Play Arts Kai Metal Gear Solid figures
 

I need some help, guys. I love MGS, and I recently purchased a PAK Solid Snake and proceeded to fall in love. This figure is awesome! All was well until just a few weeks ago, I was just casually posing him around and an elbow pad popped off. To make matters worse, as I continued fiddling around with him, the other one soon followed. Now, if any of you have this figure, you know that the elbow pad rests directly on top of the elbow joint itself. I don't know how to go about fixing this guy without taking the rest of gunking up his joints with glue. Any ideas? I knew of someone who fixed a Gray Fox figure with the same problem, but I never got a chance to ask them how they went about it. Any insight is greatly appreciated. This has been bugging me for awhile now.

Also, for those who can give me feedback, which figure would better go with Snake in terms of scale/overall playability, sneaking suit or jungle fatigues Big Boss?

That sucks. PAK really have to up their game for the price they ask. From looking at my solid snake, the elbow pad is attached in it's own pivot joint inbetween the elbow joint, right? Or is it directly part of the joint? If you could upload a pic that would help

I actually think you're right about the pivot joint, I just wasn't sure how to word that. How exactly would I go about getting that back in there? Just dab the ends in glue and stick it back or what? I really, really wish I could've asked the guy with the Gray Fox who had the same issue how he fixed this.

Also, I just realized there's a PAK general. Sorry bout that. I actually LOOKED for one before I posted, but somehow overlooked it.

well it's a sepperate issue -unless a mod wants to merge it with the PAK thread- but is it just the elbow pad that fell off, or is the part it's attached to broke? Because if the pad came off and it was a clean break then some proper glue, will do the trick. I like to apply it with the end of a tooth pick, so it doesn't everywhere, then press it in tight as you move it back and forth so the joint doesn't get stuck

I had that problem and it was easy for me to fix.

First you have to take a Hair drier and carefuly warm the arm. You can do this with hot water too.

Then pop out the forearm from the elbow. You need to do this carefuly, dont rush this part.

The elbow is like a revoltech joint. In the middle of the two pieces that form the elbow there's a gap. Inside this gap-canal or corridor ( sorry 'bout my english) theres a tiny piece of plastic that connects the piece that broke off, and the other side is like a ring shaped plastic that connects to the center of the revoltech joint.

You have to separate the revoltech joint in order to glue the piece in an appropiate way.

This part when you separate the two pieces of the revoltech-joint was the most difficult part to do, and easily take me more than 20 minutes to do without damaging the joint. I used to do this a hobby knife ( Im a gunpla-macross-kit modeler)

You glue this part that broke with super glue, cianoacrylate.

Then you put carefully all togeter.

Hope this helps

Its not difficult, you just need to be patient, or you can ask a friend with hobby-building skills that assist you in this surgery.

Saludos

Sorry to hear about the breakage on your figure, honestly everytime I think about ordering a PAK figure I do dread potential breakages. I have been lucky with the 3 I have so far, aside from the drooped silencer on my Solid Snake's pistol and the shoulder that likes to pop off on my Arkham Asylum Batman.

Making a new thread about this was fine, all topics don't necessarily have to always be discussed in the general discussion threads. For example if you made a "hey which Final Fantasy PAK figures should I get?", that's fine.

Great tips, thanks for posting.

Thank you VERY much. I will definitely give this a try once I work up some courage (I really, really don't want to break this guy more than he is already), or I may find someone else to do it for me if I pansy out. Out of curiosity, how do I go about bonding the joint back together safely? I've never done any repairs this extensive before, forgive the questions.

Regardless though, thanks tons for the help. I've been asking around various forums and message boards for weeks and you're legitimately the first one to help me out.

Also, I didn't mention it, but one of his arms likes to come off at the forearm as well (that PAK quality is just shining through in this thread). Thought it was funny that that ended up being a step to fix the elbow pads. But, with that being said, any way to jam it back in there nice and tight, or am I forever stuck with a generally loose arm? I coated the peg in some vinyl floor finish, and that extra friction helps, but it's still looser than normal. Bothers me a tad.

I would coat the peg with a tad bit of Krazy Glue, let it dry, then heat up the socket it plugs into a bit with a blow dryer, before reattaching.

I could definitely try that. Just with the floor finish, it pops back in pretty decently and stays put, but after a few days of posing, it begins to work its way back out. Bout how long should I blow dry it? I wouldn't wanna permanently warp any plastic if that's even possible (it should be obvious by now I rarely have to deal with repairs at all).

Literally just a few seconds, it won't take too long to soften up the socket. I wouldn't blow dry the peg though.

Alright, thanks a lot. I'll give it a try tomorrow. Is there even a remote chance that the socket will warp and be unable to support the arm at all?

I doubt it, so long as you only blow dry it for a few seconds.

Sounds good. Thanks for putting up with this question bombardment. I'll at LEAST throw some Krazy Glue on there tomorrow and plug it back in that way. Unsure if I'm mentally ready to tackle the elbow pads just yet. Opening up the elbow joint makes me cringe.

Make sure the Krazy Glue has dried completely beforehand

I will do just that. Before I turn the hair dryer loose on this guy though, would a dunk in hot water be a reasonable alternative, or is one considerably more effective than the other?

Hair dryer is quicker, just a few seconds

Okay. Got that part down for sure.

Back to fixing his elbow pads though...I can't help but think that sounds perilous as can be. If I were to just dab the C-shaped piece of the elbow pad (the piece that fits in the elbow joint's gap) in some glue, then carefully place it in the gap, I assume I'd run a big risk of getting glue in the joint, but I'm honestly leaning towards that risk; taking the joint apart sounds like too much for my nerves.

So the part attached to the elbow pad is broke then? Even if you dab on the tiniest ammount of glue, you run the risk of getting it stuck. At least pop the forearm off to allow you better access to the joint.
Honestly, heat and pop isn't as hard as you think. It's pretty straightforward -as shin densetsu described

I actually went ahead and tried just dabbing it in glue and shoving it in there. Didn't work at all, but his joints are fine, so at least I didn't screw up. I'll work up the courage to try the arm pops and elbow surgery one day surely. Thanks a ton for the help guys.