Broken shoulder update (new problem)

So, I was taking pics of Moe yesterday, and of course, having to handle her. Her shoulder broke again, right in the same place as before despite the epoxy. There's just too much stress on the joint.

 

My first thought was to buy a replacement piece from Volks, since they said that the DDS shoulder piece should work in the DDIII body. However, both Volks USA and Volks International are sold out.

 

So I looked at Plastic Fantastic's repair method with the zip ties, and thought that I might as well try it. I had some small zip ties at home anyways, and a craft drill that I had never used . . . I was super nervous about drilling the hole so I got my sister to do it for me.

 

It worked! We installed the zip tie but did not do the screw part of the modification in Plastic Fantastic's tutorial. We didn't epoxy the crack at all, it's just being held in place by a zip tie. This seems to be working by allowing some "give" to the shoulder joint -- instead of breaking, it can open slightly at the crack and is still held together.

 

However, Moe's arm is a bit loose. I was too aggressive in sanding her arm peg, and it's now too small, especially since the shoulder has some give to it. We tried wrapping the peg with teflon plumber's tape (not sticky, the type you use on water pipes) to thicken the peg, and this actually worked quite well. However, with manipulation of the shoulder, the tape loosens and the arm gets looser.

 

So my question is: how I can I "thicken up" that arm peg? I've heard of people applying thin layers of super-glue or clear nail polish to add layers of thickness. Has any one tried this, or can anyone think of any problems with doing this? I imagine I could sand it down again if I wanted to.

 

Also, do the DDS replacement arms fit the DDIII body, esthetically? Is there much of a difference in legnth?

 

Thanks to Plastic Fantastic for posting the zip-tie repair tutorial. It really helped!

I tried applying super glue and it does a good job of thickening the joints, my DDIII body had loose feet, leg and arm joints. Once you applied super glue and has dry completely. Test it and by slowly inserting in the joint. If you find it resisting a lot pull it out and lightly sand it with 600 grit sandpaper and try again. Repeat until you get the ideal friction of the peg.

Drat. I'm sorry to hear this happened again. I hope you can get replacement part for her soon. At least you can try the superglue trick and see how that goes for her.

 

I guess all you can do after that is buy replacement arms since her peg is too small. Sigh. It sucks not having parts in stock thru Volks.

 

 

Billy

The DDS arms are a couple millimeters shorter than the DDIII ones are, the biggest difference I've seen though is the shape of the shoulder area.

 

The DDS upper torso frame is exactly the same as the ones in the DDIII and DDIIIDy.

The DDS arms are a couple millimeters shorter than the DDIII ones are, the biggest difference I've seen though is the shape of the shoulder area.

 

The DDS upper torso frame is exactly the same as the ones in the DDIII and DDIIIDy.

 

Thanks. Worst case, I'll switch the arms out.

Thanks to Plastic Fantastic for posting the zip-tie repair tutorial. It really helped!

I'm really glad that the zip-tie repair helped! ^_^

 

My thought on thickening up a peg on an arm would be to epoxy and then sand it bit by bit until you get the right fit. (Is that even doable? Sam isn't around for me to ask!)

 

Superglue layering should work too but you have to be careful on what kind of glue you use so that it doesn't dissolve the plastic.

 

 

Hopefully you won't need to do the screw modification - We had no choice since the arm reinforcement caused other weak spots to start breaking. TT_TT

Thanks to Plastic Fantastic for posting the zip-tie repair tutorial. It really helped!

I'm really glad that the zip-tie repair helped! ^_^

 

My thought on thickening up a peg on an arm would be to epoxy and then sand it bit by bit until you get the right fit. (Is that even doable? Sam isn't around for me to ask!)

 

Superglue layering should work too but you have to be careful on what kind of glue you use so that it doesn't dissolve the plastic.

 

 

Hopefully you won't need to do the screw modification - We had no choice since the arm reinforcement caused other weak spots to start breaking. TT_TT

 

Layering epoxy would be much safer than trying to layer superglue, as epoxy is made to be sanded once it cures completely.

Thank you, I will try epoxy rather than superglue. Good tips!