Help for fixing a figure

[foxilized]

Ok, I have a mold-a-rama Apatosaurus wich has the head broken off.

I glued it several times, but the head always ends falling down. It's hollow plastic so it doesn't really has too much surface to glue.

The biggest problem is actually when I put the glue on it. I cannot figure out a way to hold the two pieces together, since it simply cannot stand in the table in any position because the angle the sculpt of the neck is bent.

Last time I tried to stick the head in a needle, and then stick the needle on the neck, but it didn't really work since the figure is hollow and there's not much place to stick the needle...

Since I have glued it so many times, the surfaces are startid to erode too much and now the crack is bigger and fits worse and worse...

Can you help?

[Himmapaan]

Perhaps try using a thicker piece of wire than the needle (or something similar) and filling the remaining gaps around it with some epoxy sculpting material before joining the pieces. You will probably need to smooth over the seams with a thin layer of epoxy too, and paint over that once it's cured to match the original colour. I think glue alone won't hold it now. I know matching the colour will be tricky, but this is probably the best way to repair it...

[foxilized]

Thanks. A lot.

[Permiantriassic]

try using wax

[foxilized]

Wax? Hey, that's not a bad idea either!

[paleoferroequine]

Since I can't see the figure, I'm not sure why the glue wouldn't stick. I also don't know what kind of glue you used and what kind of plastic it's made of. But, if the head is hollow and the neck is hollow, then I would glue a carved balsa wood plug into head with gap filling super glue(CA glue). Allow it to stick out about 12mm and the glue this into the neck. Putty the gap and sand to shape then try to match the colour of the figure and repaint the neck. Well, at least that's what I would do. Also with the original glue job you could hang the figure with wire by the front legs. This will relieve some of the pressure. You can use masking tape temporarily to hold the head to the neck. Gap filling CA glue is a pretty good glue for all kinds of figures, it will glue styrene, vinyl, resin, wood, ceramic, metal, to themselves or the other types of material.

[foxilized]

Thank you very much!

The material is weird, it's some kind of thin plastic, also somewhat similar to wax. The Mold-A-Rama machines has the liquid plastic and then you insert a coin, choose a fig, and then the machine sculpts it putting the liquid plastic on a mold, you wait some minutes and the fig is yours. Keep in mind my figure is like 40 years old, so the plastic is very, very old... It's some kind of plastic that also is somewhat similar to wax.

I can post some pics of my broken fig, if that helps:



In that pic, the cut is still clean. But not anymore, since I've glued so many times, the surfaces has been eroded...

This is how it should be:

[[][][]cordylus[][][]]

Superglue. Hold it there for fifteen seconds and it'll stay that way forever.