Reparing dinos

[biniou24]

Hi, I've already repaired some dinoriders (a beak, a mecanism, some seats, torosaurus' lights, etc.) and other toys, and I think it may be a good idea to have a topic to ask/give some help repairing these toys.


My triceratops works fine, except for one leg. I would like to open him and repair it, but once the two screws are out, it still remains shut.

Does anybody have already "opened" a triceratops or a torosaurus ?

Thanks 

modification: triceratops repaired, see pictures below

[biniou24]

I have another question:
Is it normal that lights of my torosaurus are so weak ? And that the right light is weaker than the left one ?

[biniou24]

(no luck)

Can anybody try to put the helmet of the Saurolophus on Kentrosaurus' head, and take a picture ? 

To see if Sauro's helmet can replace Kentro's (I may buy a kentro which is missing his helmet, and wonder if it can be cool with sauro's once cutted a little and painted).

[biniou24]

(maybe it's worthless but...)

Here is a movie of the mecanism / motorization (triceratops).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jlg-QWDONl4&

And here are some pictures to show how to open this toy.
WARNING !!!
You have about 90% probability to break some plastic parts by opening if (especially the tail). Do it at your own risk (I would say DON'T do it...)
And note that by opening this toy, it will slightly damage the painting, because this toy is painted once the two parts are clipsed.

Unscrew the two screws, remove the head...


Beware, separating the two parts !!! The plastic is glued.


Below, it was nearly a disaster (see the tail, the plastic began to crack).


You can use metallic parts (here the back of a fork) to separate the two parts.


Now the back can be removed easily:


It's hard to remove the belly. I think the legs are factory clipsed at the end of production. I hardly removed the belly by "twisting" it...


The belly part:


The back part. 2 screws and 13 plots are located.

* I meant "toy's belly" not "bully"...

[Primeval12]

I sat on my CollectA Oviraptor and it broke off the base, can you tell me how to fix that or should I just buy a new one?

[ajax]

Wouldn't you just glue it back together?

[0onarcissisto0]

Hey Biniou,

Thanks for the pics of the opened Triceratops. I had opened a Diplodocus before to fix it but I never tried opening my Triceratops since it looked a lot more difficult. Opening the Diplodocus was actually quite easy.

Oh and I don't think the Saurolophus brain box can replace that of the Kentrosaurus. The Kentrosaurus' head is about 1/3 to 1/4 the size of that of the Saurolophus.

[biniou24]

Thank you 0onarcissisto0 !
Now I know that I have to find a kentrosaurus in complete condition.

primeval12, I don't know...
First, it depends on what sort of plastic it's made.
Second, maybe it will need some reinforcement (thin part broken) or not.

As said ajax, can't you just glue the two broken parts ? If it's made with hard plastic, you clean the "wounds" with some alcohol, and then you glue one part with some super glue (loctite) and press it with the second part. Beware: I already glued my fingers (it took about 1 second !) and had problems to unglue them... (but managed to undo it with acetone)

[Primeval12]

Yep, thanks

[Jetoar]

Thanks for share  !. I need to fix my Triceratops because its motor is dead for the batteries and my Pachyrhinosaurus has its legs in bad position .

[biniou24]

Be extremely careful, plastic may crack at every moment.

To help you separate the two pieces, once you have put a cutter (or a knife), you can insert and use the back of of fork and softly twist it...

But again: beware, it is amazingly fragile.

[derandber]

1 little trick that I do with taking apart glued models (like airplanes & cars), is let it soak in warm water for about 10-15 minutes. Have you tried anything like that along the sides of the body? I've never tried it myself in fear of screwing up the electronics. I am just trying to think of an easier way of doing it without cracking the shell.

[Wade Wilson]

Hi guys, I'm completely new to this forum, but I'm really glad it exists. I just recently took all my smallish Dino-Riders (Pachy, Styraco, Dimetrodon, etc) out of a huge box I had in our loft. What I noticed is that a lot of them have become sticky over time - the dinosaurs on their legs (bodies and armor are fine) and the Rulons and Valorians practically all over. Looking at them it's not noticeable, but one you touch them...
I don't know if humidity caused it, and it was definitely not a rubber band that perished since those had disintegrated long before I packed everything into the box, but does anyone have some advice on how to de-sticky my sticky Dino-Riders?

[Jetoar]

Thanks friends for our information  !

[biniou24]

Hi guys, I'm completely new to this forum, but I'm really glad it exists. I just recently took all my smallish Dino-Riders (Pachy, Styraco, Dimetrodon, etc) out of a huge box I had in our loft. What I noticed is that a lot of them have become sticky over time - the dinosaurs on their legs (bodies and armor are fine) and the Rulons and Valorians practically all over. Looking at them it's not noticeable, but one you touch them...
I don't know if humidity caused it, and it was definitely not a rubber band that perished since those had disintegrated long before I packed everything into the box, but does anyone have some advice on how to de-sticky my sticky Dino-Riders?

Hi, I already had this problem with other toys (MASK, very similar).
Unfortunately, I didn't found a way to fix it.
Plastic (and rubber) is very fragile and past 20 years, sometime it is melting.
Think about some iron that is rusting, or some wood that is moulding: you can't do anything against that.

The only thing you can do is try to clean your toy with some wash liquid.

Note: don't use acetone, it will be worse.

[Primeval12]

My JP tannaconda's wire in the neck is broken in the circled spots. how can i repair it or should I Just leave it.

[Primeval12]

[Jetoar]

I will repair the lights of my Torosaurus and his motror. I played with these figures a lot when I was a child  .

[biniou24]

primeval12, we can't see your pictures.
First one is a link amazingly too long and which needs a password, and second one is a link to a file inside your computer.
Use imageshack.us or servimg.com to upload your pictures.

Anyway, if the wire is broken, I don't think it can be repaired.
If you try to solder it, you will melt the rubber.

Maybe, if you put a small metal rod or a piece of needle (to strengthen the weak part with a sort of inside-splint) and glue it with some superglue, it can be repaired strongly enough for a display...

[Primeval12]

I did it and with no glue required