Been seeing folks using heatshrink tubing on some of their customs and it had me wondering if it could be used on neck ball joints that are too small for a head's neck hole. Instead of filling with the hot glue method or putty, use the heatshrink tubing to bulk up the neck ball so it fits. Like using plumbers tape but less adhesive residue and potential slipping from moving the head around.

Thoughts?

_________________

every custom! that need it, and some i mod to be able to use it as you can dial in a perfect fit.


any peg/hole can be tightened up. it's not permanent and is pretty easy learning curve.

ETA please use link bellow posted by dotd

_________________

Dude that link is spam.

_________________

it shouldn't be i just copied it from the wiki

_________________

i just tried it and it goes strait to my article in the jc wiki. maybe someone else can try it.

_________________

I think there's a problem with the unsecured version of the site, make sure you're using https and not http with links.

https://wiki.joecustoms.com/wiki/Heat_shrink_tubing

I have had mixed results with the reliability and permanence of heat shrink fixes on figures, so while I can't say it's a cure all, it has been an invaluable additional resource to try since 2Dark introduced it to the boards a while back.

_________________

i'd like to hear about the problem times dotd. i have damaged some plastic, and a few times had to reheat something that i took apart. it might degrade/abrade worse from figure to figure too.

_________________

also i had no idea about the http difference at all. i'll watch out for it from now on.

_________________

For me it seems like there's a "goldilocks" spot where it works great for tightening joints/sockets. If the ball joint just needs a little extra tightness, and the neck isn't too wide compared to the ball, one layer of heat shrink seems to work well. It's hard to describe, but if it works the first time, it works. But I've had a few joints where I tried to build up a.peg or ball with heat shrink and it just didn't "grip" well.

_________________

it sounds like you are not modding the head holes, just using it for slightly too big holes. i have torn the heatshrink so much in that situation that i began to open a head that fit like that a bit more. it started off a fix for me, but now i use it a lot. cast parts are rougher on it than factory parts too. also varying heatshrink thickness causes some to tear easier.

_________________

here is a pic of heatshrink i'm using inside a torso. the arms fit loose so added some at the shoulder pegs. using a fn waist peg for a neck ball and added some to tighten it up in the torso (dab of super glue to stay put while assembling). a "loose" piece around the waist peg to tighten it up. i use hot glue to reassemble torsos now so having the heatshrink on "moving" parts in there has helped keep everything moving too, i think.

what you can't see is heatshrink on the elbow pegs to fit nice and tight. lastly 2 layers on the boot pegs for the same reason since i had drilled them out before.

now i'm seriously considering abandoning this build

_________________