15 Jun 2018 06:53:14
Hello MAS!!
I have been researching potential fixes and body swap options for RAH figures for a while now, so after a long struggle to find the information I was after, I just wanted to share I have successfully swapped out my 's body with an !! Yay!!! There is a known issue on some figures, and Light happens to be one of those, where on his particular body, the plastic joints will kind of dry rot or disintegrate and just crumble. Both shoulders did this shortly after I got him, so I did repair on those, but they were not a perfect repair....his arms cannot hold themselves above his head. They cannot support their own weight and just fall back down. The repair worked in as much as re-attaching the arms that had completely fallen off, but the connection after was loose and so it was hard to pose Light.
So did some digging and the Obitsu body seemed to be the most affordable option that I felt confident would somewhat match Light's pale skin tone and was also the right size (width and height). So, I bought my Obitsu off Ebay (as I didn't know where to get these, but next time I think I'd likely buy from the link I posted above). BUT...having said that, the Ebay seller was extremely nice and despite coming all the way from Japan with standard shipping options, it didn't take that long...maybe 2 weeks. The seller included a cute little origami bird and little print with a handwritten thank you on the back (I LOVE stuff like that...sooo nice!!!):
First I eyeballed the body to see if I thought it would work out. The new body was close enough in color (shinier though) but was slimmer through the arms, legs, and especially the waist. He also would be losing his nice abs and ass with his new body... :( BUT.....who sees that anyway, not like I constantly go over and pull his shirt up and his pants down...sooooo, no biggie right?)!! :D
The Obitsu body also came with two spacers that go near the feet and two that go up above the knee to help extend the legs and make the figure slightly taller.
Next I actually did a few tests, just to make the jacket fit okay across the shoulders, then did a full blown check on his entire outfit. It FIT!!! It was not quite as snug as it was on his original RAH body, but still fit quite nicely (loosest area was his pants in the waist area):
I also tested the hands, they swapped over just fine!! The feet on the Obitsu were fine, so I just left them on the doll...they even fit perfectly into Light's sneakers so no need to change those out!! So...seems like we are almost done right?!!
NOO!!! The neck piece will NOT work with a RAH, not without modification at least. As you can tell it is not the same and despite coming with like 3 or 4 different head adapters, none are the small round ball that needs to go inside Light's heads and they are all too big to fit!! So...a modification will be required!!
Ok, so I ended up using the smallest adapter that came with the Obitsu. It was the straight peg. I also will apologize, as this was a trying task to make this work and in my extreme frustration and annoyance (as I had to dremmel this outside and it was like 200 degrees - or it felt like it), I forgot to take ANY pictures of the actual modification process!!! WHAT AN IDIOT!! Anyway, so I'll just tell you what I did.
So in the pic I posted above, the middle lower adapter is what I used. It sits on top of the obitsu "stem" and a screw goes in the end to hold it in place. So....what I did is used a dremmel to sand down the column adapter and form it into a "ball". Then I also had to trim up the area under the ball to make it more slender. This was sooooo much FUN (no...not at all really).
So I finally get a ball formed on the adapter....too big, so after LOTS of trial and error, I get it to fit. BUT...now the neck is WAY too long. He looks like a giraffe when I attached it and worst part is his head didn't even cover the peg and go down over the larger part of the actual neck...AND it just flopped around up there. So....the part that comes out of the neck, I grind that down so the head won't stick up as far out of the neck. Finally get that down enough and NOW, the head won't go on because I sanded it down too much!! ACK!! So then I have to actually sand the neck itself down...so the peg sticks out a wee bit farther and again...after MUCH trial and error in the blistering heat, I get it. I will add though, all this worked out for the best though, as this cut down on the length of his neck a good bit, and after putting him all back together I can definitely say it needed it...otherwise it would've looked crazy.
**UPDATE** Ok, so I realize how hard it must be to imagine all that I just described and I was pretty annoyed at myself for not taking pics of this part (the most important part), so I did some photoshopping to help illustrate the process I just described above. Hope this helps:
Because his head does not sit snugly on a "moveable" neck like before, it is a bit looser than it was and has lost a wee bit of his mobility. For this reason I'm considering trying yet another body, and I actually ordered another off eBay today just to try it out, as it appears to have the same neck and head joint as a RAH - so we'll see. It's a Kumik male slim body, and you can view it under the spoiler below if you're interested (it was around the same price as the Obitsu too....so you can get either body shipped for under $30).
Kumik Male Slim Body - Click here for pic
***UPDATE***
So just a heads up the Kumik body did not work. Despite his pic, he was a much darker skin tone, thicker all over, his shoulders and hips were wider, and his neck was bigger. The jacket would not fit nor the pants...too tight. So, my search for a better replacement body continues. I will add another blog later and go into more details on the Kumik as well as anything else I find out by then however!! :D
***End Update***
Otherwise however, he works GREAT!! He has full poseability now, unlike before when he could not lift his arms above his head (they'd just fall back down)!!
OH LIGHT!!! I'm so proud of you!! Just look at you reaching above your head!!! Yay!!!!
On a side note....as I tried to lay out his old body like a corpse by him while he was celebrating and lifting his arms WAY high :D....his friggin hip fell apart and his damn leg fell off!!! Same issue as both of his shoulders, the joint was just deteriorated so a small bit of movement or pressure caused it to just fall apart...sooooo, really glad I just gave him a brand new super shiny body, as his old one appears to be on it's last leg (queue laughter, get it..last leg, literally?? - sorry I'm super lame...muahahahaa)!!!! :D
Anyhoooo....good news is he has a new body now, so no longer has to worry about RAH arthritis plaguing every one of his damn joints, and literally falling apart at any moment!! I am still going to try to see if I have better luck with another body, just firm up that head a hair (and fill out that BOOTY in his paints more!!!!), but even if those don't work out, I'm satisfied, as I can fully pose Light and he looks great, so I consider this a WIN!!!!!!!!!!
Whohooo!!!
Anyway, thanks for reading!!! And, if you ever find yourself in this situation with one of your RAH's and want to ask me questions..feel free!! I may not be able to assist, but I'd be more than happy to share all my experiences and research with you, as it's really difficult to find info on some of these older figures, which sadly are more prone to breakage....and the dear folks at Medicom can't help with these older fellas. :(
BYE MAS!!!
Oh, and just to make it easy to find in case someone wanders across this blog looking for general info on RAH fixes and such, below are the links to my other RAH blogs:
I have been researching potential fixes and body swap options for RAH figures for a while now, so after a long struggle to find the information I was after, I just wanted to share I have successfully swapped out my 's body with an !! Yay!!! There is a known issue on some figures, and Light happens to be one of those, where on his particular body, the plastic joints will kind of dry rot or disintegrate and just crumble. Both shoulders did this shortly after I got him, so I did repair on those, but they were not a perfect repair....his arms cannot hold themselves above his head. They cannot support their own weight and just fall back down. The repair worked in as much as re-attaching the arms that had completely fallen off, but the connection after was loose and so it was hard to pose Light.
So did some digging and the Obitsu body seemed to be the most affordable option that I felt confident would somewhat match Light's pale skin tone and was also the right size (width and height). So, I bought my Obitsu off Ebay (as I didn't know where to get these, but next time I think I'd likely buy from the link I posted above). BUT...having said that, the Ebay seller was extremely nice and despite coming all the way from Japan with standard shipping options, it didn't take that long...maybe 2 weeks. The seller included a cute little origami bird and little print with a handwritten thank you on the back (I LOVE stuff like that...sooo nice!!!):
First I eyeballed the body to see if I thought it would work out. The new body was close enough in color (shinier though) but was slimmer through the arms, legs, and especially the waist. He also would be losing his nice abs and ass with his new body... :( BUT.....who sees that anyway, not like I constantly go over and pull his shirt up and his pants down...sooooo, no biggie right?)!! :D
The Obitsu body also came with two spacers that go near the feet and two that go up above the knee to help extend the legs and make the figure slightly taller.
Next I actually did a few tests, just to make the jacket fit okay across the shoulders, then did a full blown check on his entire outfit. It FIT!!! It was not quite as snug as it was on his original RAH body, but still fit quite nicely (loosest area was his pants in the waist area):
I also tested the hands, they swapped over just fine!! The feet on the Obitsu were fine, so I just left them on the doll...they even fit perfectly into Light's sneakers so no need to change those out!! So...seems like we are almost done right?!!
NOO!!! The neck piece will NOT work with a RAH, not without modification at least. As you can tell it is not the same and despite coming with like 3 or 4 different head adapters, none are the small round ball that needs to go inside Light's heads and they are all too big to fit!! So...a modification will be required!!
Ok, so I ended up using the smallest adapter that came with the Obitsu. It was the straight peg. I also will apologize, as this was a trying task to make this work and in my extreme frustration and annoyance (as I had to dremmel this outside and it was like 200 degrees - or it felt like it), I forgot to take ANY pictures of the actual modification process!!! WHAT AN IDIOT!! Anyway, so I'll just tell you what I did.
So in the pic I posted above, the middle lower adapter is what I used. It sits on top of the obitsu "stem" and a screw goes in the end to hold it in place. So....what I did is used a dremmel to sand down the column adapter and form it into a "ball". Then I also had to trim up the area under the ball to make it more slender. This was sooooo much FUN (no...not at all really).
So I finally get a ball formed on the adapter....too big, so after LOTS of trial and error, I get it to fit. BUT...now the neck is WAY too long. He looks like a giraffe when I attached it and worst part is his head didn't even cover the peg and go down over the larger part of the actual neck...AND it just flopped around up there. So....the part that comes out of the neck, I grind that down so the head won't stick up as far out of the neck. Finally get that down enough and NOW, the head won't go on because I sanded it down too much!! ACK!! So then I have to actually sand the neck itself down...so the peg sticks out a wee bit farther and again...after MUCH trial and error in the blistering heat, I get it. I will add though, all this worked out for the best though, as this cut down on the length of his neck a good bit, and after putting him all back together I can definitely say it needed it...otherwise it would've looked crazy.
**UPDATE** Ok, so I realize how hard it must be to imagine all that I just described and I was pretty annoyed at myself for not taking pics of this part (the most important part), so I did some photoshopping to help illustrate the process I just described above. Hope this helps:
Because his head does not sit snugly on a "moveable" neck like before, it is a bit looser than it was and has lost a wee bit of his mobility. For this reason I'm considering trying yet another body, and I actually ordered another off eBay today just to try it out, as it appears to have the same neck and head joint as a RAH - so we'll see. It's a Kumik male slim body, and you can view it under the spoiler below if you're interested (it was around the same price as the Obitsu too....so you can get either body shipped for under $30).
Kumik Male Slim Body - Click here for pic
***UPDATE***
So just a heads up the Kumik body did not work. Despite his pic, he was a much darker skin tone, thicker all over, his shoulders and hips were wider, and his neck was bigger. The jacket would not fit nor the pants...too tight. So, my search for a better replacement body continues. I will add another blog later and go into more details on the Kumik as well as anything else I find out by then however!! :D
***End Update***
Otherwise however, he works GREAT!! He has full poseability now, unlike before when he could not lift his arms above his head (they'd just fall back down)!!
OH LIGHT!!! I'm so proud of you!! Just look at you reaching above your head!!! Yay!!!!
On a side note....as I tried to lay out his old body like a corpse by him while he was celebrating and lifting his arms WAY high :D....his friggin hip fell apart and his damn leg fell off!!! Same issue as both of his shoulders, the joint was just deteriorated so a small bit of movement or pressure caused it to just fall apart...sooooo, really glad I just gave him a brand new super shiny body, as his old one appears to be on it's last leg (queue laughter, get it..last leg, literally?? - sorry I'm super lame...muahahahaa)!!!! :D
Anyhoooo....good news is he has a new body now, so no longer has to worry about RAH arthritis plaguing every one of his damn joints, and literally falling apart at any moment!! I am still going to try to see if I have better luck with another body, just firm up that head a hair (and fill out that BOOTY in his paints more!!!!), but even if those don't work out, I'm satisfied, as I can fully pose Light and he looks great, so I consider this a WIN!!!!!!!!!!
Whohooo!!!
Anyway, thanks for reading!!! And, if you ever find yourself in this situation with one of your RAH's and want to ask me questions..feel free!! I may not be able to assist, but I'd be more than happy to share all my experiences and research with you, as it's really difficult to find info on some of these older figures, which sadly are more prone to breakage....and the dear folks at Medicom can't help with these older fellas. :(
BYE MAS!!!
Oh, and just to make it easy to find in case someone wanders across this blog looking for general info on RAH fixes and such, below are the links to my other RAH blogs:
