Damaged During Transformation Help!

[SuspectimusPrime]

Some good news - the Loctite 406 has held a treat! The red piece that fits inside the body is turning sweetly and won't pull out from the arm.

I've yet to reassemble the body and try and move the arm once it's attached - that will be the ultimate test and will have to wait until the weekend.

Anyone else got any glue stories? What works? What doesn't?

That's some really good news Congrats dude!

I just got my Loctite in the mail this week, but I don't have my Bruticus head nor any Lego in Melbourne to try it on. Might run a few tests on various types of plastics (pen cap-clips and stuff) this weekend and see how well they do by next week.

[M-bot]

Not sure if I mentioned it before, but it's a lot thinner than I thought it would be, and hence difficult to control out of the bottle. My suggestion is to put the glue on another surface (ice cream or yogurt container plastic lids work well) and apply the glue to the pieces you're gluing with a toothpick. Latex gloves would not go astray either.

I think your idea of practice is probably wise too.

Best of luck, let us know how you go!

[M-bot]

The #$%@&ing mongrel thing broke again! AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!

Trying it over again. If this doesnt work, I'll be tempted to drill holes and insert a pin or something.

[SuspectimusPrime]

That's some really good news Congrats dude!

I just got my Loctite in the mail this week, but I don't have my Bruticus head nor any Lego in Melbourne to try it on. Might run a few tests on various types of plastics (pen cap-clips and stuff) this weekend and see how well they do by next week.

After a disgustingly long amount of time, I tried my first attempt at repairing FP Bruticus' left antenna.

Before going ahead I did query this advice:

Good idea to practice with the toothpicks. Lots and lots of practice.


From my experience with these small things, it MAY be easier to snap the piece off completely rather than try to repair it partially broken. It usually makes for a neater end product.

Good luck though.

Definitely went with the toothpicks, but a retired engineer said snapping the part completely off may prove more difficult because of the way 406 bonds -- it's easier to just get a smidgen, apply, and then hold the piece back into place. Same person also suggested to squeeze the bottle whilst recapping to prevent excess air from entering and affecting the product for future use. I went with that and am quite happy with the results:



The broken left antenna was hanging by a millimetre's amount of plastic, and hold on very well without stress marks despite being bent 30 degrees from its proper upright position - kudos on Fansproject for not cheapening on the plastic After a tiny amount, I moved the piece back into place for 1 minute, before gently applying tape around the head to prevent small movements.



Damage is unnoticeable by the naked, but the my novice skill level in applying is seen at the base of the antenna cylinder when under a bright light.



Due to the way the head is constructed, the antennae are moulded separately and then pegged into the sides of the helmet. The repaired left antenna feels stronger than the undamaged right antenna, i.e. if I push on the right antenna it will move the whole head, but the undamaged antenna will give a bit of leeway if you nudge it.

Very happy with the finished effect, but will NOT be transforming Onslaught with the FP Bruticus head attached again -- trying to get the antenna into Onslaught's fist holes is not fun. Will probably end up picking the Crazy Devy replacement LED head up as insurance now that its finally in stock after waiting half a year.



Final shot with Devastator holding up Bruticus' severed torso whilst Shockwave operates

[kup]

Awesome that you got it fixed so well! I cannot see where the antenna broke to be honest, if you had not mentioned it was repaired, I would have never known.

Yeah, one of the biggest flaws of this set is how awkward the antennas position when you transform the toy. I reckon that they should have put then on rotating peg holes on the side of the head like they do for MP Prime's smoke stacks but that may have taken away some aesthetic value.

[Trent]

Awesome job. I would not have been able to pick the repair if I wasnt looking for it!

[SuspectimusPrime]

Thanks guys! Yeah the antenna's really the work of the devil, especially since there is so much clearance in the front cab of the truck.

The plastic actually did not make any snapping sound - which is why I didn't find out until I looked through the fist holes and found it looked weird. Also, I wanted to take some before shots, but when I took Onslaught out of storage after 3 months, the plastic simply held its proper position like nothing was wrong (until you touched it). Really good stuff

[Radical Cuztom Works]

Try using Shelly's Plastic super glue, it comes with a primer texter and works really good, if done properly it pretty much welds the plastic together

[Iriorne]

While transforming Green Giant the other night, I managed to damage the hinge that allows Hook/Mobile Crane to fold in half.The hinge is still attached but as you can see in the image below, there's a fracture that runs on the back, top and bottom of the hinge and some fairly serious stress marking on the far side.


large

I had a look around my local hobby shop yesterday and they have the Zap brand gap filling superglue and I also saw a two-part epoxy called J-B Weld that claims to have the "World's Strongest Bond".

Does anyone have a recommendation as to which might provide the best fix? Ideally I'd like to avoid further damage but how easy will it be to flow the glue into the crack? Would it be better to remove the hinge to allow better surface prep?

My current thinking is that the epoxy might allow me add some extra reinforcement on the sides of the hinge. The epoxy cures to a dark grey, but that's a less a concern to me than resilience of the bond as I'm pretty confident I can mix up a close-enough colour match.

[M-bot]

Not sure about the products you've mentioned but I would give you 2 definite recommendations: 1. Take the piece apart before you do any gluing, so that you make sure you get absolutely no glue on any other part, especially moving parts, and 2. Give it plenty of curing time - impatience is not your friend.

The second JB Weld may be the way to go, even if it cures grey, it can be sanded back, so might not be too difficult to make less visible afterwards.

Make sure you update us on how it goes.