DOTM Leader Sentinel Prime's b**t crack: An impending failure
Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 3:36 amHi everybody, just wanted to share this, as a warning for everyone possessing this figure. I bought a MISB DOTM Leader SP, and after transforming it for the first time, reverted it to robot form, to put it on display, and something happened... It didn't want to stand up, kept on taking a... ahem... gratuituous pose everytime, it never could keep a standing position, if not supported by the water hose arm. After some inspection, i found this:
It was really dissapointing to find a broken part on a new toy, but alas, the only thing to do was to proceed to repair it. What i found was worse.
The bolt responsible for keeping the legs attached to the body passes through an area so thin and small, that it can't keep up with the bolt and inner springs pressures, so it WILL crumble, sooner or later, but it will. Plus, after gluing everything back, found out that also, the front and back pelvic pieces do not interlock, leaving the hips loose, and helping to the bending at the crotch area, responsible for the cracking if the lower bolt is tightened to make the hips turn tight. I had to sand the to pieces in order to lock in place.
Even more, the thighs are also affected. The springs inside them are so hard, that there are very evident stress marks around the articulation:
In other words, if your SP can't stand on it own, and you don't want it to eventually break, there are two options:
a) Sand the pelvic unions to avoid bending and look for overtightened bolts, and if possible, change all the springs for softer ones
b) Don't play with it
Hope this will be helpful for everybody else having this problem.
- Yep, that's a crack in the b**t...
It was really dissapointing to find a broken part on a new toy, but alas, the only thing to do was to proceed to repair it. What i found was worse.
- So tiny for a big responsibility
The bolt responsible for keeping the legs attached to the body passes through an area so thin and small, that it can't keep up with the bolt and inner springs pressures, so it WILL crumble, sooner or later, but it will. Plus, after gluing everything back, found out that also, the front and back pelvic pieces do not interlock, leaving the hips loose, and helping to the bending at the crotch area, responsible for the cracking if the lower bolt is tightened to make the hips turn tight. I had to sand the to pieces in order to lock in place.
- The gap is clearly visible here.
Even more, the thighs are also affected. The springs inside them are so hard, that there are very evident stress marks around the articulation:
- Shouldn't it be for the outer paint, this could ve visible outside.
In other words, if your SP can't stand on it own, and you don't want it to eventually break, there are two options:
a) Sand the pelvic unions to avoid bending and look for overtightened bolts, and if possible, change all the springs for softer ones
b) Don't play with it
Hope this will be helpful for everybody else having this problem.