Upon release, the TakaraTomy Masterpiece MP-44 Convoy exhibited some quality control issues. If you're reading this, you're either already aware of this from reading about other collector's experiences, or you may have suffered a breakage yourself. Two of our very own TFW2005.COM forum members, BrutiKing and Jarrod are here to help you! Read on for all of their help for fixing the legs for this figure!

BrutiKing and Jarrod, thank you guys so very much for sharing your help here; you guys are certainly well appreciated!

 

This tutorial is for those who broke their MP-44.

This is also more durable than the unbroken original.

Here's how I fixed mine:


Step 1: Disassembly

This is the back of the thigh piece you want to take off:




It should Look like this when you're done:





Step 2: Ratchet

Here is the ratchet piece that all the breakage surrounds:




Apply the glue on the bottom of the ratchet on the "outside" of the ring connecting it into the inner calf. Also, I recommend using Gorilla Gel super glue to do this. It's very durable:




Put the piece into its slot and clean up the excess glue with a toothpick. Leave it to dry for around five (5) minutes:





Step 3: Reassembly

Screw in the lower ratchet pieces like so and position the ratchets as though the leg is straight. This will allow you to reattach the other white piece easier:




Put the knee back into the thigh and put the ratchet in like so. Screw the back of the thigh in:






Step 4: Finish! You're done. It probably won't break anymore. Life's Good. Now you can play with your MP-44!

Basically, I drill 3 holes (kind of like a triangle shape) on the back of the ratchet. Not all the way through. Same to the side in the inner thigh. take metal rods and glue them through. This kind of acts like a peg on a Gundam.

I’d also recommend the fix as a preventative for the breakage.

I have yet to paint it, but it seems to match very closely to Mr. Hobby’s character yellow. I’ll see if I can snap a pic for that.

Mr. Hobby is a Lacquer paint, so you have to be careful, since lacquers mess around with TakaraTomy’s paint jobs. Basically, get it right the first time or airbrush.

Edit: here’s a sample of character yellow:

Nah. Lacquer paints are pretty durable. You also have the tone you would like already below the paint. Priming is usually a neural coating that makes sure the color of the paint is balanced/even. Also helps paint to stick, but in the case of lacquer, that isn’t much of a problem. I don’t recommend hand brushing lacquers though unless it is a really small scuff. Hand brushing is quite difficult to pull off. Acrylics are better for hand brushing, but they're less durable. Mr. Hobby has their Acrysion line, where they have the same color selection as their lacquer line, but in acrylic. I believe their number codes are the same too. I hope this helps!

There’s a specific slot that the second ratchet is supposed to go through, and if you don’t get it through, the ratchet rotates in its housing and grinds away plastic.

 

Having this in hand, and seeing how everything works, it’s clear, that stupid little blue ratchet piece is absolutely the offender. Regardless of how tight that ratchet is, or how snug the white channel is, because it's a separate part from the lower leg is the problem. I can't see any reason why it's separate as well, and seems to be a pretty poor decision and bonehead move on TakaraTomy's part. The ratchet compresses inside the knee, so that small part should have no reason to move, and therefore no reason to be separate.

So, for those of who you have intact knees, here's some preventative maintenance I have done. Now, this could be completely avoided if you're just careful, and understand one specific point:

The most important thing to understand is, the tab, indicated by the green arrow, MUST slide into the channel, indicated by the red arrow, to allow the lower knee to bend!:




It should look like this:




BUT, the tabs on both my legs were a very snug fit; they barely slid, and I could feel resistance.

Likewise, the tab can be slightly misaligned. This is due to the tiny bit of play in the ratchets, but also the play in little tabs on the small blue piece. (Another reason this part should not be separate, because then there'd be no play there!:




If you tried to bend the lower joint, with the upper joint fully bent, but the tab not properly aligned, as shown above, you will damage the ratchet housing!

So, I took apart the lower leg, and trimmed down that sliding tab some. I first trimmed the "front" edge (red arrow) - the edge that goes inside the channel first - into a point. This way, if it was a little higher or lower, it could guide into the channel. I also sanded down the upper and inside edges some, which are the edges indicated the green arrows:




Lastly, I noticed during disassembly, that the ratchet part visible below, was kind of tight on the shaft (indicated by green arrow) and didn't slide up and down as easily as it probably should:



So, just to be safe, I pulled out that small ratchet piece and spring, put some hobby lube on the shaft, put the spring and ratchet back on, and put a little lube on the ratchet too. I don't know how necessary this was, but it’s better to be safe than sorry:




Finally, put everything back together, and I can now freely swing both joints back and forth with a smooth, buttery motion. I no longer get the stop with a little resistance before the second joint kicks in, and the tab slides right in and out of the channel flawlessly!

I think adding some oil/lube to the rail would probably be a decent option as well, if you don't want to, or don't feel the need to trim/sand the rail on the blue piece. And you're right: it would definitely be the quickest option. I think adding it to the ratchet is probably a good idea as well; it certainly can't hurt!