Akira with a broken shoulder
Mon 2011/09/12 07:23 JST
After 2 years of anticipation, I've finally gather up enough funds to get my 1st Dollfie so I enter the lottery event on Volks Web site and was really happy to get a chance to get Akira. After receiving her, I hadn't had much time to spend with her yet due to work. When i finally got off from work 2 weeks after Akira arrive, was going to take her out for her 1st photo shoot but to my surprise, her arm was loose and was barely being held in-place by her clothes. Upon further inspection, I found the broken joint on the inner frame.
Have anyone encounter this kind of problem before? What's the best way to fix her joint? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
My 1st daughter only 2 weeks old is due for a major operation :'(
Hmm O_____O......
Sad to see it broken so fast. I only own a DDdy which has a different skeleton. You can try and send a email to Volks and see if they can help you. Else you'll need to drill small holes and pin the parts, then glue them together with epoxy. The other option is spending $$$ for an option part.
http://www.volks.co.jp/en/purchase/index_purchase.aspx?gdcd=DDFD-OPP-DDSBF001
I saw another post with similar issues:
http://ameblo.jp/izmkyont/entry-11013991896.html
I hope they will strengthen these parts before the new saber comes out. I'm thinking of getting her -____-
thanks for the link, i couldn't find it the last time i tried looking for a replacement inner frame. will probably consider buying it if all else fail.
ya it looks like a common problem among the new DDS body
its too brittle
but luckily, when my Alna had a broken spine, Volks mentioned something about a product warranty, so hopefully works
Contect the company .....its still well within the 30 days unless they don't honor it
The joint was broken when it was taken out of the box for the first time? I find it rather hard to believe VOLKS will make this pass their QC.
Please clarify. =)
I can't say for sure, when i got her out of the box she seems fine all round, arms and legs were all tightly in-place so I didn't remove all the pieces to inspect the inner frame piece by piece. Wasn't exactly expecting something like this to happen to her especially since we pay a premium price for the Dollfie.
After putting on all her clothes and set he wig in place, I place her on display in my glass case. 2 weeks later when I finally had time to spend with her I notice her arm was loose when i took her out from the glass case. And the above was what I found out. So I don't really know if she was slightly damage on the inside when i receive her or not :( All i know is when i got her she seem fine, 2 weeks later the joint crack on its own and I didn't even move her arm much.
OK thanks for the clarification.
Here's my opinion on this. I'm pretty sure VOLKS ship the DD out in good condition. Cos seriously a broken joint will be so difficult not to see. And as you said, she was fine when you open her for the first time and 2 weeks later, the broken joint appeared.
I will suspect, just saying, maybe one of your family members took her out of the case and played with her? Cos normal people will not know that DD are delicate items and should be handled with upmost care. And due to miscare, broke her. And do not dare to tell you and instead put her back and pretend nothings happened.
Cos frankly, this scenario is very likely to happen especially if you live with your family. They will be curious for sure. Heck, I'm pretty sure my own family touches my DDs as well when I am not around. But thankfully, no mishaps so far.
I do have a few cases where my stuff are tempered with, and sometimes broken, by family members but nobody admits it. This is the thing with family... -___-||
Anyway, keep your fingers crossed whether VOLKS will exchange for you. In most cases, if it is dues to mishandling rather than factory fault, they might be inclined to exchange. Afterall, it have been 2 weeks after you received it.
My 2 cents. I hope for the best, friend.
Thanks for the consent. Though I highly doubt anyone touched her. I only live with my mom and dad, my mom always takes good care of my stuff and since she know how much i paid for Akira I'm confident she will handle it with the utmost care too, as for my dad he takes no interest in all my anime stuff.
Anyway if it was due to mishandling, I don't think the damage would have been that bad. Probably some minor crack and there should be some sign of damage on the arm joint too . However exterior is still in perfect condition, no scratch what so ever and the connecting part on the arm is still in good condition too. For it to literally snap in half so clean, its either a lot of force was used or mine was poorly made. I'm starting to believe its the later seeing there were a number of people having similar issues with their DDS.
Still waiting for a reply from Volks. Praying hard now m(_ _)m
Good luck there bro.
My dad is also not interested in my anime stuff, in fact he hates it but that doesn't means he won't touch. lol. No I am serious. ^^;
Sure if you contact Volks and explain the situation and provide pictures that they may replace the part for you. Probably have to send them the torso part back to get replacement.
I had this happen to my DDS as well but not so quickly. I would definitely contact Volks about it since you are within the 30 day warranty period. But if they won't fix it or replace it for you, you *can* fix it yourself. Mine didn't break as badly as yours, it only cracked across the top of both arms so her arms would no longer hold themselves up. I bought some of this and it worked perfectly:
http://www.permatex.com/products/automotive/adhesives_sealants/epoxies/Permatex_PermaPoxy_5_Minute_Plastic_Weld.htm
I also used this to fix my DDdy girl Manami when her spine broke off. I reattached it and after 5 hours drying time, she was like brand new. Same with the DDS I fixed. I have had no problems at all with her since the repair and no other materials were needed like metal rods and such. Just mix the epoxy and put it in the joints and clamp in place for 4-5 hours. I hope Volks replaces it for you but if not, use the stuff I linked to and you'll be fine. =3
I was thinking of fixing her too, already bought ARALDITE Standard : Tubes 2 X 15 ml http://www.huntsman.com/advanced_materials/eng/Markets/Adhesives/For_Consumers/Araldite%C2%AE_Consumer_Adhesives/index.cfm?pageID=5908
but have yet to start on the repairs, currently waiting for a reply from Volks.
Oh wow, that is so frustrating! Poor Akira!
I definitely suggest writing to Volks, with a few pictures attached to explain what happened.
They may have you mail them back the broken piece and then send you a replacement. This happened to me when they shipped one of my dolls with an incorrect piece and they reimbursed me the cost of me mailing the piece back to them (credit to my credit card).
Their customer service is excellent so they should get back to you right away.
Absolute WORSE case scenario if you can't repair the part, you could order a new torso piece from Volks Japan site, couldn't you?
Thanks for sharing your experience, I've already e-mail them with the pictures above attached. Now waiting for a reply. Hopefully all goes well and Akira gets better soon.
Poor Akira! :(
It's reading about experiences like this that make me hold off on buying a DDS body right now. Just released products usually have a bug or glitch, but the fact that this happened with a Volks product is shocking.
Like others have said before me, contacting Volks would probably be the way to go. Hopefully they can either fix her or send you a replacement part.
I'm sorry to hear she got hurt. :(
I never had this problem so i don't have much advice. I do hope you can get her fixed soon so we can see a bunch of great pics of her!!
The damage looks pretty bad. I had gained some experience previously repairing damaged plastic hooks that are near to moving parts inside my inkjet printers and here's what I learned from it which might be able to apply to your situation if you want to repair it.
1. Super glue most likely might work temporary but likely to break once you twist to loosen the arm joint.
2. Epoxy glue at the joints might work better but still might break again after a few loosening of arm joint.
3. Wrap the outer layer with a thin metal plate (e.g. cut it from eveready battery metal outer shell) and epoxy glue over the surface. That's the best so far, the thin metal piece is certainly stronger than plastic, but consider there is no space at the bottom to wrap metal piece over, you need something extra.
4. Bend a small edge of the metal sheet and epoxy glue it with a wire twist tie ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist_tie ) or metal wire. Then proceed to wrap the whole metal sheet over the entire outer layer, with exoxy glue and fasten the bottom to the other side using wire twist tie.
I think with the combination of metal sheet, wire twist tie and epoxy glue. It's probably going to be stronger than the original joint.
In the case of my printer, as other plastic hooks starts to break one by one, and I open it up and repair it one by one, something tells me that I should do all. I did all and I had peace with my printer till the electrical parts broke down.
If I were you, I'll do the re-enforcement on the unbroken joint too.
Hope this idea works for you.
Thanks, if I don't get a reply from Volks, I was planning to use Aluminium can cut outs and form an outer layer on the joints to reinforce the broken and unbroken ones. Will try adding your wire twist tire too. If I do end up repairing her myself, will post some pictures of the finish repaired Akira.
Aoch, that's a horrible break. Guess I better inspect my DDS' skeleton sometime soon.