OK. So before I tear apart 2 decent shockwaves to make one good one, does anyone have advice or words of warning before I begin. My primary mission is to take the head from the more beatup shockwave and replace it with the one which has a perfect C9 body but a crazy glued head. My current worry is the springs near the arms. Once I open the back screws will they come flying out and make it difficult to reassemble? Is there an easy way to swap the heads without too much disassembly? What are my worries here? The separation of the legs are really stiff. Any lubricant recommendations? Or just leave it. Any tricks of the trades for repairing the loose non standing legs? Clear nail polish work well? Used this with other bots to fix this problem. Thanks for your wisdom.
Sorting out legs on Shockwave is fairly easy: A few layers of clear tape (such as Sellotape) on the inside piece of each lower leg will fix that right up. You'll have to experiment to see how many layers you'll need, depending on the thickness of the tape. Nail polish won't usually cut it.
Question about the tape. Do you know what the durabilty of it is? I mean my fear would be that tape over time loosens as the glue dries out. Of course this is usually years. Of course how does it feel as well. Does it feel like tape is there when you transform. The Nail polish on the Megatron/Shrapnel/ & Sandstorm I applied needed 2 applications and that fixed the problem permanently. They feel like they were brand new and tight. But your right shockwave is a bit different and alot heavier. So if nail polish won't work in this case I won't even try it. But usually its a matter of finding the exact place to apply it and that adds the thickness needed to hold the bot in standing position.
Well, the tape has been in there since I got it (getting on for 2 years plus now), and it's still fine. It doesn't feel like there's tape in there, no. The problem with the nail polish is that you would have to coat pretty much the entire of the inside of his leg quite a few times; tape's just a hell of a lot easier. Plus, polish will wear over time; tape seems to keep its thickness.
Thanks, that really is good to know. I will go the tape route then. I guess another aspect that is good about tape is that it is removable as well. Now what about removal of the head. Anyone an expert in this area? Or how about opening up the chest area from the back. Any advice.
Ok. So good news. Decided to take a jump off the deep end and decided to give the head swap a try. Of course starting on the junker bot. Simply slowly remove the 2 main screws at the top back of Shockwave. But DO NOT remove them all the way. As you do this the front top part of Shockwave will loosen from the back. You should eventually have enough of a gap to slide the head out. Then slide in the new head making sure the spring fits into the base hole of the head piece. This can be a bit tricky so take your time. Then VERY slowly screw the back screws back in. They should begin to close up tightly. That its. Awesome.
In regards to the legs. I opened one of them up and found out the reason why the legs or probably so loose. 3 of the 4 screws have broken the plastic from which they screwed into off. Any idea how to fix that? Or am I royally screwed. Maybe a longer screw. Any suggestions on what type? Thanks.
the loose legs(usually the left one) is a design issue.(Shockwave itself is plagued with those kind of problems, very very fragile toy) They use a small square hole to try hold the peg, and the hole is just not deep enough to do the job, the leg pegs are also too small and can easily get worn out. This design might work on light weighted toys, but shockwave is not a light one. I was actually thinking about sharpen the hole(and make it deeper), then use superglue to make extra layers on the leg pegs. But my shockwave is not "junk" enough for me to attempt this. Seems like they are still making the same mistake 20 years later, remember titanium soundwave?
After about 5 layers of tape and fixing my screw issue its a little tighter but has the same issue. Here is another thought about the leg issue. What about adding the clear nail polish to the top part of the leg instead on the lower section like in the picture above. I think this is the piece that actually is locking the upper leg with the lower leg. It also looks worn, which indicates its must be the plastic piece that has lost its thickness. I am going to try applying this piece with a few layers of nail polish and get back to you all. But I think this might fix him up and fix the leg issue forever.
