Thanks for the great idea on the tabs! Mine were broken and I thought I would have to buy a new third floor piece. I didn’t have any styrene , so I used the plastic from an old printer cartridge to make new tabs for my third floor. Works like a charm and now the parts I bought from a junk lot are now a complete and working rescued Kenner Death Star! Thanks Toy Polloi! Jedi Temple Toys- May the toys be with you!
I just got one of these boxed (but opened) today and this piece is broken on mine. It looks like one could use a flatwasher, an M4 flathead screw, an M4 nut to lock the screw to the flatwasher and then thread the Lego ball onto the M4 screw. This part should've probably been made from cast metal or such from the get-go. (Much like the G.I. Joe winch mechanism for the Defiant launch tower.) Thanks for helping us out yet again!!!
Another excellent fix Dave! Makes you wonder why the designers of these mechanisms didn't seem to think too much about how durable they would be after repeated use.
@Toy Polloi Super, that was three of the fixes I wanted to see. My second gunner platform had broken tabs, a broken latch mechanism, broken return spring, and a floppy canon. The only other issues are the broken primary and secondary barrels on the canon, and the clicker mechanism is missing. Two canon platforms would make a good diorama for stormtroopers and imperial gunners.
Brilliant fix. The sphere is far better than the original, and ABS plastic - what LEGO parts are made of - is way stronger than polystyrene. One small thing - Plastic Weld always works better when applied to pieces already mated together. It evaporates almost immediately if brushed on to bare surfaces. It's drawn off the brush by capilliary action when parts are in close proximity, a bit like the mutual attraction of a ship to the quayside, and the solvent finds all the nooks and crannies.
A tip for making circles with styrene. Use a Dremel cut off wheel arbor to mount up the styrene. You can spin it up and use files and sandpaper to make it perfectly round. Trim close to round to save you some time.
Low rpms when drilling plastic. Plastic is easy to drill but not resistant to heat. High rpms will produce excessive heat from friction and induce melting rater than nice clean drilling. (I'm a machinist, advice given in reflection of the dry machining condition ). Very nice fix.
I would get creative with whatever I could find and make something. Just like I did for the B-wing: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WJRBfXrk6WM.html
The only way to stop this breaking is not to use the original part. The design makes it a weak point, and as the plastic degrades it will get weaker. I actually took the one that was about to break out and just replaced it, so I still have it if I ever want to swap it back in.
Kenner should've used a metal rod for connecting the stopper to its body instead of that flimsy plastic neck. Similar to the ones Tomy uses for the gears of their Zoids.
What are the Lego part numbers you used for this repair, so I can order them myself? Thanks for this information. I can finally repair my Death Star after all these years.
Is there anyone that's made 3D printed parts for any of these delicate pieces? I often find things to replace main detail parts, but I've yet to come across anything that's for interior/function parts.
Sorry Jabba auto correct. I looked at it I’m kind of thinking it might be the same as you wampa video but not sure. Both arm are broken at the connector
