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Thread
: How To Guide
How to Fix broken 25th Figure Hand
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03-04-2011, 04:06 AM
bbblackwell
Ranger
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: New York
Posts: 205
Everyone knows that proper procedure for removing a 25th Anniversary figure's hand is to heat up the area thoroughly before attempting to pull it out. This softens the plastic and grants increased pliability.
Well, perhaps in your hasty moment of inspiration, you simply grabbed the hand cold and started yanking (as I foolishly did with my Wild Weasel), and pulled the hand clean off from the peg that connects it to the forearm.
The worst part about this is that the peg remains stuck in the forearm, desperately lost forever. You found it difficult enough to remove the pin with the hand attached (as indicated by the ungodly force you exerted in breaking it clear from the peg), and now you've succeeded in realizing a heretofore unimagined level of difficulty. Well done! Yargh...
Anyway, a matter for little concern! Here's the fix...
(paragraphs with a " * " before them are tips and can be skipped if you're an experienced customizer or just in a hurry)
REQUIRED TOOLS:
3x straight pin
1x permanent marker (or piece of tape)
1x small wirecutters (or other tool for pin-cutting)
STEP 1 - First, get a pin. No, get TWO pins! Hell, make it THREE, you can never have enough tools. You can see my pin in the pics, I don't know pin specs, so I can't give you official size numbers, but this is a thin, fairly strong pin... as pins go. We're going to use this pin to join the hand back to the peg and increase stability in the damaged area beyond what would be provided through using glue alone.
STEP 2 - Take the pin and line it up with the center of the broken peg stuck in the forearm. You are going to slowly and carefully (haste has already demonstrated its destructive nature tonight) push the pin down into peg as straight as possible. It would be of benefit to heat the area first, but it is not necessary as this is a fairly soft plastic and the pin will enter with a controllable amount of force.
*Side note here; After lining up the pin with the center of the peg, and pressing it in just a little, I find it of benefit to place the head of the pin against the wall (pick a wall that won't get damaged, and won't cause the pin to slide), line up everything straight, and exert pressure through the figure's forearm against the wall with one hand, while holding the pin with the other to provide it from bending or slipping. This will save your fingers the pain of trying to press the pin in, and will add stability and precision to the endeavor.
*How deep should you push the pin? At least as deep as you suspect the peg to be. You may be familiar with the length of these pegs from your customizing work, but if not, it's OK if you go too far and the pin goes deep into the forearm. As long as you're going in straight, and you don't go so far as to hit the elbow joint and restrict movement (you'll know because the elbow will no longer move - you've gone to far, pull back! Whew, no harm done). The deeper you go, the more stable the repair will be, so I like to go a good ways in.
*You can check how deep you've gone by taking the second pin and lining the head up with the first one. The second pin lays next to the figure's forearm, showing you the exact depth you've gone so far.
YOUR REPAIR NOW LOOKS LIKE PIC 01
STEP 3 - Next, we'll prepare the hand by taking the second pin and inserting it straight into the broken area on the underside of the wrist. Slowly and carefully like before (especially since we have far less room to play with here) insert the pin straight into the wrist toward the hand, as far as you can without coming out the other side.
*If you're unsure here, you may employ the third pin to measure as you did before and see how deep you've gone.
We are inserting this pin into the hand to create the necessary hole and to measure how deep that hole is. Once the pin is in deep enough that it won't fall out, and it feels sturdy against sideways pressure, take a permanent marker (anything that won't smudge off too easily), or piece of tape, and make a mark on the pin at the spot where the inserted pin and the wrist meet.
THE HAND NOW LOOKS LIKE PIC 02
Now remove the pin. You can see that your mark indicates how deep the pin was, and thus the depth of the hole.
STEP 4 - We are going to cut the first pin (protruding from the figure's forearm) to match the depth indicated on the second pin (the depth of the hole made in the hand) so that when we place the hand on the pin, the wrist is flush with the end of the forearm.
Take the marked second pin, and line it up next to the first pin. Make a mark on the first pin to indicate where the cut should be. There is little room for error here, so if you're not sure, err on the side of cutting the first pin too long. You can always go shorter if you were wrong. Hey wait, that rhymes, let's make a general rule that's catchy and easy to remember:
"Err on the side of cutting too long,
you can always go shorter if you were wrong."
...a serviceable maxim, and sound advice for any barber.
*This part can be tricky depending on where the hand broke. Remember that regardless of where it broke, the wrist is still going to have to meet the forearm flush when you're done. You may have a small bit of peg left on the hand, or you may not.
If you do not... then you simply line up the mark on the second pin with the end of the forearm and mark the first pin at the place where the second pin's point ends.
If you do have a bit of peg left on the hand... place the base of the hand on the forearm but off to the side, so that the remnant of peg attached to the hand runs down the side of the forearm and you can see how deep it will be in the forearm when the hand is put back in its rightful place. This will likely be a very short distance from the end of the forearm, as the peg remnant is small. You are going to measure from this point (the end of the peg remnant) to measure your cut. Line up the mark on the second pin with the end of the peg remnant coming out of the hand. You will notice that the tip of the marked pin is now lower than it would have been if you measured from the end of the forearm. Where the point of the second pin ends is where you'll make your cutting mark on the first pin.
STEP 5 - Now that you've marked the first pin protruding from the forearm, you are ready to make your cut. Cut at an angle with your wirecutters; this will create a point and make it easier to insert it into the hand.
YOUR CUT LOOKS LIKE PIC 03
STEP 5a (Optional) - Once you've made your cut, you may choose to put a little bit of super glue on the point of the cut pin, and spread it down the sides a bit.
*If you do this, be sure to use very little glue and spread it evenly around the pin. We're just trying to keep the hand attached to the pin, if we use too much glue and it gets in the joint, it could fuse the hand to the forearm and we'll lose the articulation. Once the hand is on the cut pin, it would also be wise to turn the hand every minute or two until the glue dries, just to make sure nothing's sticking that isn't supposed to.
STEP 6 - Slide the hand over the cut pin.
*The hole you made in the hand likely closed up a bit when you removed the pin. You may meet some resistance sliding the hand over the cut pin. As long as the pin is lined up with the hole you made in the hand, and you're pressing down straight, it's OK to apply some pressure here - we cut our pin to the right length, so there's no risk it will pop out of the other side of the hand. However, if the pin is not travelling down the hole straight, then the pressure you exert will push the other end of the pin deeper into the forearm. So, you may want to turn the hand a bit as you press, and ease it in with pressure, not just press down like a maniac. Maniac's repairs never come out right. If you chose to use super glue, it will lubricate the pin temporarily, or you may use some water, but do not use a lubricant of any kind, as this will make it easy for the hand to slide off once you're done causing both hand and weapon to be lost in the heat of combat -- embarrassing, by all accounts.
STEP 7 - Stand in victory as you gaze upon the fruits of your labor! Scoff at the foolishness of your previous despair! You are a God, who may remake what was unmade, and cast adversity down onto its belly like the petty snake that it is!
YOUR WILD WEASEL NOW LOOKS LIKE PIC 04
In conclusion...
It probably took you longer to read this than to do the fix. It's a quick and "handy" method to have in your arsenal if you're a customizer or have children. However, children and pins don't mix, so once you've succeeded in your repair, pack this figure away until the kid is of legal age. Family lawsuits can be nasty.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for checkin' in!
-B.B. Blackwell
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