Transformed mine multiple times, no cracks whatsoever. Perhaps its environmental; I hear that drier areas cause problems with clear plastic.

 

Well, I guess clear plastic tends to have a pretty spotty reputation where sturdiness is concerned and tends to lean more on the brittle side of things. Admittedly, having heard negative things about clear plastic over the years, I do cringe inwardly when pegging the windshield into the body of the motorcycle for vehicle mode, and unpegging it again. I have to say that I don't know anything about environmental factors affecting the plastic though. Just trying to see if there's anything I can do to minimize that risk of cracking.

 

I've heard rumours that clear plastic does better in coastal areas than it does inward with drier air. Low humidity can cause the plastic to become brittle and break.

It's why people have reported their clear plastic breaking after transforming them once in a blue moon, whilst I do it regularly and have no problems.

 

This could explain why I seldom have had the problems so many other people seem to complain about....

 

Mine hasn`t had any problems what so ever . Thank the GOD`s .

 

Haven't had any issues, my UW Computron is still pristine  

Rule of Thumb... don't exert excessive force on clear plastic parts, especially if you have to force parts together and fitment is tighter than what's ideal.

 

Well, I do live in a coastal area, so I don't know if environmental factors is an issue, though I won't necessarily discount it, since it can be rather hot at some points in the year. My own UW Computron is still fine, however, I usually keep it in combined mode as a display piece and don't often fiddle with it, so that might have been a factor.

So I guess I could use some advice in that sense regarding this issue. What have people done in order to prevent "excessive force"? I understand that pegging the windshield piece into the figure (as was intended by the designers) for vehicle mode might be a factor, since the fit can be rather tight, so do people not do it at all, or rarely do it? I suppose the same can apply to plugging the HFG into the hole at the top of the windshield and removing it from there, as the instructions tell you to do, since the fit on that can also be quite tight. Do people also not do that? I rarely do that to Afterburner or the rest of the Technobots, since I think the HFG storage in vehicle as the instructions have it is rather unappealing aesthetically.

Not sure how to really help my friends though, apart from them getting replacement figures, since I doubt it's all that easy to fix cracks in clear plastic without there still being obvious signs of damage. Handing and treating damages to clear plastic isn't my specialty, and this is coming from someone who fixes figures on a fairly regular basis.

 

For stubborn/tight pegs, I use ultra-fine, high grit sandpaper, wrap it around the peg and spin it around till I get the ideal fitment I want. Don't overdo it though or you'll end up with a peg too small and too loose to hold any useful friction.

 

Yeah, I think that's a fairly likely fix for that windshield peg, since I know some people mentioned how tight it can be when plugging it into the figure for motorcycle mode. Did you do it to your own Afterburner? I suppose the other thing is fitting the HFG into the windshield hole the way the instructions tell you, but that looks a tad ridiculous aesthetically, and I don't know who really does it often.

 

Didn't need to on mine as it wasn't terribly tight. I've only done it on a few weapons that fit a lot tighter than I would like, but it's certainly a fix that can be applied to any round post/peg.

 

That's fair enough. I suppose there are still some people who don't like to use that peg at all since pegging and unpegging it still entails flexing (and probably stressing) plastic in some way. Do you commonly peg the HFG into the hole on the windshield for vehicle mode like the instructions mention? I think some of my friends did that quite a bit, and as the fit can be somewhat tight between the HFG and that hole, I suspect it might have been a contributory factor to any cracking they experienced.

What grit of sandpaper do you normally use? I tend to use 220 grit, but that might still be rather rough.

Sorry for asking so many questions, just would like to get some advice on how to handle these issues for future reference.

 

No worries, I don't like having to risk ruining my figures either... even on just the accessories.

I use 800 grit, then wet sand with 1000 to clean and polish it up. Just 1-2 full rotation(s) with 800 grit as you need to be very careful not to take off too much material; any adjustments afterwards can be made with the polishing/finishing with 1000.

 

If the peg seems too tight, try sanding it down just a tad.

Or see if you can contact the seller or Takara for a replacement piece if it happened shortly after buying it.

 

Ah, I see. Thanks, that's very helpful. I suppose one will have to go for a slow and methodical approach when doing this. I'll take a look at both my Computrons (I have both the CW and UW versions) and see how to approach this. Addmittedly, no matter what I do, I'd probably still be nervous transforming those figures but that's probably more of a psychological thing on my part.

Considering that it's been a significant amount of time since the UW Computron set came out, my friends don't live in Japan, and they noticed this cracking issue fairly recently, I think contacting Takara is pretty much out of the question. Last I checked, Takara seems only concerned with addressing Japanese customers of their products and not international ones. It certainly does suck when issues start creeping up on figures long after you purchased it and a significant amount of time beyond redress from customer service.

 

Well bugger.

 

Exactly, I think the only realistic remedy for my friends is to probably buy a new figure off ebay or something, likely at scalpers' prices.

 

Don't bother. Keep a close eye on Facebook groups; they've got better prices.

 

Alright, I'll let them know that. Thanks for the advice. Are there any groups you recommend in particular for buying and selling figures in general?

 

You need to check our own Junkion Exchange, mate. I got a few figures for a good price there.

 

I suppose that is another option, yes.