MAFEX Batman shoulder repair redux......
So over the weekend, because of the renewed interest in MAFEX figures, I decided to revisit the broken shoulders that plague the MAFEX Batman figure. Essentially the problem is the snoulder cups the hold the arms's ball joint is too shallow, and frequently cracks. While I thought the use of magnets to repair the shoulders was a good idea (that post is buried somewhere in this thread) , I felt it may be a bit complicated since you need a certain level of precision drilling.
So after some thought and experimentation, I have an easier and more secure technique for repairing the Batman figure's shoulder.
Tools:
Hot glue gun
Tweezers and hobby knife
Silicone lube or Vaseline
1) lightly cover the ball shaped arm joint with a thin layer of silicone lube or Vaseline. Use as little as possible.
2) fill the shoulder hole in the torso with hot glue
3) quickly insert the lubricated arm ball into the shoulder socket and do not move it for a minute while the hot glue dries. What you want is some of the hot glue to squish out and surround the neck of the arm ball joint, like a collar around the ball joint.
4) when the hot glue has cooled off, carefully check to see if the arm is permenantly secured into the shoulder socket. Because the ball joint was previously lightly lubricated, The arm should have its full range of motion, yet solidly locked into the shoulder joint.
If you see the pics below, you can see a thin collar of glue in the shoulder joint at surrounds the ball joint on the arm. In real life, this collar of glue is very difficult to see, and can be disguised with black paint. This repair is extremely easy and very effective. If you make a mistake, you can carefully peel off the hot glue with tweezers and try again. If too much glue squished out you can trim the excess away with a hobby knife.
This shoulder joint fix really makes the MAFEX Batman so much more secure, and the figure is still in my opinion the best representation of the Nolan Batman in the six inch scale. If the upcoming Catwoman or Joker suffer from easily broken shoulder joins, I'm confident this method will easily repair the as well.
Hope this helps,
BOBBY