HOW TO SERIES vol 1 Shortening a McFarlane Figure Neck Pig
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- Опубліковано 26 лют 2024
- First in what will be an ongoing series of HOW-TO videos, this one, a brief description and demo of how I reduced the length/height of a fairly standard McFarlane figure neck pig/post/peg, dumbbell looking part! Please click "more" for a more detailed explanation of the operation below!
I did not have a spare figure with the unaltered neck piece intact that I had not reworked yet, so forgive the lack of live demo of drilling out that specific part, but the dremeling of the neck post pieces themselves are a straightforward affair. And, unless you have a small vice, to hold the small, plastic pieces, you have to hold them in your fingers, and dremel. That sounds scary, but it is easy if you understand a couple of things before you start.
One: This is important, the plastic of the head ball will heat and can melt as you dremel, so if you use a regular drill bit, a straight shaft with only the front end for drilling, then the small parts might stick to the shaft as they melt and grab the whole operation out of your hand. Sort of yank it suddenly and with the drill bit lodged into the very small, now compromised part. SO, what I do is use a small diameter (matching the diameter of wire being used to reinforce the piece) grinding bit, with only a small section of grinding surface, on a small ball shaped tip, to drill with.
This allows for the bit of melting, and if you take your time, and push it in small increments at a time, you can make a hole as deep as you need, and hold it by hand without need of a vice. The only thing you do between presses is take the now melt covered bit tip out, trim it clean with a razor knife, and reinsert and go deeper. Remove, trim tip, reinsert, etc., until you get the depth you need.
You then superglue gel the segment of trimmed paperclip wire into the newly made hole, as far as it will go, leaving a little extra wire to go into the other part of the pig. Also, Insta Set the glue so it sets faster, and lets you move on.
Two: ALWAYS dremel and add wire to the removed head ball part first, so you can handle it better, and so you can set it into the now shortened pig neck piece that you also dremel.
The middle "neck" of the pig is as hard or harder to dremel due to it's narrower diameter, so take your time, use the technique described above in Tip 1, and dremel as deep as you think you need for proper reinforcement. In the ball step, if you leave a bit of extra wire sticking out, for adjustment, you can always snip off some to properly fit the hole made in the pig neck. Always allow yourself extra wire sticking out of the ball for this purpose. It keeps you in control.
Three: Once fitted, superglue gel the remaining wire into the neck, and InstaSet. Once that sets and dries off, you can apply some extra superglue to the edges of your join, so as to help support and reinforce the join.
And that's it! Reinsert the larger neck ball into the open neck, (using hot water to heat the open receptical part of the neck) then reheat and pop the heated head back down onto the upper, smaller, now re-positioned head ball, and VOILA! You are done!
Hope this helps those in need!
Les
I used this method to repair a shoulder ball joint that broke off. But i used a pin nail. It makes the joint much stronger.
Les - I’m so happy to have come across your video - I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that with your tutorial you’ve saved this figure for me - I was so disappointed in it but your neck post change makes all the difference. Big thanks!
Well, rock on! I am so glad I could help anyone get the figure they want from this one! I enjoy collecting the McFarlane line, and even with other brands coming out, I would get this one also. To be able to have him look better with an easy fix, is a blessing! It could have been a much harder. Let me know when you get your's reworked and that it was a success!
Neat vid. Thanks.
All I did was switch out the peg with a shorter peg from another figure.
Of course! If you have the peg handy, go for it! I didn't, but that is better of course.🙂
Thank you really appreciate your tutorial.
thank you for this
Hey, thanks! I really hope it helps!
Thanks for the tutorial, very helpful. Also kudos on detailing the belt with the black and adding gold to the gloves and boot tips.
Remember, not gold, bronze. A darker metal. 😉
You are correct sir@@LesWalker2023 Thanks!
Nice video dude just subscribed 👍
Wow wow thank you for the tutorial!!!
Appreciate the feedback! Best of luck trying it out! Have a battle plan, prep all the materials and take your time! 👍
Appreciate the video. The way I do it is a pop the head off pull the neck peg out Dremel down a little bit into the neck. Then cut a little bit of the top of the neck off then put the peg back in the the neck and then put the head on it by cutting the top of the neck just a little bit straight across when you put the head back on you'll still be able to articulate it
That's one way! Maybe less dangerous too!
Your voice reminds me of Arthur Morgan
Never heard of him, but I will check it out!😁
Checked him out! It's an honor to sound anything like Arthur Morgan! Thanks! Appreciate that. 🤠
I've done this to a Catwoman from The Batman. Swapped the head with a Mezco Selena Kyile.
Excellent tutorial 👍 Im not sure if I'm brave enough to give it a go though :-D do you know if any of the McFarlane head pegs are shorter by default or are they all the same?
I haven't taken enough of the figures apart to know what different lengths there may be, but there certainly are, as I have seen videos where someone takes shorter ones and uses them. I simply haven't found out yet. That would make a nice online service for customizing folks though, a site where they show parts and from what. Anyway, that's why I chose to shorten the one that came with the figure. It was easier and accessible for me that way.
I have never seen this figure before
They sold out pretty fast. Hard to find. I was lucky to get one. You do good work btw! Saw your stuff! Rockin'!
@@LesWalker2023 I'm from the UK I don't think he even got here😭sad he's my favourite batman on screen, and thanks alot dude👌
@@beckyross3210 I got mine today in the UK from Star Action Figures!
@@GeoDorn117 I have the fondjoy batfleck coming in 2 days, so won't need this anymore but thanks man👌
You know once the head is off, I always dremel out the neck hole so that the head can pop on and off with out having to heat up the head again.
Brilliant! Of course I never thought of that! Thanks!😜
@@LesWalker2023 glad I could teach you something new 😁😋
😎
Thanks, very helpful. Is there a cape tutorial. I see it looks like you have a custom cape on that Batman.
I do. I don't make too many capes, since there are some great sellers of capes out there, especially on Ebay. Just don't want to get into that market. It's plenty full.
did you remove the entire neck piece to attach the cape? was it tough to remove the neck piece? it seems to be on their pretty good
Check out my video regarding reworking the 89 Keaton Batman. In that vid I show what I did a bit better.
Hey Les, is there any way to do this without a dremel to make a place for a pin.
A dremel is the best tool. Not sure. Any micro scale type drill with the right size bit should work. I just like the dremel and bit combo best. Drill bits can get locked in the heated plastic.
Can you teach me how to do the legs shorter?
Not sure. I haven't actually shortened legs before. There are some guys on youtube that have, so I might search. But sorry, no experience in that or I would be glad to!
just heat up the bottom of boots with hot water or a hair dryer, pull the feet with the pegs out of the boot calfs, heat back up, cut off the bottom of the boot calfs with a razor blade/xacto knife no more than a quarter inch or so, heat back up if needed to re-insert the ankle pegs to see if they go back in all the way, if not use a drill bit the same size as the peg and drill the peg holes up little in the calf, reheat and pop the feet back on!
voila... shortened legs!
you can do basically the same process at the top of the legs/thighs but you have trim the pattern in the same shape as the ass cheek and thigh and drill the hole a little deeper but it's a little more involved and alot easier to fuck up!
@@scottmcclary594 thanks man
@@scottmcclary594Thanks! Never did that before but that makes sense!
Hey can u please tell me the length of the peg after the modification? Looks great!
Will do
@@LesWalker2023 thanks!
@@raygun310Sorry for the delay. Just over half an inch. About 13mm max.
@@LesWalker2023 thank you!! that's really helpful :)
Where did you get the head?
It's the head that came with the figure.
What number drill bit is that by the way?
To be honest I am not sure. I sized it by eye to the diameter of the paper clip piece I used to meld the two parts. I keep my dremel bits in a tool bit case and they remain random in there. It is a small bit, either a Dremel 190 or 191 carving bit. Regular drill bits grab on heated plastic. Ball shaped carving bits work a little better with small holes.
What cape is that
I made it from scratch. A nice piece of pleather I got from a JoAnn's fabric store. I need some more actually! lol! The pattern I based on the one layed out in the Batman V Superman Technical Manual. I didn't dirty it enough on the outside, but otherwise, it came out pretty well. The trick it to make it a bit long. Most figure capes are too short. Hope that helps!
Oh, and the wire I use is from phone line cable, the small thin wrapped copper line. Fold it into the edge with some applied fabric tac glue. Once set, it holds well!