I was messing with my Wreckgar after letting him sit for a few months. His arms were a real bugger to move back into truck mode, almost like something was stuck. Then I looked and noticed the stress marks. I'm not sure if they have always been there or not, but I am posting this so other owners can beware of a possible problem.

Here is a pic


The thing that worries me is that they are inline with the pin.

 

i just looked at my Wreck-gar and i have them too

 

Mine too...design flaw?

 

mine has one on one of the arms, yeah design flaw

 

I believe this was mentioned in the feedback thread on the toy. It seems to be a bit of a design flaw in the toy, as the steep slope that slides the arms up or down during transformation tends to put a twisting stress on the joint. It seems to help to pull the arms vertically when swinging them in/out, instead of letting the slope do it for you.

 

I acutally think i see a crack

 

one way to get rid of the stress marks is to use a heat gun. if your careful u can heat up the plastic a little and they go away like magic. just dont get the plastic to hot. i have done this a lot on old vintage joe vehicles and a few transformers. just be real careful. maybe practice on a figure that u dont care to much about or is cheap to replace. wont work on painted parts

 

I have this problem as well. Perhaps shaving or cutting away some of the plastic might reduce the stress that's causing these marks. Does anyone know of a mod?

 

Crap. Found 'em on mine too. =\

He's so difficult to find at this point, and with it being such a widespread problem, the cost to replace him wouldn't be worth it.

Dammit.

 

best and safest bet is to transform him as little as possible

 

Personally, the way I deal with stress marks is to heat up a bowl of water in the microwave until it's just starting to boil, then I dunk the stressed part in and out of the water as it cools, being careful not to get the plastic too hot. It's not enough to melt or warp the plastic, but it relaxes the stress on the plastic just enough to make the stress mark fade or disappear.

Incidentally, it also seems to keep it from coming back by relieving some of the tension in the pin joint. HasTak doesn't always put the pins in correctly, and I've had figures whose hinges simply cracked in half from minutely off-center pin hinges. Sucks.

 

Well, he is called Wreck-Gar, so some wreckage is understandable. Nah, really, anything like this always sucks. Don't they test these things properly before going into full production? Isn't that what prototypes are for?

I had that with a Universe Prowl where the pin had been driven through the knee at an angle.