Broken Bad! Fixin' Hellboy's Arm!
I've always been crazy about action comics, superheroes, movies etc right from the time I was little; I even had a few action figures & toys when I was a kid but never really got around to pursuing it like a hobby. Let's face it, it's not exactly something that people expect an adult to do - collect toys!
It was only recently that I was well and truly inspired to actually start a collection of action figures - and thanks to that goes to two individuals - one being the inimitable Shartimus Prime the Youtube legend and the other being my good friend and colleague Carlton D'silva, proud owner of an impressive array of collectibles.
Over the past few months I've built up a modest collection of exciting multi-coloured, articulated plastic :) at a not so exciting cost :( that provides me (as I am sure it provides other collectors) immense pleasure just to gaze at them and lose myself in a realm of myth and fantasy.
So hopefully this is going to be the first of many posts on stuff that I am really crazy about - Action Figures! Here I'd like to share my experiences - good, bad or awful with all like minded people out there - hopefully it won't be a complete waste of time if you happen to read this!
This is in particular is a 'hellish experience' experience I had with a Hellboy deluxe 18 inch action figure by Mezco designed by Mike Mignola! To begin I got this beauty off a seconds sale and it was DAMN neat! Plus the price was also a real bargain and at 18 inches it is to date the largest action figure in my collection :)
But then
tragedy struck! The figure was displayed on my desk, ahem...at my workplace and
one of my colleagues in his excitement managed to topple him over! Resulting
in....
After a round of cursing and then
subsequent moping I finally got around to doing something about it! First I figured
out what had happened. The fall had broken the small dumbell shaped joint that
tethered the hand to the socket. One way for a sure fix would have been to get
a replacement joint moulded either out of plastic or steel. But this was easier
said than done.
Second I sourced out some excellent websites that addressed this critical issue of heavy handed toys losing their limbs :) one example being this:
Now at a local welding workshop I
discovered that welding / moulding a minute part such as this was not the mechanical
guy's cup of tea!
As I sat there scratching my head, inspiration struck me! Why not use a plain nut & bolt to solve the issue? Voila, in the matter of a few minutes greased lightning replaced both our brains and we pulled off what to me still is one of the best cases of acrylic metal surgery ever! Explained below in pictures...
So that sums up my tryst with action figure surgery - and I have to say it was worth the effort. As you can see from the pics above and below it was awesome salvaging this fantastic action figure; it now occupies a place of pride on my workdesk! :))
Got this exact issue with my Hellboy figure, so seeing this tutorial is very helpful. However, I'd like to know if doing this prevents his arm from rotating left and right.
ReplyDeleteHey JB, you get decent articulation as the bolt rotates pretty well but I daresay avoid vigorous movements! :)
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