"Repairing "snapped off at the ankle" figures. How?" Topic

I have some 15mm Battlefront Indian infantry that snapped off at the ankles. Dropping a book on the stand did not help matters. Two snapped off one stand and one on another.

Then there were some Hinchliffe Ancient Indian archers that were just too top heavy and fragile to begin with,

I have tried drilling out the feet and then up the leg and using brass rod to pin, but that calls for tricky alignment, with two legs pointing in different directions.

Hoe do you folks usually do this annoying repair? Heads are easy, by comparison.

I guess you could try some green stuff or blobs of superglue gel. My personal inclination is to throw them in the trash.

Pin them the best you can and then mask the repair with some creative use of basing materials to obscure the repair. Things like static grass or lichen brush around the feet, and having them stand right next to a suitably sized rock or piece of rubble works dandy.

upgrade to a larger size figure? 25/28mm 35mm 40mm 54mm?
You'd have to repaint the repair work anyways so you might as well make it easy on yourself. You're not getting any younger, John.

small globs of epoxy and enough texture and static grass to hide said globs of epoxy.

Otherwise gets small bits of some kind of equipment, like a jerry can for WWII or some kind of shield for ancients.

Attach the figure back to the ankle and glue the equipment right at the joint for support.

I do as you say: drill out the foot and up the leg, glue in a bit of brass wire with a blob of 5 minute epoxy. Sometimes I just pin one leg, blob of glue on both. It's not elegant, but flocking covers the mess.

I paint so slowly that I can't *stand* to discard a painted figure. I will go to great lengths to salvage them.

Don't mess with the ankles John. I drill through the base and then up their anal sphincters. Paint the repair flat black, no one will notice.
Be sure to use brass wire.

I actually used Loctite gel glue to fix a 15mm Sea Person mini who was snapped off at the ankles and it worked -- he's been through several games, with no re-snapping. Just hold the upper body steady for a couple of minutes while the glue sets.

I'd use gel super glue, then reinforce with a blob of epoxy and hide with lots of weeds, tufts, foliage, rubble, a piano, what have you.

One thought I have had if it ever happened to me is possibly turning a figure into a casualty.

Ogdenlulimus has the right of it.

I have repaired 25's with ankle-pinning and creative use of reinforcing epoxy, but never 15's. I typically scavenge them for bits (heads, shields, weapons), though just using them for casualties is a great idea, too.

I chopshopped a couple of weak-kneed bunnymen last week. I will try Ogdenlulimus' method next time.

Ogdenlulimus speaks wisdom…

What Ogdenlulimus said. I've only repaired 25/28mm not 15mm, but once the ankles both snap, it's time for a rear third leg of rigid rod. Hide it behind a front leg if possible but don't worry if it's not. Make it so solid and rigid the figure will never break in that same place again. Paint the rod black so it is non-reflective.

Works with horses too.

I have a feeling that Ogdenlulimus was a Wallachian duke in a previous life…

OK, Lads.
More drastic steps are in order.
Bend over and take it like a sojer.

Repair? Bah, turn them into corpses, battlefields look so much more interesting with dead bodies everywhere….