Advice on taking apart a sturdy figure?

I have a figure that comes preassembled, but I'm hoping to take it apart for customization. Spent about 2 hours yesterday trying to take apart a figure using hot water that's really well stuck together. No progress it seems. Newer figures are too well made these days, huh ^^'

Any advice for taking apart particularly stubborn figures?

Usually figures are glued in a way that isn't meant to be taken apart so I can be tricky to do without damaging it.
Hot water will only help on something that is assembled but not glued.
Which figure are you up against? Might be useful to know before recommending anything

kyoshinhei • 8 months ago • #115649296Usually figures are glued in a way that isn't meant to be taken apart so I can be tricky to do without damaging it.
Hot water will only help on something that is assembled but not glued.
Which figure are you up against? Might be useful to know before recommending anythingYeah. I have heard of people taking apart glued figures using the hot water method, but I suppose it's only possible with certain glue.

This item ITEM #254294
It's not essential if I can't get it apart, I can probably work around it. It would just be a lot easier.

Are you trying to fully take her apart or just certain bits? For example if you're only after the wings, you can probably just pry them off with brute force. You'll probably snap the peg inside but that's not really an issue, you could still re-glue them after.

kyoshinhei • 8 months ago • #115664483Are you trying to fully take her apart or just certain bits? For example if you're only after the wings, you can probably just pry them off with brute force. You'll probably snap the peg inside but that's not really an issue, you could still re-glue them after.Yeah the wings are removable by design so it was easy enough.
It was the hair I was trying to remove. It appears to be 4 parts (front, back had 2 layers and side part). Side part was easy enough to remove, but the front and back parts is where I was struggling. Decided against trying to be more vigorous with it as I didn't want to damage it. I already left slight damage along the seam ^^' but that can easily be fixed.

I suppose ideally I'm hoping there's some kind of chemical applicant to break down glue, but I don't really know if there's anything out there that would do that without also damaging the figure itself.

I see, it won't be easy to identify a chemical without knowing what type of glues that is. And you'd need to be sure that it won't melt the paint in the process.

In you situation I would probably try to slide something under her bangs to use as a lever to pop the front piece off. Ideally something of a softer material like plastic or wood so as not to damaged the figure, like a tongue depressor or an ice cream stick maybe.

If you can manage to remove the front, it'll certainly expose better options to remove the back in turn.