try with the qtip, I’ll do that from now on and lower the temperature a little more, although the thermometer reads 130C, it actually reaches this temperature only in the last 2 minutes
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Wow, your Alexa is very shiny! I thought you were using air dry with too much medium in it. I would definitely try @PhotographyForLife suggestion about temp. Your creases look great though!
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Than you so much! I really hope I can fix it, it is not in my interest to ruin a kit 
I hope that lowering the temperature more and trying with the qtips I can finish my Alexa in good condition
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