Starpery.com

Ginger's Knee Surgery!

Ding! POP! Crash! Thud! oops...let's get her all fixed up!
User avatar
Renate
Doll Advisor
Doll Advisor
Posts: 713
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:00 am
Contact:

Ginger's Knee Surgery!

Post by Renate »

I'm sorry I wasn't able to take pics, but here is a full overview of the surgery (Sorry guys, this is going to be a long one :))

To start, I'll go over what happened to Ginger back in Feb.....

When I bought her (She was a used doll) her right leg looked a bit funny, but I figured it was her pose. Later...(A little under a month later) I finally got tired of her leg being in the wrong position all the time, so I tried to put it back to normal. But when I bent it back to place I heard a loud SNAP! CRACK! and next thing I knew her bottom half of her leg was limp in my arms, dangling from where her knee had been. I'll be honest....I FREAKED! There were a few people in chat at the time, I came back from brb mode screaming and typing in all caps OMG I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! I remember Litluvr telling me to calm down and to not move Ginger too much. I did as he told me to do and left her on the bed for a few days without moving her at all.

Soon, I knew I had to open her up to see what was going on, I took a boxcutter and cut along her seamline, a very nice cut I might add :). I then opened her up to see what was wrong. I couldn't make heads or tails of it, it seemed as though the knee joint had just been bent and snapped in half, looked like I was going to have to do some serious doll surgery, I had my work cut out for me 8O.

And that is what brings me here, to this day, the day we find out if Ginger's leg will be all better....or all ruined....let's watch!

My tools:

A repair kit from Abyss (Phoenix Studios)
Realdoll Adhesive (2 Tubes)
A thumbdepressor
A small wrench
A phillips head screwdriver
A boxcutter
A new Knee Joint (Shipped from Phoenix Studios)
Alcohol and a small makeup sponge for cleaning
Seran Wrap
Tape

Part One-Ok, Let's Begin!

Ok Dr. (Your name here), the fun begins! Even though I already had an incision in Ginger's leg, I needed to cut it a bit longer than it had been before, if you are attempting this repair, use your new Knee joint to measure about how long the cut needs to be. Take the boxcutter right along the seamline, this will make for a more discreet seal up! Once you can see the screws in the PVC bone clearly, you are in business! The PVC bone by the way, is the white plastic surrounding the knee joint part, if your's is like mine, it is covered in white tape. Now let's start removing that old joint!

Part Two- Out With The Old!

Ginger's joint had snapped where the small metal part in the center (Something like this shape (O O) ) merged with the plastic part inside the PVC tube. There is no need to remove the screws on the round joint of the Knee joint, you only need to remove the 2 screws holding it in place in the PVC bone. First off, take off the white tape around it (It must be taken off to get the piece out). Next locate the screw on the side where the round part is still connected (It's better to get rid of this piece first to make sure it doesn't cut you or her while you are working) First take the nut off the bottom of the screw, you really only need to wrench it loose a little before you can spin it off with 2 fingers, it's a very short portion of the screw. Next, grab your screwdriver (A phillips head) and take out the screw. Now comes the tricky part, you need to wiggle the plastic piece of the joint, out of the PVC tube. It's in there pretty tight, and make sure when you are puling on the side of the joint that connects to her lower leg down to her feet that you don't yank out her entire leg! It's best to pull on both sides at once while wiggling one side. When it finally pops out, put the half of the joint aside, and do the same procedure to the other half!

Part Three- In With The New!

Time to put in the new Knee joint, you're almost done! First, bend it to see how it goes in the leg, obviously you want her leg to bend down not up! (Trust me, I accidently put it in upside down! :lol:) TAke out the screws and set them aside. Start by popping the joint into the lower half of her leg, the longer side of the joint will go in that part. Line it up so it's straight. The reason it is easier to start with the lower half is because you can move that half easier to pop it into the upper PVC tube. Now, do just that! Take her lower leg and pop the upper plastic piece into place in the PVC tube! Test it out one more time to make sure all is well, and check to make sure her lower leg wasn't shifted at all, if all is good, it's time to finish up!

Part Four- Time To Screw Around!

Put the screw back in their holes, and screw 'em back in! Simple right? :) Then put the nuts back on (That didn't sound dirty right? :razz:) the bottom of the screws nice and tight! Now, just for some laughs, test her out one last time before you get ready to seal her back up! A-ok? Great, moving on!

Part Five- Seal The Deal!

Get out your nifty little repair kit. Read the instructions of course! Now that you have some know-how with the stuff in the kit, let's put that knowledge to use. Use Alcohol or Acetone to clean her up! Grab a thumbdepressor and squeeze a pea size amount of RD adhesive onto one end of it. You don't really need much of it! Now, think of this stuff as glue, what you want to do is coat both sides of the cut with this Adhesive. Use up the amount on the Thumbdepressor, then go back for more, use it, go back for more, etc until it has a nice thin coating on both sides. Don't use a whole lot or it will ooze out and make a mess. Now press them together. Abyss recommends using a paper clip to hold it shut, but I found that to be tricky for me to do, so this next part is my method of keeping her shut and it worked well, so you choose what to do!

Part Six- Keep It Together!

Here is how I kept Ginger's leg together. First, I wiped off the access Adhesive to make sure it was nice and clean. Next, I put some Seran Wrap around the leg after lining the 2 sides up (I found it is easier if her leg is bent for them to stay together) DON'T make it too tight! We don't want her to get marks from it! Silicone will NOT stick to the seran wrap by the way, Goldman taught me that :). Once you have it nice and wrapped, place some tape over top to hold it in place, again, not too tightly! Now, wait 4-6 hours for it to cure!

Part Seven- Siesta!

Well....Siesta sounded fancier than "Break" but, that's basically what this is :lol:. Just grab something to eat, go to the bathroom, put on TV and relax for a bit while your doll is healing!


Part Eight- The Big Reveal!

Check a small part to make sure it is cured, if so, time to see how you did! Cut the tape and seran wrap carefully and throw it out. Now behold the work you have done! Look good? I hope so :). It may be necessary to do a bit of cosmetic fixing afterward (See instructions sent with kit) But if you're happy with the results, then you're fine!

Part Nine- Re-introducing (Doll's Name Here)!

Don't be too rough with her right away now ;) but you know you want to put on some nice lingerie and have some fun with you're doll right? Well, I wouldn't advise it, give her at least 2 days before any horseplay I would say, just to make sure she is perfectly ok. In the mean time, Dr. CJD strongly recommends putting her in a nice enviroment surrounded by wonderful things, you know, something along these lines....http://www.dollalbum.com/dollgallery/al ... 10%7E0.JPG

And once you've done that, she's all set, and you did a great job! Congratulations!:glou:

Now I would like to thank a few people for their big help with all this

Of course Phoenix Studios for shipping out the parts and the kit, even though Ginger was a used doll, they got the stuff out to me free, thanks so much guys!

Goldman was a huge help too, he's the reason I know anything about silicone and dollmaking, and his tips and long phone chats helped me a lot! Thanks Goldman, you are the best! (Sorry Tanya ;))

Litluvr also helped me out by calming me down when this all first happened, thanks LL :)

And thanks to Keithallen too for offering so much help with everything, I really appreciate it! :D

And finally thanks to everyone who gave me encouragement and advice through this tough time! Ginger and I owe this successful surgery to every one of you! Thanks so much!


And yes, Ginger's surgery was incredible successful, she's lying down nice and comfy and getting ready to try out her new doll stand I just bought for her today, she's very happy to be back to normal!

Again, thanks guys! I can't believe I ACTUALLY DID IT!

Big hugs from Nurse Ren and Ginger!

Ren & Ginger
♥♥♥Check Out My Blog! Juicy♥Splatter Doll Photography♥♥♥

User avatar
CJD
Ex-Member
Posts: 3213
Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:00 am

Post by CJD »

Happy news Ren!!! Congratulations on your sucessful repair!!! :glou:

User avatar
jonnydisco
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1471
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:00 am
Location: Left Coast
Contact:

Post by jonnydisco »

Great detailed repair info, :D :D
this should probably be made into a "sticky" for easy to find if needed?

User avatar
Musician
Doll Mentor
Doll Mentor
Posts: 1174
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:00 am
Location: Washington State
Contact:

Post by Musician »

Very cool Ren, congrats! :thumbs_up:

A new doll doctor is born. :D

Nice descriptive write up too. Makes me think that even I could do it. :?
"The truth can never be wrong, even if no one hears it." - Mahatma Gandhi
My Doll Album: www.dollalbum.com/dollgallery/index.php?cat=11765

User avatar
uch
Former Member
Posts: 1548
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2002 12:00 am

Post by uch »

Amazing... we still have skeleton problems in the lightest of all realdolls. I'm glad you were able to fix her Ren, but this is very disturbing in relation to the future of realdolls. I know that all dolls have their weaknesses, but this is one that could be prevented by using quality materials. Aluminum (at the very least) skeletons and steel joints would make this go away. That is why you don't hear many of these types of repairs for Mechadoll/MPD dolls. Thanks for posting the experience and the repair steps, as I'm sure that more folks will need to reference them in the future.
Pre Owned Realdoll - $2500 with Visa debit card
Pre Owned 1st Pc - $1700 with Visa debit card
The day I will finally be able to use either of them after the repairs are done - Priceless

User avatar
litlluvr
Doll Advisor
Doll Advisor
Posts: 629
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:00 am
Location: La-La Land, MN. USA.
Contact:

Post by litlluvr »

I'm really happy that all went well with Ginger's
surgery Ren!!! :D I know it is really scary doing
major repairs on your doll, but if you do your
research and just take your time doing it, It does-
nt feel so scary anymore and you build confidence
for any future repairs... :)

Can't wait to see Ginger back up and in action
again!!!

Take care & congrats!! litlluvr & Yoshe.

Keithallen
Ex-Member
Posts: 5070
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2002 12:00 am
Location: PA

Post by Keithallen »

Congrats Ren!!!!

I know you have been worried about this surgery for some time. It's great to see you got it done with no real problems.. BRAVO!!!

User avatar
Mechwizard
Doll Elder
Doll Elder
Posts: 2015
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:00 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Post by Mechwizard »

Good job.
The hardest part of any repair is just getting started.
Once you're in things seem to go much easier.
Then before you know it you are finished.
Mechwizard
Consort to the Queen of Curves
http://www.dollalbum.com/dollgallery/in ... ?cat=10796

User avatar
technoguy
Ex-Member
Posts: 4442
Joined: Thu Jan 22, 2004 12:00 am
Location: New Jersey, USA

Post by technoguy »

R...

Congrats, you are now a "qualified" doll surgeon!

I found your excellent "walk through" VERY informative even with accompanying images. I'm glad to see your story has a happy ending.


technoguy
I am NOT currently a doll owner.

User avatar
wetsuit
~ Member ~
~ Member ~
Posts: 1004
Joined: Sun May 25, 2008 12:00 am
Location: birmingham, uk
Contact:

Post by wetsuit »

hi Ren,

glad to hear the surgery went off with out a hitch

thanks for posting such a thorough write up, I've got a few joints that I need to tighten up (when I get the nerve up) so the info is always handy
Learn from the mistakes of others, because you won't live long enough to make them all yourself!  (A A Milne)
Wetsuit's gallery
Image

User avatar
AlexKnight
Senior Admin
Senior Admin
Posts: 14398
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2005 12:00 am
Location: The Netherlands, Limburg
Contact:

Post by AlexKnight »

Good repair info indeed, therefore, I've made this a sticky thread.
Check out Kayla's Christmas dress by clicking here. - December 17, 2015
or have a look at Ashley's Coverdoll release by clicking here - June 13, 2015

A must-see video on Realdoll softness! Click here!
_____________________________
A Spark of Kindness may start a Fire of Love.

Here's my Doll Album, with pictures of Jenna*, Melissa*, Kayla & Ashley, and some other things: Doll Album Gallery
*I no longer have Jenna or Melissa.

User avatar
DarkOne
Doll Elder
Doll Elder
Posts: 2550
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2015 6:20 pm
Contact:

Re: Ginger's Knee Surgery!

Post by DarkOne »

I must say I am a little disappointed when I hear of dolls using PVC pipe as bones. I know its for weight reasons but aluminum tube would be a hell of a lot better. When the dolls start at $2000 it seems sad when the structure is cheaped out on.
Every day people remind me why I like dolls better.

bigmike303cal
Contributing Poster
Contributing Poster
Posts: 27
Joined: Sat Feb 27, 2016 5:57 am
Contact:

Re: Ginger's Knee Surgery!

Post by bigmike303cal »

Keep up the good work!

Tim99
Apprentice
Apprentice
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2019 10:12 pm
Contact:

Re: Ginger's Knee Surgery!

Post by Tim99 »

nice. knees on these dolls seem to be easy to damage so its good to know they can be fixed

BaalPrime
Basic Poster
Basic Poster
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Sep 09, 2020 10:08 pm
Contact:

Re: Ginger's Knee Surgery!

Post by BaalPrime »

Glad you managed to fix it. Do you know how old she was when you got her?

Post Reply

INFORMATIONS