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Hip Replacement for Vintage GIjOEs #2 This article originally appeared on the "Unofficial Action Man HQ Forum" found HERE. We repost it here for your enlightenment and edification. It's author, "lui66" has clearly devised a very straightforward, minimally invasive procedure for upgrading the hips and legs of vintage GijOEs and Action Men, and we are VERY appreciative of his efforts to share this information with the worldwide GIjOE / Action Man community. Here's how he described this clever procedure:
1. Start with a pair of CC Joe legs that have been removed from the torso (see picture above). I find it's easier to let the bodies soak in hot water for a while first and THEN pull them apart. The heat softens the plastic so nothing breaks while being pulled apart. (Poor CC Joe!)
2. This next photo shows a close up of a nice clean "pull apart job" and everything is still intact. Notice that ball joint at the top? That is what you'll use to attach these legs to a vintage style GIjOE torso and neck post.
3. Excuse the change in color of the legs; this is a classic case of one I made earlier! Next, you'll want to drill a hole with a 3mm drill bit going through the ball socket. CAREFUL! The ball joint is not solid so take care when drilling. I center up the hole first with a sharp point so the tip of the drill bit has somewhere to go when I squeeze the trigger. I will explain later why I drill the hole instead of using the actual hollow part of the ball to thread the elastic through.
4. These are the bits you'll need to attach the torso to the legs; one vintage GIjOE torso, one vintage neck post, one vintage neck post hook and about a yard of 3-4mm round elastic shock cord (found everywhere online). I use elastic in lengths of one yard at a time as this gives me plenty to pull on and I can usually string up to about 5 to 6 figures with this amount.
5. The next thing to do is to thread the elastic as shown. Pull one end through the drilled holes in the ball joint. The other end goes up through the torso, through the neck, through the neck post hook, back down into the torso and through the waist.
6. Here's a close-up of the torso and the elastic threaded through the neck post hook.
7. Here's a close-up of the elastic through the newly-drilled holes in the ball socket of the legs.
8. Next, you'll want to make a loop at the end of the elastic that was pulled through the ball joint. This loop will be pulled tight at the end when the parts are finally being tensioned together. It's important that all knots are tight to use the tension of the elastic to hold the other end in place when it is threaded through that loop.
9. Thread the other end of the elastic through the loop. The loop should be pulled tight once the elastic has been pulled through as this will help hold the elastic together and in place.
10. Pull the elastic to close up the loop around the elastic that has been threaded through it. Then pull the other end of the elastic until it's nice and tight. This elastic cord is quite resilient and very strong, so it won't snap.
11. As the elastic is pulled, all the parts will come together and the tension holds it all in place. Here you can see one end of the elastic where the loop was tied, and the other end that was pulled through.
12. If all has worked, well the figure should look like this and the tension should be nice and tight.
13. Once its all pulled together and the tension is tight, the waist should be able to move without any floppiness. Next, tie a knot in the elastic and pull it so its close to the where it sticks out of the waist (see picture above). The knot should keep the elastic together if the tension becomes loose with 'play'. When I first started making these, I just tied the elastic together but my fingers suffered major 'rope' burns pulling it as tight as I could. I tried this alternative which leaves my fingers intact and pulls the figure together tightly. With GIjOE and vintage Action Man, tension is the name of the game!
13. Finally, cut the excess elastic, slip the knotted end INSIDE the torso and he's ready to go! Your new, improved GIjOE / Action Man should look like the one pictured above. As you can see, our happy GIjOE has new longer legs that have a slightly better range of motion. And of course, he can now (finally) kneel and sit without any trouble. So there you have it; an idea that was in my head for years that was finally put together at the beginning of the year. I knew what I wanted to do, I just had to figure it out and as with these kinds of ideas it finally came to me one Sunday morning and I just did it. The prototype version was a lot more complicated and tension was a major problem, but I just went back to the original vintage Joe design and utilized it to my advantage. WHY DRILL THE HOLE? My idea behind this conversion was to try and do it without too much cost involved. Hence the drilling of the hole in the ball joint. Using the hollow part of the ball would have meant having to find a way to keep the elastic in place. As the ball is open at the top, the elastic would just slip through without something to keep it in place. I suppose you could glue in a piece of tubing and then thread the elastic through that, but that means buying glue and buying the tubing. The only costs involved with this modification, aside from the CC GIjOE legs (which I have many spares of), is the 3mm elastic shock cord. Good luck! ---lui66 Please submit YOUR tips-n-tricks via e-mail today. ---Thanks! And Don't Miss... Collections
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