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Chestplate Repair


shiyao

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How would you guys go about fixing this? i broke the metal chestplate at 2 points when sliding it down for battloid mode. forgot to release the landing gear, sigh.

(By the way, this item, a 1/60 Yamato VT-1 Super Ostrich - whole or parted out - is for sale: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=13384 )

post-4-1108714855_thumb.jpg

Edited by shiyao
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Ouch, that is not a nice break. I don't have a 1/60 here at the offce to inspect the clearance issues of that particular part, but I think that is a pretty bad place for repair. If memory serves me, from the perspective of the photo you have taken, the underside of the broken bar has a very tight clearance with moving parts underneath, but on the top (Again from the perspective of the photo you have taken you have a small gap.

I would personally probably try cutting somth thin metal strips from something like a soup can with a pair of tin snips in a U shape to match the top of the bar, then try using some Cyanoacrylate for metal (Super-Glue) or better yet JB-Weld (Can be found near the Epoxy resin glue in most major hardware stores) JB weld creates a tremendous amount of heat and must be used sparingly and with caution around the rest of the toy. Let that stuff set for at least 2 times the recommeded curing period and leave it exposed to open air preferably above the level of the canopy of the Valk so you don't get glue fogging.

The thing that sucks is, regardless of what you do, that thing is never going to be as strong again, and most any repair attempts are going to need to be repeated if you have to push on that piece hard to move it.

Before you do ay glueing though carefully inspect the clerance around the bar so you don't glue something in there that is going to preclude transformation unless you are turning it into a fixed position model for a diorama and saying screw the transform thing :p

Good luck

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it's not that hard to replace parts on a 1/60 since the design isn't as complex as the 1/48...you should try to find someone who has a replacement for that metal part you broke...btw...i wouldn't be selling it right away if you can easily fix it...but hey, poo happens...i broke the tab on the chest piece on my VF-1S 1/60 and easily replaced it with another thanks to a member here on the boards...i'm would assume that a regular metal slide thingie would work on yours...but you might not want to deal with the white though..

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Wow....that's nasty.

Considering how small & fiddly 1/60's are, the best option is to search out & buy a damaged/defunct 1/60 off E-Bay or some such and swap it out.

As a modeller & customizer, I'd have to say a long length of thick piano or carbon steel wire(thick as & stiff like the wire used in large springs or from my experience the landing gear in R/C model retracts) carefully bent into the outline of that piece.

One long, continuously bent length of this wire going around all the screw mount points at the chest corners. Then carbon fibre mat & resin build up, trimmed and shaped to the outline & thickness of the original.

Would take some knowledge of bending wire properly and laminating with CF & resin but would yield a durable functional piece. Very tight tolerances though.

The next strongest option might be 1/8 sheet steel, carefully Dremel cut to the outline & drilled out at the right spots. Thick aircraft aluminum cut the same fashion would do too.

Much hand labour. :unsure:

Cheers

Vesp

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cheers guys, that was very good of you.

the piece has since been bought (!) by chowser, who needed the good parts to repair his super ostrich.

i never thought about using a thin strip of metal though .. i think that would've worked ..

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