fire is dangerous. kids get an adult to do this. work over a smooth flat surface.

tools i used and some plastic sprues

beading tool and metal block to push out old pins
cheap lighter
small phillips screwdriver
x-acto
cheap side cutters
these other tools shown i don't usually need, but this time were helpful
parallel pliers
small rawhide mallet
plastic block

i still boil and push out pins to disassemble. i use a beading tool (not like stringing beads, but pushing metal beads). it has a hollowed end like a hollow point bullet that grabs and pushes pins out smooth. the steel block has holes to let the tool/pin push through.



when making rivets the hardest part is not melting it too much since every plastic melts different. practice with different kinds of plastic will give you an idea of how each will melt.



#1 pick a smooth round (rod shape) of the size and color pin you want. i've done black, white, and gray i think. nice to match color close so no need to paint.


#2 i run a small philips head screw driver (the size of the rod or just smaller) through both pieces (twisting like a drill). this opens them up without drilling and risking damage. if it is tight that's ok because friction will hold the pieces better.


and togeteher


#3 melt 1 end of the rod into a rivet by holding it to a lighter. practice on the same type plastic and gets to be pretty easy. i leave some melted with a rounded top, and some i use my lighter (metal part) to press it flat. you have to move quick to flatten it so the lighter is already right in your hand.

push it into the outer piece to see how it looks


* here is where this time got hard. it was really difficult to push the pin through the whole assembly. i should of got up and found a larger phillips head to ream them out larger. instead i grabbed a hammer and the parallel pliers.

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#4 once you stick it through all the holes cut it off long. move the joint around and pose it. if everything is tight and you like it you can finish it off or set it aside to see if you want it on permanent.



#5 cut the rod to length still assembled in the piece with snips.

then clean it up with the x-acto


finishing off the rivet can be scary. practicing with the same plastic will make it easier to know how long to cut the rod. you need enough the melt, but not too much to leave a big blob of melted plastic or too much rod sticking out.

#6 hold fire to the end of the rod. let it cool and your done.


here are some pics of the other pin. same steps s before



*i have cleaned up "blobs" of plastic when i left too much, by grinding and re-melting . i've also drilled out a pin that was just ugly. so it isn't "permanent", but isn't any fun undoing it.

here are some pics of the other knees pin. same steps as before



and the figure standing. i realized after pics that his lower left leg was backwards, and i had done a skin tone rivet on his right elbow.


Here is probably the best rivets i’ve done on This guys elbows

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I love tutorials like this. Awesome.

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This is brilliant. Thanks for sharing!

thanks guys.

i meant to ask. please share if anyone has done or does hot plastic rivets. i'm sure i read and or saw this done right here on jc, but no idea who or when!

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Incredibly detailed and informative. Thank you.

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Good tutorial. I would probably use a candle instead of a lighter, and heat up something like a palette knife or flat screw driver to smush the plastic instead of trying to hold my figure up to a flame. I think some one showed a similar method for making pins somewhere, I used it to add ankle articulation to a star wars figure.

glad you guys like it.

i've had a candle on a small metal tray on my customizing desk. it was before i started doing sprue rivets. i was trying to use it to heat up pins/needles to pierce various plastics. once the needle was hot enough i couldn't get it into action fast enough.

a solder gun/heat pen would take tsome of he "danger" out of it, but hot enough to melt plastic is still hot enough to melt plastic. the fire is what gives me the dome shaped rivet so a flat metal piece would only make flat rivets.

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Very interesting tutorial, I wonder if such a pin would work on ARAH figures as well.

As for using a candle/lighter: could the tip of a glue gun work?

i don't think my small craft glue gun would, but i'm sure there are hotter ones. it varies from plastic to plastic though too.

just like grinding you get a different smell from every plastic held to fire. some combust fast, others seem to never catch fire. i had what i thought were megablock sprews that wouldn't melt at all, it only charred and chipped away like charcoal. i'm glad these came up as i should of listed some failures along with practice.

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