What's the official recipe for popping off parts of the JLU figures? I know you boil them in water, but for how long? Do you put them right in the pot or hold them in the water with tongs? Does the water affect the glue on the capes?

I've got two Mr. Miracles one with a bad body and another with a bad head. I want to swap the heads to make a perfect Mr. Miracle.

I also plan on doing this with the current Dr. Fate and the upcoming show accurate version, and the traditional John Stewart and a Kyle Rayner figure. This will probably be the closest thing we get to Hal Jordan.

You won't be able to pop off JLU heads the same way that you do for other action figures (except for the Batman figure). Reason being that the peg that goes into the neck is rather large and not designed to be able to pop out. You can try pulling it out but you'll only end up detaching the peg from the rest of the head.

so how do you do head swaps with JLU? do you have to crack open the body, switch open the head, and then glue back together, or something like that?

Personally, I cut off the head and then drill a hole at the bottom and use a wooden dowel (they're cheap at places like Wal-Mart) to make a new neck peg

Uh oh, this thread is so going to get moved. watch! LOL

I find that if you try to boil and pop off a JLU head, you just wind up stretching out the peg and making the head kinda bobble. Soooo I just cut the little &%#* off. Then glue it to the body I need it on. I don't really articulate the head anyway... But if I can save any articulation anywhere, I usually try to.

I'm going to agree with the other guys that B&P doesn't work very well for JLU, but I'll go ahead and tell you how I do it in case you want to work on something else. I use a pyrex-type measuring cup and microwave the water to a boil. When I put the figure in, I dunk 'em head first and use the feet to hang them onto the rim of the cup so that I shouldn't have to fish them out (though sometimes the boil will knock them in anyway). Use a plain white towel (a cheap dish towel from the dollar stores works great, if you use one with print you risk having the design/color transfer from it to the figure) fold it in half and grasp the torso of the figure in one hand at one end of the towel and grasp the limb you want to remove with the other end of the towel and pull. If the limb doesn't pop right out, try the process again. Like JLU there are just some connectors that you can't pop and they'll either tear apart or you'll have to cut them like moonlight_knight78 suggests. I don't recommend trying to crack the bodies open unless there is already a gap in the seam that you can get a blade or screwdriver into and even then be very careful of flying parts/blades if/when it does break apart.



Just wait a bit for the upcoming John that's in a tradtional (read "just like Hal's") GL costume, then do the swap if we don't have news of a real Hal by then...

Whoops! You're right, I didn't pay attention to which forum it was in -- thanks for pointing that out! (I'll leave a ghost link in the Mattel forum, don't worry... )

I've done it by gently prying open the left shoulder seem (if the figure is facing you) and then working the head out at that point. That's how I put the Supes head on a GL body for my Hal Jordan. You are going to need to be careful and will need some sandpaper and some putty to seal up the shoulder seem once it's been pried open.

Gotta agree with the ones that advise to just cut off the head and make a new neck peg. I've tried opening the torso, and it always winds up being far more work than it's worth.

For legs and arms, boil and pop works pretty well. Except on the 9POA Superman and Batman. Those figures use a bar in the crotch piece that runs from one leg to another. Not bad getting the old legs off, but it's a nightmare trying to put new legs in.

Great info guys! Thanks!

Here's one more opinion -- I slice the head off at the neck, just under the jawline, and do the same to the other head. I drill a small hole in the decapitated neck and the bottom of the new head, and insert a plastic sprue (that's basically a plastic shaft of an appropriate diameter from whatever useless accessory you have in the parts box) in the neck, along with an dab or two of Superglue. Do the same with the head. Make sure you don't overdo it with the Superglue.

This is rather tricky -- if you don't get the cut angle right you can end up with a gap, or a head that sits funny. You've also got to line up the holes in the neck and head very carefully. BUT, if you pull it off, you've got a perfectly articulated head, because you never removed the neck post at all. The Superglue is tough enough to withstand turning the head, as long as you've got a sprue in there. I've done the same thing with screw posts (basically small screws with the heads cut off), if you really want to make sure it can take some wear and tear.

Second warning: Superglue often creates a whitish residue around the glued area that needs to be repainted or cleaned off. Try to make darn sure the glue doesn't ooze out of the neck join.

I am quite a guy from the 'old school' and I tend to crack the bodies open. This gives me the opportunity to better work on the adaptation of the body for a different head/limb, and ensure the same level of articulation as the original figure.

In the case of JLU I agree with Jim_Abel that it is better to choose bodies which have some gap to use as start. Be specially careful with female bodies, as they are more fragile.

My recomendation for people with not a lot experiencing in 'cracking bodies' is:

- Use a blade only if a tiny flat screwdriver cannot get the job started. That is, use the blade just to start creating the gap, but switch to the screwdriver the sooner the better.

- Actually it tends to be better to use two screwdrivers: one keeps the gap open while you extend the gap with another

- observe carefully the plastic arround the gap you are trying to open. If some white lines appear this may mean that it is about to tear there.

- Usually the body has 2 to 4 pegs inside connecting the front and back parts of the body. If you are lucky sometimes these are not glued and make no force against opening the body, but sometimes they do. In extreme cases, the blade has to be used to cut them loose. But be careful with this step.

- It is usual that the borders where you placed the screwdrivers deform a little (taking the screwdriver's shape). This can be sanded down or fixed later.



Actually the same applies in the 'cracking body' method, when trying to join the torso halves back into one. Superglue is great, but you have to make sure you it does not spread into the articulations. A trick: if it does, keep moving the articulation(s) affected while the glue has still not hardened. You may need 2 minutes of limb moving to make sure it does not get stuck, but it is worth the effort.

For those that cutt heads and stick a new one, please be very careful with the glue, as sometimes it tends to arrive to the shoulders' articulations, specially in the small female bodies. If that happens use the trick I just explained to avoid articulation lost.