How can you "get rid of" an action feature... ?

[Blake the Foreigner]

I just got the Joe Fixit Hulk, and I'm customizing him (More on that in a few days). I wondered if there's a way to stop his shoulder joints from being hinged together on the lever on his back. Is there something I can do to give them independant poseability (As of now, the arms move together and "click" into only a few positions). Any pointers would help. Thanks!

[img]smile.gif[/img]

[White Line Nightmare]

You're gonna have to crack the torso open (which will probably be a bitch) and remove the mechanism. I don't know how loose the arms will be without the action feature, so you might have to do more modifying than you initially planned.

Fixit's a great figure-- looks awesome displayed with the rest of the Marvel Legends.

Who you makin'? I've seen some guys make The Kingpin out of Fixit. Interesting.

[pairadocs]

I've encountered this issue in the past too... and I couldn't get the torso open. I just ended up dremeling a hole in the back (which I later patched with epoxy putty), and stuck the bit in and moved it wildly until I ground up the mechanism. [img]smile.gif[/img] Crude, I know, but if you're careful... it works.

If you can crack open the torso though, definitely go that route! [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

[White Line Nightmare]

I haven't tried this, but I'd go in through the bottom of the torso.

Boil a pot of water, then take it off the stove top and *carefully* put Fixit in. After about a minute, remove him with tongs and begin disassembling, starting with the limbs.

Attempt to separate the torso from the crotch piece, which shouldn't be that difficult, since it has a unique-- and seemingly weak-- articulation point.

Once that's done, wait for the torso to cool, then use that hole to crack the torso with a pair of needle-nosed pliers.

...Or....

If the gap is big enough between the halves of the torso (depends on how your figure was manufactured), you could attempt to pry the figure open with a screwdriver.

Either way you go about it, good luck.

[Blake the Foreigner]

Thanks guys, but my worry is that the arms will be totally loose without that clicking-holds-the-arms-in-postion mechanism gone.

But I'll give it a try.

Btw, I'm making a Batman from The Dark Knight Returns out of him. I'm making a whole series of them actually (All out of various Hulks, in fact). And yes, I'm aware that DC Direct is releasing DKR figures, but I wanted super articulated ones (And I can never have enough DKR stuff)...

[White Line Nightmare]

I'm almost 100% positive that those arms will be loose without the mechanism.

Looking at the Fixit I have, there's really no tension or contact between the ball joint of the upper arm and the torso-- it's attached to the mechanism inside.

You're probably going to have to end up adding a new peg to the ball joint arm that fits snugly on the inside of the torso to allow articulation without being loose. Don't know how durable it'll be, though.

Fixit is an odd choice for DKR Bats. If anything, I would've gone with War Hulk with the abs and arms Dremeled down and the chest, and skin smoothed down a little bit.



http://www.fwooshnet.com/images/marv...warhulk004.jpg

*Images courtesy of Fwooshnet.com

You could also finnagle some boots from War's legs and feet. If anything, I'd take very thin plastic (like from a blister bubble) and create Batman's pointed boot tops, super glue them under the knee, then blend them in with putty to appear seamless. Dremel the wrinkles and veins of the feet and shape them into boots, then patch any holes with putty and sand.

Fixit's head will work very, very well, though, with a bit of shaping to alleviate the Frankenstein head.

[Blake the Foreigner]

Well, I popped off Fixits top torso, and dremeled right through the wheel mechanism, then filled the hole with hot glue. The arms aren't loose (Thank goodness!)-- Instead, there are just more places where the arms will "click" to. Not as good as a full range ball joint, but lightyears ahead of that stupid arms-connected-to-a-hinge.

I dremeled off the lever on his back, most of the clothes detail, and the pants sculpt around his shoes for a fuller range of motion. I connected a screw into his top torso and into the legs, to extend the torso a bit (Make him a little taller and less apelike). Sanded off most of the rough dremeled areas, and the rest will be covered and smoothed over in sculpey. Tomorrow I sculpt on the mask, the boots (I like the idea of wrapping a thin layer of plastic around his legs for his boots), his cowl, glue his cape on (With wires in the cloth, so it's poseable), glue on the chest logo, and It'll be good to go.

This will be the fourth DKR custom I've done. The first was a black costume Batman (Made from Movie Super-Poseable Leaping Hulk), the second was the Mutant Leader (Made from Marvel Legends Hulk), and the third was The Joker (Made from Movie Smash and Crush Hulk-- Seemingly an odd choice, but it has good articulation, and it was cheap. I dremeled away basically all of the arm, leg, and chest muscles and sculpted the suit and tie onto him).

Pics this week. [img]smile.gif[/img]