G1 SHOCKWAVE REPAIR ADVICE

[bpopilek]

Hello all! Once upon a time, my dad got mad at me when I was a kid. Mad enough to throw/destroy my original Shockwave! I have lived with this guilt for all of these years, but that has now changed. It has taken 35 years, but I FINALLY got my hands on a new to me G1 Shockwave figure, in the original box. The box itself is pretty damaged, but it is there and the Shockwave figure is in remarkably good condition. No missing pieces, no visible cracks in the plastic, electronics worked (Except for a burnt out lightbulb), the rubber hose is intact/pliable, and almost all of the joints were still nice and clicky.

At this point, I have him completely torn down so I could thoroughly wash all of the parts by hand with a soft toothbrush and some Dawn dish soap. I skipped washing the chest, because the original stickers were still intact and in fairly decent condition. When I bought him, I was informed that I would need at least 1 replacement knee joint. Upon disassembly, I only found a single broken screw post! With a little bit of Plastruct (Plastic weld), it has been completely repaired it. I did let it cure for the past 48hrs to be safe, and I ordered a screw that was a tiny bit longer to get into some of the plastic further down past the break. Now comes the time to reassemble him, and the following is the reason for my post today.

I picked up a second figure from eBay, just for the knee joint and the working lightbulb/laser arm. The rest of that guy is a mess, and there wasn't much more I could salvage for mine. As I get ready to reassemble the one I am keeping, I wanted to seek some advice on the following questions:

1. The new laser arm has the tip broken off, but I do have the piece (My original arm with the burnt out bulb was previously glued together and I cannot open it up without damaging it). Was it originally only glued to one side of the two halves? I would like to weld it back on, but I wasn't sure if I should glue it all the way across, or just on one side.
2. Should I apply anything to the rubber hose to keep it in the same nice/flexible condition?
3. Should I apply anything to the plastic components to add back any lost moisture? They don't really feel brittle, but I don't want them to get brittle over time either.
4. For all of the ratcheting joints, I cleaned a lot of debris out of the grooves. Was this a grease at one time, or was it more likely plastic dust accumulated from years of use?
5. Should I apply any sort of silicone grease to the joints to help them move more freely?
6. Lastly, I have watched the Toy Polloi YouTube Shockwave repair video. I liked his idea of cutting down the factory springs to reduce tension and prevent further damage. However, should I destroy the original springs doing this, or is there a source for replacements that I can order that are either less strong or ones that could be cut down?

Sorry for all of the questions, but I just want to get this guy as close as possible to his new condition. I mostly plan to display him in the box or on a shelf, I haven't decided which one just yet. And just maybe once in a great while, transform him if someone comes over and wants to see him in action. I appreciate any advice or information you can provide! Thanks everyone and have a great day!

[Time Traveller]

Hello and welcome!
1. Yes, I believe the two halves and the tip were all glued to each other. If the tip seems it was only glued to one half of the barrel, they may not have dispensed the usual amount of glue.
2. YES. I've been using a plastic/rubber protectant on both of my Shockwave's hoses since the early '00s (at my toy collecting father's advice), and they look great. If you want to go all-out, I recommend Zymöl for all your vinyl-rubber parts (hoses, tires, etc). I usually wipe on a liberal amount, let dry, and wipe off the excess. Once every few years is probably fine, as your toys aren't experiencing lots of handling or harsh conditions that will wear off the protectant. Also, keep them away from UV light sources! Windows and artificial lights.
3. You can't, really. Some plastics naturally leach out plasticizers and other components, and once they're gone, you can't really put them back in. That said, for softer vinyl products, you can prevent some leaching with a protectant. On hard plastics, a very sparing amount of protectant will make them shine, but it's not necessary or necessarily helpful.
4. While some modern high-end toys do come with lubricated joints, very few vintage "kids' toys" do. Feel free to lubricate to prevent further friction-related wear, although if they're clean, this is really only an issue for mixed die-cast-on-plastic joints. As long as you use a non-reactive lubricant (I like Napa's Sil-Glyde Silicone Grease, but any brand of silicone will do), and generally VERY sparing amounts (I use a toothpick to apply), it will be more than protected. The dust could also have been external dirt that got in. Cleaning it was the right move.
5. Whoops, answered above!
6. Haven't watched this vid, but if your plastruct plus long screw repair seems stable, you may not have to. If it re-breaks, then you'll have to consider spring options. Aside from cutting coils, you could potentially weaken the spring by pounding it with a mallet. If you do either modification and aren't happy, you can email us here at Transformerland and we can sell you some original springs from our many, many dead Shockwaves. (see my blog article for more: https://www.transformerland.com/blog/gi ... -boneyard/)

[Deadend66]

1. The new laser arm has the tip broken off, but I do have the piece (My original arm with the burnt out bulb was previously glued together and I cannot open it up without damaging it). Was it originally only glued to one side of the two halves? I would like to weld it back on, but I wasn't sure if I should glue it all the way across, or just on one side.

Boy there is just so little out there on how to do this, and I've been in the same boat as you on this particular issue for years. I'd been biding my time until a "decent" offer came up for a replacement tip on ebay, last week I got my wish. But that was only step 1.

First a quick disclaimer *CAUTION* my method here was a bit higher risk of injury (self-injury, AND the toy) so please exercise this at your own risk.

Tools used:
- wide-edged razor blade; free, not connected to a hand-unit
- hair-dryer
- lighter-fluid
- q-tips

Method:
With my piece, you can see (20251127_073745) how the glue was not completely around where the upper-tip connected to the lower body, and a small groove is exposed.
See the few pics below that I took in hopes of aiding. Initially, I put the dryer on high-heat, medium blow (otherwise it'll fly off the table) and left the tip facing the dryer, the section with the most glue facing the dyer.
After about 5 or so minutes I slid the razor into the groove that had less glue, and carefully 'rolled' the tip over the razor until reaching the glued section, applying light to moderate pressure. It was at this point my spider-senses activated and I realized I was doing something stupid and grafted a rudimentary finger-shield in case I slipped.

At this point I recalled the method I had previously found for safely removing decals/stickers, using lighter fluid (if you didn't know this, there's a few tutorials out there it's terrific, and is awesome for upgrading your pieces from junk parts that have good stickers). Understanding that the glue-type is most likely different than that used for stickers, I can't say what impact this had, but it didn't hurt.

Prior to the next round of blade-rolling, I added a drop of lighter fluid with a q-tip to the warmed piece, and rolled away.

After about 5 rounds of rolling, I could see I was making real progress and the tip was almost ready to come off (20251127_074559). Carefully moving the now-loose tip, I targeted the area that was most connected and carefully rolled the blade and it was finally free (20251127_075254).

All that said and done, it was at this point, looking very closely at the exposed tip (20251127_083206) you can see that this glue section is pretty difficult to perfectly, cleanly remove. There may be a bit of glue and plastic from the bottom-portion, it's hard to tell. But - for me this was as good as it was going to get. My plan is to gently file away some of the remaining glue, and re-wire and attach the new tip on my old unit.

[Deadend66]

(additional pics)

[Deadend66]

A closeup of my old piece (20251127_085017), there's value here as I think this shows a clear surface area where the pieces should separate, if somehow perfectly executed.

Finishing up, I'd say if I were to do this again, I would simply run the risk of opening the base of the unscrewed whole-tip, exposing the wire to pull it carefully out. I tested this with my old piece (20251127_090717) successfully without damaging the upper-tip whatsoever.

I hope this helps some folks. Next journey - replacing that God-forsaken cross-hair piece....

[Deadend66]

Including a couple of shots of the completed job.

[Time Traveller]

Great job! It looks clean and clear!