Hey anyone have any stories about fixing masks or parts to share? I am very excited rn so I’ll share mine.
I recently received a damaged golden Kakama from a Bricklink seller and was devastated! The lower left side of the mask was bent inward! However I was able to soften the mask via a hair dryer and bend it back into shape! I’m pretty proud of myself
Wow congrats on fixing the mask my dude! I’ve got a few masks that have been bent too
Well, I’ve done quite a bit of such stuff. Most noticable achievent would be heating pieces on a candle (almost melting) in order to bolt broken off handle back to a Skull Sword. It does not look too good, but works. Maybe I’ll be not lazy and share a photo later.
Whoa that’s pretty intense… Idk if I trust myself doing a fix that drastic
I actually did the opposite as a child. Two instances I remember was accidentally melting a corner of a plate, and the other was purposefully damaging masks to make them “cooler”.
vietnam flashbacks
remembers last week.
That was a mistake.
I’ve done a few part repairs before. Actually just did one recently on my gold kakama.
One of the little vent pieces on the mask broke off and I had to glue it back on.
Did it work?
Kinda.
I have a new success story!
I received a damaged tohunga/Matoran foot from a Bricklink seller… gotta love it when they don’t specify when a part is significantly damaged 
Anyway, the damage was at the top. The part with the pin and pin hole was bent inward at about a 30 degree angle, making it look like the wearer was about to take a step or something. May have had interesting applications, but I wasn’t interested in this.
I set to work with a blow dryer and was able to bend the foot back to a degree of usability. I’ll show it here:
Note the wear on the area where the slope of the foot intersects with the beam/pinhole area
I’ve found that even Bionicle parts of rigid plastic can be bent back into shape when blasted with hot air from a blow dryer. You have to be firm with it, but I was able to repair this using only the dryer and my own two hands.
Sounds good. Do you have any advice on fixing a bent golden kakama?
Yes, that was my first repair!
This is by no means a science. But it’s not uncommon for collectors to superheat plastic in an effort to bend it back into shape. There are a few methods that I read up on.
Softer plastics can be immersed in hot water. Once the piece has been heated enough, try manipulating the piece into the desired shape
The method that works for harder plastics was to use a hair dryer and blast the piece with hot air. This was how I fixed a crumpled corner on my Golden Kakama. However there’s a few things to be aware of here. The hot air is very forceful, so it can blow your pieces away. If you can find a way to hold it in place, then that will help a lot. Don’t use your bare hands - you’ll scald yourself. You could use a glove or metal tweezers. Once the plastic gets hot enough, try bending it gently. You kind of have to tease it into shape - if you move it too forcefully it will break.
I hope that gives you some direction. If you want to learn more, try looking up plastic bending tips on Google or YouTube
