How do I take of the hands of a mego body?

[tothebat-tricycle!]

Since I got started with Mego's again, I've been wanting to know to disassemble
some Mego body parts, like the hands and feet, also, how do i make swiveling heads that can move up or down?

[PNGwynne]

Soak the arms in boiling-hot water for several minutes. Dry, & grasp the forearm firmly with one hand. With your other hand, wrap the hand in a hanky & pop it out. Or use needle-nose pliars to grasp the wrapped hand at the wrist, to extract it from the heated arm.

The forearm will need reheated to insert another hand.

[Megospidey]

^^^ that's the way, but if you leave it in for several minutes, it will probably damage the plastic.

I usually go about 20-30 seconds at a time. If it won't come off after that length, put it in again for that same length.

[tothebat-tricycle!]

So I just pull it out? does it damage the piece that keeps it together?

[megocrazy]

Not if you heat it in the water. It softens the plastic without distorting the shape. If you soak it for too long it will eventually warp and damage the original piece. 30 seconds should do it. I don't go to a full boil, but just short of that. I usually remove the wrist pin and take off the hand first, if it's a T-2 and just grasp the pin itself and pull. I have had some that needed to be heated to re-insert the pin and some that popped in fine without soaking. T-1's with the metal rivets can be removed the same way,without removing the hand obviously, but I always heat them to re-insert the pin because they tend to be fragile.

[PNGwynne]

"Several" minutes might be off, but I'm sure I've soaked arms for about 2 minutes without damage.

That's a good point about the fully-boiling water: I use a tea kettle to heat water. As soon as it starts whistling, I pour into a large mug and soften pieces that way. A spoon will weigh down floating pieces as needed.

[megowgsh]

^^^^^
Yep! What they said!