Thursday, October 4, 2012

The President's Internal Fixation

The reader is referred to my previous post regarding my TrueType (Obama's) fractured arm where I decided to either turn the repair over to my husband or to secure the broken pieces with tape or a Band-Aid after my initial Super Glue fix did not work.

Immediately after publishing that post, I decided I did not want to put a Band-Aid on the problem.  I wanted a permanent fix.  I consulted my husband to get his opinion.  Doc Garrett's assessment and procedure are outlined below:

You'll need to remove the inner peg from both pieces and create a stent [rod] to hold the two pieces together.


He attempted to remove one peg with a corkscrew-looking device he had on his desk, which bent the device.

This will have to be heated in order to melt the plastic to create a hole large enough to insert a wooden or plastic rod.  This might work better (handing me a metal math compass for me to do it). 

I took the compass into the kitchen, heated the pointed tip on a burner, and attempted to create a hole in the inner section of the upper arm.  Doc arrived in the kitchen to observe my failed attempt.  "It bent."  I said.

Doc:  You didn't get it hot enough.  (Takes it from me.)

He successfully melted the inner areas of the upper and mid-sections of the arm and bored out the plastic pegs from both.  Meanwhile, I searched the kitchen for a rod-like device.  He picked up one of my wooden paint brushes and said, "It needs to be something like this that will fit the holes."

Holes created in upper and mid arm joints using a heated metal compass tip



Rod created using a plastic paint brush

Not wanting to use one of my good brushes, I retrieved a yellow plastic bristle/plastic handled paint brush to use as the internal fixation device.  A section of the lower end of the brush handle fit perfectly after Doc trimmed off the bristles.   The trimmed end was super glued and allowed to dry but the procedure had to be modified.  The paint brush would not remain securely in place inside this hollow section of the upper arm.

Another piece of the yellow handle was trimmed to fit the hole in the mid-arm where it was secured with cement glue and allowed to dry for 24 hours. 

Next, Doc trimmed off the excess rod that was glued to the mid-section of the arm.

After trimming, this is how the internal fixation device (rod) looked before inserting into the upper arm.





The mid-section is now connected to the upper section and the lower arm is screwed into the mid-section as it was before the injury. .
Shirt, jacket, and tie are back on along with the hands.


With my husband's assistance, the President has recovered nicely from his injury and is almost as good as new.


dbg

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11 comments:

  1. That is great that your husband was successful in repairing the President's arm. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, GG. I'm glad he was able to repair him.

      I will handle the President with special care from now on.

      dbg

      Delete
  2. I am glad to see that the President has recovered from his injury. Thanks for sharing the surgery. I might need to do something like that on one of my dolls someday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome, Limbe Dolls.

      Doc informed me to tell you ladies that his doll hospital is open for business.

      dbg

      Delete
  3. Thanks for sharing the info for the repair. I have an action figure with the same problem. I will give it a try.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good luck with your repair, MDW. Do let us know how it turns out.

      dbg

      Delete
  4. Hello from Spain: congratulations to fix the President. I love watching the image of your president in a doll. In my country do not dolls with images of government authorities. Keep in touch

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Marta,

    Thanks for the congratulations.

    This particular figure was not actually named after our president but anyone can tell that the head was certainly sculpted in his likeness. Hot Toys labels him Toys TrueType - African American Male (Advanced Version) TTM-15.

    dbg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That should have read:
      Hot Toys labels him, TrueType - African American Male (Advanced Version) TTM-15.

      dbg

      Delete
  6. Now you've gone and made the President bionic!

    Thanks for showing this fix.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know, Muff. What's a body without a bionic arm? A broken action figure.

      :-)

      dbg

      Delete

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