As part of my Naruto Shippuden custom project, I'll be needing to interchange some of the arms and legs to achieve the look outlined in my concept. This video tutorial comes courtesy of James over at LAMLradio/tv. James shows the 'proper' way to do this to avoid inadvertently cracking your torsos during the process. Be forewarned, just as heavy play and movement of the arms in the original torso can lead to loosening of the connection, so too can frequent interchanging.
As for the legs, many of the comments I found online were along the lines of, "Don't do it"...which made me want to do it even more! The issue? Many felt removal and reattachment of the legs was more difficult and carried a higher risk of damage due to the smaller, more delicate pins.
Not easily deterred, I went to Morgan19 and asked if he had any tips...and he did! In the artist's own words:
"Trying to describe the process amuses me because it's hard to put into words, but here's how I'd roughly go about doing it...
1) Make sure both leg/hip assemblies you're swapping around are attached to torsos– this gives you a greater surface area to hold onto.
2) Push the right leg up so it's angled forwards, like the minifig is kicking. That'll get the leg out of your way and give you a better angle to amputate the left leg.
3) Hold the torso with your right hand. With your left hand's thumb and index finger placed on the left leg's front and back sides (the thumb sort of rests in the front indentation between the foot and round part), pull it sideways away from the hips.
4) Straighten the right leg back down, and pull it off the hips– should be easy since there's no left leg in the way.
Then it's just a matter or repeating it with the leg/hip part you're putting the new legs onto, and pushing the legs back on. The trick is to get the first leg out of the way so you have room to grip the other one and pull it off sideways, with minimal wear to the hip peg."
I actually tested both techniques with success last night, so I can confirm they work (in my case) with no damage to the figure. Does that mean you'll have no damage every single time? No. But hopefully these approaches reduce the probability of damage, while increasing chances for success.
Not easily deterred, I went to Morgan19 and asked if he had any tips...and he did! In the artist's own words:
"Trying to describe the process amuses me because it's hard to put into words, but here's how I'd roughly go about doing it...
1) Make sure both leg/hip assemblies you're swapping around are attached to torsos– this gives you a greater surface area to hold onto.
2) Push the right leg up so it's angled forwards, like the minifig is kicking. That'll get the leg out of your way and give you a better angle to amputate the left leg.
3) Hold the torso with your right hand. With your left hand's thumb and index finger placed on the left leg's front and back sides (the thumb sort of rests in the front indentation between the foot and round part), pull it sideways away from the hips.
4) Straighten the right leg back down, and pull it off the hips– should be easy since there's no left leg in the way.
Then it's just a matter or repeating it with the leg/hip part you're putting the new legs onto, and pushing the legs back on. The trick is to get the first leg out of the way so you have room to grip the other one and pull it off sideways, with minimal wear to the hip peg."
I actually tested both techniques with success last night, so I can confirm they work (in my case) with no damage to the figure. Does that mean you'll have no damage every single time? No. But hopefully these approaches reduce the probability of damage, while increasing chances for success.
