Tight ball-socket boots

I bought some ball-socket boots for my Phicen figurines. They are impossible to attach on the ball joint at the end of the legs. I read that using warm air from a hair dryer to soften up some hands/feet could be a solution. Since I have no hair dryer, I tried placing the boots into hot water. I then put a snub-nosed pliers into the ball-socket pit inside the boots to slightly stretch it open while it’s soft, then quickly empty the boots of the hot water, and then quickly attach the boots to the leg ball joint. When the boots have cooled, the fit is really tight and requires a strong pull to remove, and they come out with a “pop” kind of sound. I don’t suppose anyone uses a hair dryer on the leg to try heat up the boots. Overtime, could this strong pull damage the steel skeleton inside the leg? Has anyone encountered damage due to such a tight fit? Any ideas on how to prevent such damage?

Well, now you know why I bought a hair dryer. Whether you use a hair dryer or hot water, the principle is the same: plastic becomes more malleable and allows the fit to become possible. You are not very likely to damage the steel skeleton at that point, I would be more worried about damaging the figure (either skeleton or "flesh") as you squeeze and pull the rest of it away from the boot you are trying to remove. That is why you should heat up the boot again (dip the lower parts of it in hot water if you don't have a hair dryer) before trying to remove. Usually the fit wouldn't be this strong, but sometimes it is and this is the solution. Good luck.

also, try a bit of lube (non-petroleum) on the ball joint when you plan on
popping the boots on and off, per GF get a hairdryer it's quicker and less
messy than hot water, and if it ever feels like you're about to break something
then you probably are.

GregT wrote:also, try a bit of lube (non-petroleum) on the ball joint when you plan on
popping the boots on and off, per GF get a hairdryer it's quicker and less
messy than hot water, and if it ever feels like you're about to break something
then you probably are.

Good idea on the lube. So don’t use Vaseline but something like a water-based lube used for bedroom action?

Would the warm/hot air from the hair dryer burn or damage the Phicen flesh?

vaseline bad for silicone, the pop sound is normal but
those boots might be the very last thing you put on a
finished figure if they're that difficult to get on and off

I would definitely NOT use any sort of lube or vaseline. The TPE (not silicone, it turns out!) bodies do have some sort of oils in them (as you would find out if you have them lying on/leaning against paper or cardboard), but you never know what will react with what. Besides, if you actually lube up the holes in the footwear or the ends of the ankle pegs, you might make it more difficult for the figure to stand (since you will reduce the friction keeping the body and leg at a specific angle to the foot and footwear). Just use heat when putting on or taking off this footwear.

I too would recommend not using any sort of lubes or oils around these sorts of things. However I would recommend to dremel out the socket a little bit if it is so tight you can barely moving it without it feeling like you would break something.

GubernatorFan wrote:I would definitely NOT use any sort of lube or vaseline. The TPE (not silicone, it turns out!) bodies do have some sort of oils in them (as you would find out if you have them lying on/leaning against paper or cardboard), but you never know what will react with what. Besides, if you actually lube up the holes in the footwear or the ends of the ankle pegs, you might make it more difficult for the figure to stand (since you will reduce the friction keeping the body and leg at a specific angle to the foot and footwear). Just use heat when putting on or taking off this footwear.

Thanks for this information.

Theboo-bomb wrote:I too would recommend not using any sort of lubes or oils around these sorts of things. However I would recommend to dremel out the socket a little bit if it is so tight you can barely moving it without it feeling like you would break something.

I tried a small circular file but know that it's a very delicate balance between filing too little or too much hence didn't file much to make it loose enough for an easy fit.

Once the boots have been heated up and stretched a bit with snub-nosed pliers, they can still rotate around the ball socket of the leg. It's just the pulling force to get them off which concerns me. I might place the boots in hot water (up to the height of the boots) and hopefully make it softer to pull off.

Same problem here, I don't suppose there are any ball sockets on the market. So you can drill larger holes and glue and press the sockets into those?

I just bought some cool two part boots for a Geralt build but the socket is slightly small and shallow. So far only thing I tried was to drill the bottom of the hole a little deeper just in case the ball would sink in enough to stay on tight enough to not fall off if he has any weight on a toe.

Pics of the boots below.

I've had issues with boots, especially mr.z sets, the boots look fantastic, but the socket isn't tight, the ball joint is loose so the models can't stand on their own.

I hate model stands, so its been big issue for me, I've started using hallow boots that are made of leather that I've seen on the market, you just pop the original feet in, they work perfectly and look amazing.

If the socket opening is not a tight enough fit (I thought this topic was about it being too tight), in my experience the best option is to interpose a small length of flat elastic cord between the socket and the foot peg to tighten the fit. See here, post 127:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1403p90-clothing-tbleague-phicen-seamless-bodies-updated-part-xxiii-january-28-2021#41256

I have those boots, and honestly they are a pain. The socket is shallow and small, and I had to heat the crap out of the boots to jam the ball joint into them — unfortunately, moving the figure around usually causes the ankle joint to pop out of the socket — I love the look of these boots, but they are a nightmare to work with. Not sure what the manufacturer was thinking, or what body they were intended to be used with, but it’s unfortunate to say the least.

I think the boots might be a knock off based on an Assassin's Creed figure? (I might be remembering the wrong figure, but they are definitely based on an actual figure, much like those Scarlet Witch knock-off boots that were available for a while.)

I was planning to use them for a male Clone Wars Jedi character at some point, but I had wondered about how they actually worked. Now maybe reconsidering....

Like Stryker said. The socket is shallow and also tight, the shoe part doesn't really stay on. I have some Barbarian Soul shoes I got cheap, they are really small feet compared to these boots so they almost disappear inside the sleeve like a tortoise head poking out of its shell lol..

I think I'm going to buy some of these adapters, Drill bigger holes and epoxy one of the sockets into the shoe. The shoes are big and have fairly high heels so I think it should work.




BTW the sleeves that cover the calves are great, they are loose enough on the M31 figure that they were not hard to pull over the trousers and do not compress too tightly. I really like how the shoe and sleeve is seperate so you get a decent range of motion compared to my Steampunk Red Sonja.

That's a really good solution, Antmax!

skywalkersaga wrote:That's a really good solution, Antmax!

Thanks, the parts finally came today so I tried it. I cut one of the long extensions with the socket at each end in two. Used a small pillar drill I have in the garage to widen the holes. I have a standard Dewalt set from home depot and the largest drill bit was a little too small still. I remembered I had a wooden dowel kit from when I did some wrap around shelving in side the wardrobe in the spare room. That is bigger and ended up being almost perfect.

A really tight fit to push the hexagonal cross sectioned socket in, I had to ease it in by placing the shoe flat on the bench and using a small block or wood to try and compress it in. It wasn't too bad.

The M31's ankle joint fit pretty well. It's not as firm as the tbleague shoes, it has some dampening and is more like rotating the hands on my figures. The good news is that the shoes do not fall off and stay posed ok, you probably need a dynamic stand to take the weight if he is standing on his toes.

One nice thing about the sockets is they have a groove on one end that allows a wider angle of articulation. so he really can go on tip toe with these two part long boots.

Another tool that's useful to have is to get a dremel set. Good for sanding or drilling and a bit more control than a hefty drill.