Toysfield Kuma

The last post I composed was supposed to have another post afterwards about my Toysfield Kuma.  A family emergency kept me from posting like I intended.

back together again

I did not take deboxing photos like with Little Grey.  I was so shocked to open Kuma up and discover his head rolling around inside his box.  I hoped that it was an easy fix.  Bah!  He was broken!!

The seller and I were both bummed.  It happened during shipping.  A very sad day.

I had two options- no repairs and have a broken doll, or, try the repairs and have a possible fixed doll.  If it went badly, I would still have a broken doll.  I decided to take a chance.

I seam ripped down the back and found the broken piece.  The neck is a ball and socket (like a hip joint). The socket part broke off during shipping.  I suspect the neck tie was too tight and any impact to the box put pressure on this weak portion of the doll.

neck ball joint

broken neck socket

broken piece

I found epoxy that's good for practically any application.  I rebuilt the neck like making a coil pot while holding the broken portion together.  I had to work fast!  The epoxy started drying in less than 5 minutes.  It was low fume, but I did miss the part about gloves. DOH! Yeah, wear gloves.  Epoxy is apparently poisonous while it is in the putty form.  I am happy to say I am still alive.

This epoxy stuff is incredible!!  It worked!  I was unable to get photos of the process.

My Kuma is back in one piece.  The head is a little shaky, but that's better than broken.

Tico and Kuma 

I hope to take Kuma out on some adventures.  So far all he has done is a truck trip in the woods.  We stayed in the truck since it was raining.  I wanted to see if a real bear happened by so I could try to get a photo of them together.  I then remembered bears are hibernating.  Silly me.