I wanna know too. I am in exactly the same boat as you. I heard about this thread but never visited until now. Amagad. No offence to everyone contributing fixes and putting real work into improving this product but this is a real nightmare from my point of view.

QC issues on this figure are putting me off. This isn't fair for the cost of this thing. I actually love doing repairs, tweaks and mods but man. This disappoints me somewhat. For the cost, repairs shouldn't be this involving. It's inexcusable.

Still I admire the work everyone is putting in to help each other fix Takara's mess.

 

Excellent stuff! The final version will be epic! I really do hope TT reach out (@TTemploy I'm looking in your direction!), because god knows you (and Jarrod) deserve their eternal gratitude for them not receiving 100s or even 1000s more returns than they had, and the respective profits not being lost

 

I completely agree this figure should not have the problems it does. Honestly my righy knee broke...but it also came down to careless useless error. I knew how the legs are supposed to bend, and did it wrong not thinking. I still haven't even worried about doing the fix though because he still stands and poses just fine. Now why Takara decided to make a double knee joint that is so pretentious is my biggest complaint. They certainly over engineered that part of the figure. They should have made the joint much less complicated and left the choice of how to bend the knee in the hands of the consumer.

My biggest complaint about my copy is how loose and floppy the hips are between ratchets, and how easily the paint scuffs. It seems to be a trend with Takara lately ever since Sunstreaker. My point though is, even with all the little problems that Takara left for us to deal with on this figure, it hasn't for once detracted from my enjoyment of this amazing figure. And I don't regret my purchase at all. I haven't been able to put this thing down since I got it two months ago.

 

So here's my biggest issue that I wanna fix.

I saw the paint document but noticed there wasn't any suggestion for hand brushing paints for orange. (Or is it the same?)

Also, how small a round tip brush should I get? This seems like I would need a pretty small one.

 

Me too
My headlights are chipped

 

The handbrushing section earlier in the document explains handbrushing. It's the same mixture. The small brush should be 1 mm in diameter.

 

So it does. Thanks!

 

This is one reason I don't use JB Weld: no matter how well I prep the surface (ABS, styrene, etc) with cleaning and light sanding, the damn stuff never sticks! I prefer Devcon Plastic Welder, as it works a lot better and cures in about an hour (max strength overnight, but will hold after 1 hour); it even comes in black (look for it at Home Depot in their auto section)!

What I would so is very carefully remove what you can using an xacto blade, followed by a dremel bit at very low speed (so you don't burn through the plastic!). Once cleaned out, then use plastic welder to seat and bond the pieces together.

I really feel for you folks on this one: HasTak really has a lot of nerve pulling this stunt! I also wanted to express my appreciation to everyone who posted pics of your disassembled MP-44's here, as it is greatly assisting me with a repair/ modification on my own project. Truly appreciate you folks!  

 

Hi there, I got my copy the other day.
Luckily, so far the knees in my copy seems fine, and as long I move the joints in the way inteded (first the upper knee bend, then the lower one) they shouldn't break.

I have the wobbly hip ratchet joint, and I tried the other night to open it up to try the card fix, but I renounced because the screws that kept together the 2 halves of the abdomen were kinda stuck, and I was unable to fully unscrew them.
Basically, they unscrew for what I think it was halfway throught, but then they refused to move anymore else.
The two halves were able to split a little, and I tried to snug a card piece in the space, but it was too hard to access the ratchet joint in that situation, so I gave up.
I also had an hard time screwing them back, and for a few minutes I thought I would have had to cut and sand them down in the position they were (they were still holding the abdome together)

Anyone else had a similar problem?

Also, my Sparkplug minifigure has the left hip balljoint stuck, and when I tried to move it, the balljoint nearly broke.
I mean "nearly" because instead of feeling the leg moving, I felt the plastic of the hip stress down and give, so I stopped before it broke, but I can already see some white, stressed plastic in the joint.
Probably, the paint made a "glue" effect when they assembled the minifigure.
While it's not an issue I would ask a refund or a swap, I wanted to know if there were some way to fix it.

 

If you’re brave enough, would you like to show me how far the hip screws go? If not, DM me and I’ll try to find a pocket of time to help you out. Thanks!

 

it may be a problem, since screwing back them kinda ruined the screw socket. I don't know if I'll be able to unscrew them again.
I can tell you that the right screw went out for 0.3-0.5 inches before stucking, and the left one went out a bit longer (maybe 0.7-1.0 inch)
that's why I thought there was something weird, I thought they would have been totally unscrew from the waist, but no matter how much I pulled, the 2 halves didn't came apart.

 

Is this screw?

This is very tight when I unplug for the first time.
I couldn't turn it with my finger, so I used a tool.

I took a picture of hip disassembly.

Be careful not to lose any parts. 

 

yeah, it was this one.

 

Thanks for the detailed disassembly on MP-44! That helped even further with the mods on my project!  up

 

yea. Just like @Draemonus said. Continue to apply enough pressure onto the screw to prevent stripping.

Also, @Sugar Beat , I didn't forget about you  . I can't seem to find my little bag of prime parts, which I find extremely frustrating. Sorry about that. I'll keep searching. If I find it, I'll let you know.

 

Question: I've got a minor flaw in my grey on the torso. If I were to touch up, but without going into mixing, what color would be best?

 

If the chip is small enough, a glossy light grey would work.

 

Thanks! Its smaller than a millimeter, to the extent that I think I'd better wait before doing anything, but figured I'd ask for future reference  

 

Anyone have a match on the white if I hand brush? I never have used an airbrush before....

I have a scuff on a hip skirt.

 

The white is a mixture of white and blue. I’ll get back to you soon, since I’m quite busy, but I wanted to let you know I saw this at least. Sorry about that.