Topic: Restoring Star Wars Action Figures: Neimoidian Commander - Revenge of the Sith

[Darth More]

In this topic I show you how I complete action figures, that are missing parts, with either original or custom resin parts. 


List of Contents:

Page 1:

- Galactic Marines - 21st Star Corps: Completing  - First entry (Reply #0)

- Completing Action Figures with Original Parts (by chance) - Reply #2

- Hasbro's Customer Service: Broken parts & missing accessories - Reply #6 - #8

- "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!" - Leg swap - Reply #9

- Fodder: A Star Wars Action Figure Bundle - Reply #13

Page 2:

- When Plastic Turns into Rubber: Taking Apart Action Figures - Reply #21



Page 3:

- It's time for some sewing: VC120 Rebel Soldier (Hoth) - Reply #30


- What you can find at your local tailor's  - even for free if you kindly ask... - Reply #38



Some years ago there was an Asian seller on eBay who sold 5 Galactic Marines from Hasbro's 30th Anniversary Collection for just $9.99 (and free shipping!!) You might know who I mean.
(I don't want to say "back in the good old days, when everything was so much cheaper...")
The only bad thing about this was what the figures came without the helmet, backpack and blaster!

They actually came like this:



So I thought restoring them would pay off and fun to do when I only paid $2 for each figure.

This is how I made it:

1. Making a mold of the original part.
2. Casting/Pouring resin into the mold.
3. Spray-painting a primer (black) onto the parts
4. Painting the parts in similar/identical colors
I use the acrylic colors from CITADEL by Games Workshop and I can recommend them to you!




Detailed front view: Painted custom helmet


Detailed view from the back: Painted and weathered cutsom backpack


Comparsion (front): Original figure (left); Custom figure (right)


Comparsion (back): Original figure (left); Custom figure (right)

[JDeck]

  Your resin parts look great!  I'd really like to know how this process is done, there's sertain parts I can never have enough of. I understand it takes a lot of money and hard work to do it right.

[Darth More]

Thanks again JDeck! Yes, you will get an idea of how to make your own parts by following this thread 

A couple months ago I got a second lose TBS Galen Marek figure from eBay. The second figure was missing some parts. Fortunately Hasbro was so kind to include some extra accessories with this figure! So before I purchased the incomplete figure I made sure that I could complete it with the original accessries. Now, I got both versions next to each other. For the one on the left I paid 10€/$11 and for the second lose one just 6€/$6.60.
I was just lucky here, but I think it's still worth sharing...
 

[FialaFernbrugg]

Your resin parts are fantastic as well as the paint job and the weathering of the parts.
Excellent work.

[Tamer]

Very nice tutorial. Let me go share this one too.

[Foxtrot Delta]

Those parts are near identical, real nice paint job

[Darth More]

@FialaFernbrugg: Thank you very much, mate! The pressure plate helps a lot to get the air bubbles out of the molds!

@Tamer: Thank you, Sir!

@Foxtrot Delta: Thank you very much! I am glad you like it!



So is there an alternative to resin parts...? There certainly is!

One alternative to resin parts is of course the Bay! You can find many original parts on eBay.

And recently I discovered another option: Hasbro's Generous Consumer Service

Here's the full story:

A couple months ago I bought a used TBS6 Speeder Bike with Biker Scout for just 10€/~$11.40.
Despite this great price three parts were either missing or broken:



Unfortunately the Speeder Bike's right handlebar was broken, the Bike's display stand and the Biker's pistol were missing!


Since I wanted to complete this great set somehow I contacted Hasbro's Consumer Service here in Germany. I had contacted them before in order to receive the leg replacements for TCW AT-TE or some missing sticker sheets. It has always been a great experience with Hasbro's Customer Service.
But with my request for these extra parts I was already expecting they couldn't help me out this time...

So I wrote them and asked if they actually "sold" loose parts of their Star Wars products. I emphasized that I bought this set loose and that it was NOT new when I got it.
The message took more than three weeks to be answered. I had to write a second e-mail to remind them and achieve a reply.
Since I attached some pictures to the e-mail I assume their spam filter deleted it.
So they apologized for their late answer and immediately asked me for an address where they could send the missing parts!

I was totally surprised! Before I gave them my shipping address I also asked them if they still had Greedo's pistol in stock, too, because my used TBS6 Greedo also came without it. When the package arrived just 3 days later the packing slip said that Greedo's pistol was out of stock.

Take a look what they sent me (almost for free!)! I only had to pay a handling charge of 4€:











And now it is complete, again! And I got an extra Speeder Bike (althogh still broken)!
A huge thank goes out to Hasbro and their amazing Consumer Service!

If you need original parts from Hasbro try it yourself and ask Hasbro for help!

I learned that there is only one precondition:

The product mustn't be retired. So as far as I know you can get every extra part for their current products. 

Cheers!

- Philipp

[FialaFernbrugg]

Your persistence paid off.
4€ for a completely new Speeder bike is really awesome.
Thank you for the information about the Hasbro Generous Consumer Service.

[Darth More]

@FialaFernbrugg: Yes, that's right. I'm very thankful for Hasbro's generous customer service.

Here are the other figures, which Hasbro's customer service helped me to complete:






I bought these figures from viperskingdom on eBay. They were all incoplete. You can still find some of them and others in his eBay store:

http://stores.ebay.com/viperkingdom/_i.html?_nkw=star+wars+6&submit=Search&_sop=2&_sid=1010532271&_sc=1

- Philipp

[Darth More]

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!"


Leg swap:


In 2014 I bought 4x TVC VC02 Leia (Hoth Outfit) for $6.99 each from good ole' tunghori on eBay.
When I sold one of them last year I recognized that something was wrong with two units of this beauty...







Your help would be very appreciated! I've never taken apart an action figure, yet. Do you think there is a way to take the hips and legs apart and interchnge both upper legs? Is it possible to fix this with boiling water or hot air?

Thank you very much for your support!


Update: See how this turned out on page 2, Reply #23 by follwing this link:


http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=10179.15



- Philipp

[FialaFernbrugg]

That is an interesting manufacturing defect.
I wish I could help you but I have no experience with disassembling action figures.

It is great that you were able to complete so many awesome figures with the help of the customer service.

[Jedi Minstrel]

You can use boiling water and I've done it even with running hot water.  And I mean hot.  I used the sink in the garage, right next to the water heater.  Makes a difference.  Once you pull the limb out, I would cut the end a little so that you can fit it into the hole a little easier.  I would practice on other figures that aren't very important to you first.  Good luck!

[Tamer]

Boiling water and heat gun are the best ways to get those apart, but yes practice with some crappy figures until you feel pretty confident. Great advice here.

Good ole Tunghori. Oh well you can't complain about his prices!

[Darth More]

@FialaFernbrugg: Yes, indeed! And I'm even more surpprised that tunghori sent me two copies with the exact reverse defect after all! If he had sent me just one error I would not be able to fix it with original parts.
And yes, I'm very thankful for Hasbro's great support! So if any other member on ISY needs original parts almost for free, that's the place to start searching. That's why I shared this.

@JediMinstrel and @Tamer: Thank you very much for the quick response and your helpful advice! I'll definitely try to fix TVC Leia with boiling water and luckily I got some fodder to practice with last week:

I found this bundle on eBay and got it for 50€/~$60 including shipping. It includes 63 figures...or at least what's left of them:









The pre-owner apparently is a child and I asked his/her mom for more parts and accessories, but she said that's all she got. That means more work for me, but it's also going to be a lot of fun!
If you look close you'll find many different figures from many great sets, which were released between 2006-2009. Whoever played with these, it was a true battle...there's is actually not a single figure left, that is complete! None of them...







And I already got specific plans with these here:




This is actually the second fodder I got and should supply me with enough material for the coming years. I'm very happy to have found it fairly cheap compared to what the figures had cost once. So stay tuned for constant custom action...

Here's a sneak peek of what I'm going to do with them:

- Mandalorian repaint
- Kal Skirata
- Stormtrooper repaints
 - Jedi Master Cin Drallig
- Clone Trooper Customs:
-- 327th Airborne Trooper
-- 327th BARC Trooper
-- 327th AT-RT Driver
-- AT-RT Driver Shock Trooper
-- 212th Attack Battalion Heavy Clone Trooper
-- 501st Legion Sharpshooter (ROTS videogame)
-- Kashyyyk Trooper with more camo deco
-- AT-RT Driver (41st Elite Corps) with alternatice camo deco
-- 607th Legion Clone Trooper


Best regards from Germany!


- Philipp

[FialaFernbrugg]

wow
Those figures saw a lot of action.
I hope you can restore some of them.