How to Articulate Dolls and Action Figures

Here is my method of adding some articulation to toys with no joints.

To start, you're going to need:

• A small saw or saw bit for a Dremel

• Dremel with a circle bit

• Drill

• 12 Guage wire

• Sandpaper

• Optional: Apoxie sculpt

• Glue (I use hot glue)

This method is fairly simple, and it adds a good amount of bendability. You'll probably want your doll to wear long sleeves or pants to hide the new joint, but that's better than the alternative!

Elbow Joints

The first step is to cut at the elbow. Often, there will be a crease where the elbow is, so it's easy to see where to cut so that the arms are kept even. This step is the same for

both dolls and action figures.

I like to use a saw bit for a Dremel, but you could use a hand saw as well.

On a doll, round out the bottom half of the arm using sandpaper and cut a concave socket into the upper arm using the circle bit for the Dremel.

Make sure the socket faces outward so that the arm will bend forward. Keep testing that the two pieces fit together and make adjustments accordingly.

Be mindful that you don't shave too much plastic off, or your arms will be much shorter than when you started. This is the problem I ran into with the Michael Scott action figure. To correct this issue, I used Apoxie air-dry clay to create the sockets and extend the arms and legs. Whether or not you will have to do this depends on the size of your figure. The Micheal Scott figure is pretty small, so when I started whittling down his joints, he ended up with T-rex arms. With the Barbie, her limbs are long enough to get away with not having to do the extra step.

The last step is to drill a hole in both arm pieces, glue a wire between the holes, and reattach the arms. The range of motion you're going to get depends on how big of a socket you cut. Before gluing the wire in, test how far the arm bends so you can make adjustments if needed.

As a side note, if the hole is too big for the wire, use hot glue. Hot glue will fill up the extra space and will also adhere to metal. At the same time, wire is smooth enough that you can yank it out of the dried hot glue if you wanted to try and redo it (though you won't have as easy a time getting the glue out. Use a hairdryer to soften it so you can reinsert the wire).

Knee Joints

Legs are essentially the same process except that the socket on the upper leg is going to be facing the opposite direction. Here's a quick look at the process on doll legs.

And here is what it looks like on our Michael Scott figure. Keep making sure the legs are the same height while you sand and adjust the joints to fit. Then, all there is left to do is to paint the clay portions to match the rest.

And there you have it! Not too complicated, but it does take a little bit of time to do. The joints aren't the prettiest, but anything is better than straight-limbed toys. If you're doing this on a doll, you can easily cover the joints with long sleeves or pants. I know a lot of doll collectors throw away old doll bodies, keeping only the heads and clothes (transplanting the heads on made-to-move bodies). Hopefully, this method saves you a few bucks so that you don't have to buy two different dolls every time you want one with articulation!

And for the action figures, now you can pose them for toy photography, have them hold accessories in a more natural way, or interact with a diorama you've created. Good luck!

Love,

Haley

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