How To Guide Duke Arm transplant mod

Have a TF Duke or DVD Duke, but you'd rather have V1 Duke with fixed arms? Yeah, me too.
Here's the "HOW TO" diagram:



For those of you who find it easier to just paint updated Duke arm elbows to match the upper arms they're attached to, if it works for you, then keep doing it. Here's a mod for the anal-retentive guys like me who want to keep as little paint as possible from messing up factory paint/plastic that is fine as-is.

Essentially, you take TF Duke, DVD Duke, or any of the updated Duke arms, pop the lower hand off the elbow, and then do the same for the old Duke arm that you want to fix.

Now here's where it may get a tad tricky... You want to take the old Duke arm, and with a sharp Xacto, simply chop off the flesh part at the edge of the sleeve. Then, cut off most of the hand, but leave the wrist attached to the peg. With a Dremel, or however you want to hollow out the elbow nub, you're going to want to make a pit big enough to fit the hand-stub into. Cut deep into the elbow so that the wrist piece will fit in snugly, and glue it in place. This should give you enough of a base to hold the mushroom-tipped plug in so that the arm can still swivel.

Here you'll see the cuts (and the scraps), and the amputated lower sleeve with the hole bored into it (for the new plug to fit in:


Plug ready to be glued into hole:


Done! New nubs for fixed Duke arms to fit onto:


Obviously, allow proper glue/dry time. But this way, you only end up chopping up the crappy arms that you never liked to begin with, and may save you painting hassle or from having to buy multi-pack figures (like the updated Breaker or Clutch) just to get ones with correct arms.

If TF Duke clogs pegs like I expect him to in the future, he's a great donor candidate. His arms also pop onto the Greenshirts without any cutting; the green matches perfectly. I've already fixed 1 greenshirt, and it looks fantastic.

Great work.

Though for me, it was always the articulation that bothered me over the arm split.

For me, I don't want to destroy one set of arms to fix another one, unless I have enough extras of just the arms.

Originally Posted by darth_henning

Great work.

Though for me, it was always the articulation that bothered me over the arm split.

Yeah, there was a previous thread on that fix:
http://www.hisstank.com/forum/g-i-jo...-pictures.html

Which I implemented on my Duke, so now his elbow bends a little more and he now has fixed wrists:

I am so confused.......................................... ................

Originally Posted by nighthawk

For me, I don't want to destroy one set of arms to fix another one, unless I have enough extras of just the arms.

The only set of arms you're destroying is the one you're fixing. The other arm all you're doing is popping it off the elbow piece. No cutting on that. So if you want to go back to it, you can.

For me, I have a few extra fixed arms that I won't use for display, such as the DVD Duke or TF Duke. (TF Duke's gear and arms went to V1 Duke to complete him.)

Alright, I almost have it pictured in my mind...so that means when you get the pictures posted I'll be able to say "oh, of course, that makes sense now." So put me down for "can't wait."

Originally Posted by Cavbeast

Alright, I almost have it pictured in my mind...so that means when you get the pictures posted I'll be able to say "oh, of course, that makes sense now." So put me down for "can't wait."

Sorry if it was confusing, it shouldn't be.

Check the picture, I added "words" to it now to go along with the pictures.

Photos won't show much, other than what the arms should have looked like from the beginning.

Nice. Thanks.

Originally Posted by mandingo_rex

The only set of arms you're destroying is the one you're fixing. The other arm all you're doing is popping it off the elbow piece. No cutting on that. So if you want to go back to it, you can.

For me, I have a few extra fixed arms that I won't use for display, such as the DVD Duke or TF Duke. (TF Duke's gear and arms went to V1 Duke to complete him.)

Sorry...what I meant was that if I was gonna buy a TF Duke to transplant, I want to be able to put the crappy arms onto the TF Duke so I can use him as a vehicle driver or something so I don't waste the entire figure. That's what I meant. However, I might just have to do what you did there, but somehow, I have a nagging suspicion that we might get the original Duke using the TF Duke's mold and accessories.