In need of experts :3

1. My Miku has a loose leg. Like when I pick her up, her Right leg doesn’t hold its pose and gives way to gravity. Is this a fixable issue? I’ve never taken a DDs leg off and a little scared to, but I’d like her to be in tip top shape, so I’m willing to do whatever to fix the problem.

 

2. I was hoping to paint my girls’ toe nails. What kind of paint should I use to do this? Also is there any other products I should use with the paint?

I'm in no way an expect, so I'm sure others can answer your first question much more expertly, but I had the same problem with my girl and it turns out that one of her joints had a crack (mine was specifically the hip joint of the leg). If you can take off the leg and figure out if there are any cracks, a possible fix is to put tape around the joint to keep it closed and tight. The problem with cracks is that when the joints... well join, the crack opens and doesn't keep it nice and tight for the girls to hold poses.

If this is not the problem however, then it could be the screws. One of my girl's elbows is super loose, and I looked it thoroughly and has no cracks, so I imagine it's the screw (never fixed it though...). ((edit: wait... do the legs have screws? sorry, i'm a bit sleep deprived AHAH)

 

As for the pedicure, I recommend MSC or Zoukeimura and either watercolor paints or acrylic paints. You want to spray her nails twice or thrice for as much protection as possible from pigment sipping in the vinyl, then you paint over With watercolors, you'll need to probably give 2-4 coats to not have a semi-transparent look, you need to spray MSC/Zoukeimura between each coat. With acrylics you can most likely get the result with just one coat, depending on how much you water the paint. You can use gloss as top coat, if you want a glossy look, or one final coat of sealant for a matte look.

 

Good luck!

I had saved a Japanese blog page that had some info on painting Miku's nails:

https://ameblo.jp/holyfeather/page-8.html

 

I'm sure you can use other types of paint but from what that states apparently mixing the No. 34 Blue and No. 66 Green Mr. Color approximately 1:1 gets the right color for Miku.

Oh gosh, I hope it’s not cracked. I’ll give it a look in the morning. Hopefully it’s just a screw?

 

Thank you guys for the painting tips and link, I hope their toesies turn out super cute.

If it's the hip then there aren't any screws in the joint AFAIK. If it's the knee then there are screws in various places on that frame part. To get to those you have to disassemble the leg, and you may need a hair dryer to do that. It's not very complex though.

 

You can fix a crack on the leg side of the hip to a degree with some aluminum parts from coolcats. To really fix it well though you would need to replace that leg part.

 

If a screw is loose tighten it gently bit by bit until it's the right tightness.

It was loose at the hip. I took her leg off and had a look, no crack. I put it back on and it was still loose. I took off the other leg to compare and it looked the same, when I put the other leg back on the loose leg was fine. I guess they were uneven?

 

I don’t know, but I think her leg’s all better now. Thanks for the help!

 

I should invest in those coolcat reinforcements, though. I don’t want future breaks.

I don't really like the leg ones because they seem prevent you from getting the leg all the way in. Makes the hips look funny.

 

The shoulder ones are a good idea, and easy to install.

 

Glad you figured it out, and she is fixed.

Good to know. I’m a sucker for aesthetics, I can’t have silly hips.

There are screws in the hip portion of the thighs, but they don't have much to do with whether the joint is tight. For a picture reference, see Sexy Legs on my friend's blog.

 

As I haven't used the Coolcat reinforcement parts, I didn't know they had an effect on how far the thighs go in, though given they add a bit to the length of the socket that makes sense. What I know they can affect is how far the legs can cross. With that mod on that link above, the limit of movement becomes the socket piece hitting the vinyl skin of the thigh, and with that piece added it will hit sooner.

 

If I ever get a crack, I'm going to try repairing it with methyl ethyl ketone (MEK). For many plastic types, that will melt it back together such that if it cracks again it will likely do so in a different place. Many years ago MEK was sold in little tiny overpriced bottles under the name Tenax-7R for building models, until I suppose someone decided this was a chemical that shouldn't be being promoted for use by children. I know I bought that as an experiment once not knowing what it was but finding it worked so well and when it ran out I couldn't find the product anymore but learned what it actually was.