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[Fleur]

I bought Chloe second hand on the forums here and I have always noticed her head was a little crooked and it drooped more than Buster's.  I kept feeling for the cables in her neck and they are all there but one of the vertebrae in her neck is shattered.  It is the largest disc at the base of her neck.  I can hear it rattling around in there and you can feel the bits through her skin.  It is impossible to miss and it wasn't like that when I received her so the only thing I can think of is that it was cracked and has just completely fell apart.  Now her head hangs down pretty far.  I am not sure what to do and I am pretty devastated.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.  

[Crewella]

Oh Fleur, I'm so sorry.   

Firstly, it's best to support the neck of a Pleo with an elastic bandage or wrist support (IMR has a good version in her PleoWear store on here).

If you're feeling brave, you could try reading about neck repair to see if you fancy trying it, and Kat has repaired broken discs too.

http://bobthepleo.com/forums/index.php?topic=2925.0

We're all here to help.

[Fleur]

Well due to the fact that I am looking at a very costly repair because of the shipping to China for innvo to repair her, I will probably attempt the repair.  I have repaired lots of Aibos before so I am sure I will be pretty familiar with the setup.  The only thing I have not dealt with before is the skin.  I guess I have to do some research to find the best glue possible and to find how to repair the paint.  I guess I have learned my lesson buying second hand pleos.  If she were new she would have been under warranty  

[Fleur]

well her skin is off, and the damage is the bottom piece of the vertebrae.  It has snapped off completely.  All of the cables are fine.  I am thinking I am going to need to glue it because that looks like my only choice but I am not sure how to go about it.

Here are the images




     

[Fleur]

I temporarily glued the broken piece of Chloe's neck and it seems to be holding well.  I'm not gluing her skin back together until I know if this fix is going to last.  Her head is not drooping as much but her head is still crooked like it was when I got her.  It seems she has a lot of slack in her neck compared to my other Pleos.  The bottom cable has a lot of excess and is not as tight as the other three in her neck.  I have taken a picture hoping someone can shed some light on whether she has more problems or not.  I'm also curious what I can do for pink touch up paint to fix where her skin stretched when I took it apart.  I really hope the glue will work. Thanks for the links to the videos, they helped a ton!

[InmemoryofRomeo]

Kat attempted a very similar repair, so it would be worthwhile checking out her stuff. It looks like you've done a good job though.

I used rubber safe super glue on Lilo, the catch is that I'll never be able to get it apart again

[Crewella]

Good going Fleur! 

All my Pleos and RB have heads at slightly different angles, so that in itself is not necessarily a problem.  If you are worried about the bottom cable, I guess it is possible that whatever knock broke the disc also pulled the cable through at the central point within the housing (the top and bottom cables are the same cable, looped round inside the housing in the body).

If you're not sure, I did very hurriedly do a skit for Kat to go through the range of neck and tail movements - if you run it on two Pleos together you can compare the range of movement.  It was quickly and roughly done (I'm no expert!), but it's under Skits in the Download section (cable test exercises) if you want it.

[Fleur]

Whatever hit her had to of hit her pretty hard.  I originally thought the damage came from when she was shipped but she has been fine since I got her.  Yesterday was the first day I has played with her in about 2 weeks since finals are coming up and I haven't had time to do anything but class work :p.  I think my boyfriend may have something to do with it and he is not telling me.  I find it odd that she goes from perfect to broken like that.  Oh well, I hope the glue was enough. I'm going to check out Kat's repairs and see if I can get some tips from her. 

[kat]

If it helps here are the links to the two threads where I repaired broken neck vertebrae.  I found it helped to use a very small elastic band to hold the pieces together as well as using superglue this just gave the whole thing a bit of extra support.  It also held it all together in the right positioning while the glue dried
http://bobthepleo.com/forums/index.php?topic=2949.0
http://bobthepleo.com/forums/index.php?topic=3104.0

[Fleur]

Thanks Kat, that's super helpful    What do you use to patch up the paint after sealing the skin?

[InmemoryofRomeo]

What about a bit of thin craft wire?

[kat]

I use a combination of Monster Makers Latex Mask paint and a water based acrylic paint.  About 60% latex paint to 40 % Acrylic.  I find that worked out the best mix to give the stretch needed but also the hold so that the paint didn't just rub off.  It is trial and error though so you may find you touch it up and then a few days or weeks later may need to try again with a different mix till it stays the way it should. 
Some of the others have used the latex paints and an ink combo which has worked well too.  There is a painting thread somewhere on here that might be useful.

[Crewella]

This thread should pretty much cover it!