How to repair a broken DD

For those that saw my last post, Yui’s Snow Day, know that although the shoot was successful, it also resulted in a injury to Yui… But thanks to a nearby friend (thanks Kevin!) with garage kit building skills and tools, Yui made a miraculous recovery ^^.  And since several people were curious about the process, I documented it with photos at each step which I will be sharing in this post.

how to repair a DD-1

The damage.  The shoulder joint peg had completely snapped off ;_;  We’re about to fix it though!how to repair a DD-2

The main tool: the drill.  We have a small bit (don’t know the exact size) that is necessary to drill the tiny holes required.

how to repair a DD-3

Some of Kevin’s other tools.

how to repair a DD-4

The basic repair plan is to drill two tiny holes in this rather small piece of plastic, insert supporting pins, and then glue the pieces together with epoxy.

The first step is to mark our drill holes on each side of the crack so they will match up.

how to repair a DD-5

Drilling the first hole by hand.  Getting the hole started in the right place without letting the drill slip is important.  The holes on both pieces have to match up!

how to repair a DD-6

Drilling the second hole.

how to repair a DD-7

We now have our pinholes.

how to repair a DD-8

We used a very small gauge metal tubing to support the epoxy.

how to repair a DD-9

Both pins inserted.

how to repair a DD-10

Testing if the pins fit line up with the holes on the other piece.

how to repair a DD-11

Once we decided the pins were sufficiently lined up, we opened up the epoxy.

how to repair a DD-12

The epoxy we used was for plastic models and came in two containers, one for the epoxy and one for the hardener to set it.  You mix them together right before applying to the subject.

how to repair a DD-13

A bit of epoxy goes around the pins.

how to repair a DD-14

We used quick-drying epoxy so we had to set the pieces quickly ^^;

how to repair a DD-15

The finished product!

how to repair a DD-16

After letting set for about 30 minutes, we attached the arm back to Yui for a rotation test.

all fixed!

The arm is once again in operation!  Yui is pleased :)

11 thoughts on “How to repair a broken DD

  1. Fabienne

    Ah Im glad that you were able to fix it in such a professinel looking way.
    the joint is fixed, Yui seems happy and shows us her nipple in the last picture(great!)XD

    Reply
  2. Wolfheinrich

    I had thought that would probably be the way to do it, pinning it and gluing the pieces back together. Being able to drill small holes and hold the handvice straight is extremely important, am glad you are able to fix Yui up :D

    Reply
  3. Smithy

    Nice to see the whole process of the arm repair. Though guess you’d not only need the tools but someone with skilled hands and experience at doing such fixes with small plastic objects.

    Reply
  4. lovelyduckie

    I’ve been debating doing some repair work on my 3 older Sailor Moon Figures. I was debating if I could make a nice smooth wood base with pegs and drill out the pegs that brole off on their legs/feet. But in the end I’ll probably just glue the two broken pieces of plastic together.

    Reply
  5. Blowfish

    Youre a sly one! Letting someone else do the work and getting a blog post as reward!
    I always wondered where I can pick up those Metal Gauge tubings…Never saw them here at shops

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Fabienne Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.